Frugal Friday!

Thursday, November 12th: My colleague (and now friend), Michael, introduced me to some sweet money saving websites after he learned of my love for great deals. The websites are similar in content, but one is better organized and I choose to plug that website. Spoofee strives to provide consumers with the best deals everyday. 7 For All Mankind jeans for 40% off? Yes please! Restaurant.com 80% off coupon? Absolutely! I was hanging out with Kristen and Dave tonight and told them about the steal at restaurant.com. It seemed too good to be true. Too good to be true, because you can already get a $25 gift card at Restaurant.com for $10 without a discount code. Dave mentioned that he had gotten some gift certificates from Restaurant.com before and reassured me that it was a pretty good deal. You basically get more food for the same price you would typically pay for dinner for two. You may be thinking, "How does it work?" Let me explain. Restaurant.com helps restaurant owners promote the new and unique aspects of their restaurants while providing diners with great value in a fun, new and cost effective way. Local restaurant owners entice you with cheap gift certificates and hope that you will visit more than once. I wanted to try it out and realized this would be the best time. I refined my search to restaurants in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. After browsing 21 pages of featured restaurants, I settled on two gift cards. I bought one $25 gift card to Maestro's and one $25 gift certificate to Sweet Basil. One piece of advice: Make sure you read the restrictions before you purchase. For example, here are my restrictions for the certificates that I purchased: The certificates are only valid on dine-in service, tax and gratuities are not included and 18% gratuity is added. I have to spend at least $35 at Maestro's and at least $50 at Sweet Basil. No problem! I feel a girl's night coming on... So how much did this cost me? I paid a whopping $4.50 for $50 worth of gift certificates! Are you kidding me? How is this legal? Is this legit? Yes, yes, it is! I read the terms and agreements to be sure. Try it out!

Original price: $50.00. My price: $4.50. Total Savings: $45.50 or 91%.