What’s The Point?!

Put down your fork! This Sexagenarian is going to tell you how to save money and have fun at the same time! Too good to be true?

Like many retirees, my hubby and I enjoy fun and fine dining.

You can read about our foodie love here:

Fabulous Foodie Fun with Mack Marie

Charli Savors Tasting Menus

Leap into Five Foodie Favorites

Did you know that you can have the pleasure of eating out- while saving money? (Yes, Mother, I realize I’m spending money to save money…sigh…). But with Black Friday and the holidays coming, who doesn’t like to save money?

I mentioned card games. Are you taking advantage of the many free dining cards and dining apps that are available?  Let me show you what cards we have in our wallet, plus I have a few bonus tips.

First some national dining cards:

Landry’s Select Club As a member of Landry’s Select Club®, you can earn points for visiting one of our participating restaurants from coast to coast. As your points accumulate, they add up to great rewards for you to enjoy on future visits. Plus, you’ll receive exclusive member-only benefits and offers that will make your mouth water. Landry’s has many restaurants and the brand includes Morton’s, McCormick and Schmidt’s, and Rainforest Cafe. Morton’s is the only one close to us. We found out about this dining club from a friendly bartender.

Dine Rewards  How would you like to save 50% off (up to a limit) every fourth visit to these chains: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabbas Italian Grill, Bonefish Girl, Flemings? This is an easy program- you sign up and just give your server your phone number and the program magically keeps track of your visits for you!

United Dining Rewards Program We didn’t even know we had this program until we started accumulating mileage points. You register for this program at United Airlines online and link to your credit card. Then, very time you use your credit card at dining place in the program, you get mileage points. You don’t even have to think about it- nothing extra to do.

BJs Brewhouse For this program, you install an app on your phone. There is a code and your server scans it. You can earn 1 point for every $1 you spend, Here’s how you can use your points:

75 Points = $5 Off
100 Points = Free Pizookie
150 Points = $10 Off
350 Points = $25 Off

As you may know, we love new experiences and we will try anything- from a hole-in-the-wall to the whole enchilada.

Fast Food Apps- Most national fast food chains have apps that feature coupons for money off food and beverages. Here’s an example from McDonalds. The app is easy to use, You just click the offer you want and a code appears which you give to the employee.

There are plenty of reward opportunities at your local establishments.
We keep track of these cards and programs, too. 

Big Boppers is a small, family-owned and operated roadside diner that features breakfast that make you want to get up early! They aren’t high tech- they gave us a number and we tell the cashier when we pay. Every year they send us a $10 gift certificate at Christmas.

We enjoy the sushi bar at Nagoya, a Japanese Steakhouse. They have an amazing program- every year, on December 24, you can eat and buy gift cards to their restaurant at 50% off. We buy a stack and use them all year long.

Another small family cafe is also low tech but high on savings. At Avery’s Cafe, we buy $20 gift certificates at half price. We enjoy lots of waffles and soup the rest of the year!

And we are always adding to our local collection- just found out about a program at Burntwood Tavern in the next town over!

Thanks for peeking in our wallet- here are some more savings ideas!

Bonus Money Saver #1: Happy Hours! “Early Bird Special” used to be synonymous with “old people”. But now they call it Happy Hour and we all flock to get reduced drink and appetite prices from 4-6 pm! Happy Hours sound much more “hip” and we try to be mindful and get a few healthy-ish appetizers-which are usually smaller portions. Perfect for us.

HERE’S THE MOST FUN! Bonus Money Saver #2- A few months ago, I was using the self-checkout at Wal Mart and the friendly employee reminded me to take my receipt. Then she told me, “You can use your receipt with the Wal Mart App. I learned from her that there is a “Savings Catcher” and folks save enough with it each year to pay for Christmas! I installed the app and its the most fun! After each shopping trip, I scan the bar code on my Wal Mart receipt into the app and a few days later I get an email letting me know if Wal Mart detected any lower prices in the area- and they add the difference in savings to a Wall Mart gift card! So far I’ve saved about $13.67 which won’t quite cover our Christmas, but at least I know that I have gotten the best prices in my area.

I hope you have fun with these suggestions. Now, I just need to find a special card for the local gym to work off all my food savings!

Please let me know what cards or apps you use for savings. We are into it! And that’s the point!