Going to a restaurant on a family budget can be a challenge but it is doable, as long as it is an occasional treat and is not something you make a habit of doing because you are too tired to cook. It is nice to let someone else do the cooking once in a while after all! When you are watching your money and doing everything possible to stick to a budget it can all go out the window if you do not plan ahead before you go to the restaurant.
It has been estimated that for the average American family of four eating out at a restaurant costs in the range of $40 to $50. That amount is on the low end not the high end. When you consider that if you eat out at restaurants once a week you are spending close to $2,000 a year it makes you want to rethink your eating out habits. That is definitely an incentive to want to prepare more family meals at home and to sit around your own table and eat together!
Here are some suggestions to make eating out less expensive and less of a strain on your resources:
There are coupons, deals and specials to be had if you look for them. Go online to check for coupons at the websites of restaurants in your area. Or in some cases the specials will come to you! When you get ads and flyers in the mail for restaurants keep them in one place so they are easy to find when you decide that your family needs a restaurant night out together. Compare the specials from one establishment to another and go to the place that has the most cost effective deal to offer. Keep in mind too that you don’t want to have to spend a lot of gas money to drive to the restaurant. Choose an eatery that is as close to your home as possible!
There are restaurants that offer such deals as buy one entrée and get a second one free, or kids eat free specials or free beverage or dessert with the purchase of a meal. Look for family discounts in the newspaper as well as in magazines. Some restaurants advertise deals over the radio or on television. You might even might to call ahead to inquire about deals before you arrive.
Be realistic about how much food your children can eat. Do not order a whole meal for your young child. If the kid’s meals are not to your child’s liking then split a meal with your child or split a meal between your children. Wasted food means money wasted on a meal so make sure that you do not order more than is necessary.
There are plenty of family restaurants where the servers will understand that customers wish to share meals so whatever you do do not feel strange about asking for an extra plate so your children can share. If you do still end up with leftovers then ask for a container so you can take them home with you.
When you tell your children that you are going to a restaurant, treat it as a special outing. It should be about dining together and interacting as a family. Teach your children that it is something you do on occasion as opposed to something you do simply because it is convenient. You want the meal that you have out to be the family entertainment and you need your children to understand that. You also need them to realize that this is not something you will be doing every week. It is probably best to make eating out a last minute surprise as opposed to something they look forward to for hours or days beforehand.
As women we love our cosmetics and we spend a fair amount of money on them every year. However when we need to shave costs in our lives and save money we must look for effective ways to do that in every area we can think of- that includes our beloved cosmetics! Here we look at some ways to save as much money as possible when we purchase makeup.
- Do you wear makeup on a regular basis and is it a part of your daily routine or do you wear it occasionally, such as when you have a date, a job interview or a special event to attend? Consider when you wear makeup and how much it matters to you and then gear your shopping habits in that direction. Ladies who wear makeup every day will spend more money on cosmetics than those that wear it infrequently. Those in the former group will need to work harder to spend less on such a purchase.
- Buying cosmetics is often about trial and error. You go to the store, select a product that you hope- fingers crossed- will be suitable for your face but you take your chances. Perhaps it will become your latest favorite product but maybe it will fall flat and you will have wasted $20 or $15 or $10. But you didn’t need that money anyway, right? Wrong! Of course you did! Every cent counts which is why you should search for stores that allow you to try cosmetic products before you buy them. In this way your money will not be wasted.
- If there are no such stores in your community then you will be glad to know that some retailers offer their customers refunds or exchanges if they are not happy with the products they have purchased. Find out what the policy of a store is before you buy any type of cosmetic.
- Figure out which cosmetic products mean the most to you and from there decide which ones are worth spending more money on and which ones are not as important. If you love mascara because it makes your eyes look bigger then put more of your cosmetic dollars towards this item and less towards say your foundation, blush or powder.
- Applying makeup properly is often more important than buying expensive brands. For that reason purchase quality cosmetic brushes, applicators and sponges and learn the proper means of caring for them. By so doing they will last longer and you will not have to replace them as often. It will also make for a more professional look for you! When you buy good brushes then buying cheaper cosmetics will not be a huge issue.
- If one of your compacts gets broken such as your blush or eye shadow case then do not throw it out but instead save your broken cosmetic by scraping what is left of it into a small container or jar that has a good lid. Your money will not be wasted when you do this nor will the product. You can continue to use it until it is all gone.
When your birthday or Christmas is on the way put a bug in the ears’ of your loved ones and friends and tell them that you would love a gift card for makeup purchases or money that you can use to buy some new cosmetics. Receiving money or gift cards for holidays can help a lot when you need some new products.
What are Coupon Codes ? Coupon codes can be defined as being “a method of offering selected customers a bonus in the form of a discounted sales price as an incentive to buy a product or a service.” When a new product comes out it is not uncommon for an Internet marketer to offer a rebate to his subscribers to drum up interest in the product. He can do this by mailing an offer to his subscribers with a special link to the sales page. He would also need to send his subscribers a code that they would then type into the coupon code section on the order page.
Internet Shopping Promotions
In this way, coupon codes can be thought of as Internet shopping promotions. A coupon code is also sometimes referred to as a promotional code. Another common type of shopping promotion that you may see online is known as a link only promotion. Some online merchants choose to offer one kind of promotion to their customers while others will choose the other type of promotion.
If you are one of the lucky ones and you get sent a “linked” coupon you may wonder how you can go about redeeming it. In some instances a linked coupon will have an actual coupon code that can be used to activate the promotion that is going on at the time. In other cases a merchant will send out a special link instead. What will happen in the latter instance is that you will click on the link to the online store and when you check out the discount it will automatically take effect.
In order to redeem a coupon code it is worth knowing that not all merchants go about this in the exact same manner. There will be times when the coupon will need to be entered while you are in the shopping cart phase of the website. There will be other times when the coupon must be entered on the order review page before you reach the checkout. The very first time you are interested in buying something from a website you should browse around the site for the coupon submit area.
If you look and look around on a website and do not see any space where you can type in the code then you should look for the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) section. Peruse it carefully to see if you can find the information that you need. If there is a Customer Service page then check there if you cannot find what you need on the FAQ’s page. If you still cannot find any answers then you should place a call to the merchant to inquire about the use of coupon codes.
Most merchants will feature a page on their site that will show relevant information about purchases such as how much the customer is being charged, shipping fees for the item(s), and how much money is being discounted thanks to the discount code. You should be able to view all of this information on an order page before you click enter and are given the approval for the charges. If you type in the coupon code but the discount does not show up on the order review page then you should not proceed with the order you are placing.
If your coupon is not working then the expiry date may have been omitted by the merchant because the promotion brought more responses to it than were expected and so it was discontinued. If you are trying to use a coupon that does not appear to be working and you have entered it a number of times without any luck then look for another coupon code that you can use at the same website or look for other coupon sites over the web.
