If you go to the websites of some of your favorite restaurants to peruse their menus, you may be missing out on some ways to get freebies from them. Many restaurants have little clubs that you can sign up for and a lot of them will give you a free appetizer or dessert for joining. The ones that have you enter your birthday will usually send you a coupon for money off or a free meal or dessert.
One of the best ones out there is Max and Erma’s Good Neighbor card and you’ll get certain free items typically over the summer. A lot of times it coaxes us over there when we wouldn’t have normally gone. We’ve signed up for a ton of them like Dairy Queen’s Blizzard Club, On the Border, O’Charleys, Champps, Potbelly Sandwiches, TGIFridays and others. In this day and age where it seems that everything is shooting through the roof, why not put up with a stray email here and there to save some dough when you do go out? You could even set up a free mail account specifically for those kinds of sign ups if you don’t want to receive them in your own mail though I’ve never had a problem with a particular restaurant overdoing it on the frequency of emails.
As we speak, the other half is getting our free Wild West Shrimp appetizer from Longhorn! (It’s also a great way to try appetizers you may not normally have spent your own money on!) You should note that some places will give you a time limit for your “welcome” coupon, usually 2 weeks, so plan to sign up when you’re ready to make a trip to that restaurant.
With everyone feeling the pinch at the grocery store and trying to make better food choices, how can you make your dollar stretch longer? Well I had been looking at the option of buying a FoodSaver to make my own stir fries and marinate/sanction out those big value packs of bonesless chicken breasts. I finally broke down and bought one along with a few rolls of the plastic bags.
A usual bag of pre-made stir fry veggies which gets me one use typically costs $3.50. I bought carrots, celery, zucchini, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, broccoli and green onions. That stuff totaled $11.00 and I got 4 nights of stir fries out of them which averaged to $2.75. Now maybe saving $3.00 doesn’t sound like a big deal but it saves me from having to pick out the freezer burnt green beans and red peppers which I don’t care for which is money in the trash can. I know they’re fresh, the volume is more and no preservatives.
We also used to use 2 chicken breasts and cut them up but as I thin cut those frozen chicken breasts, I realized by thin cutting them we could use one and have it appear like just as much as two, thereby doubling the amount of dinners I can get out of them. I also pre cut each chicken breast and put in a marinade so I would just have to open and stir fry and save my time.
Yes, it took a long time to do (about 3 hours with cutting, peeling, etc) but I watched my soaps while I did it and now all of our dinners for next week are taken care of. Instead of buying those bagged salads we’re making our own and are going to get a canister for that so it keeps longer. Those bagged salads were only good for 2-3 days after we opened them.
So just in my one use of this machine, I can already see the money and time savings for the future. If you use one, feel free to share your experience!
See this ugly piece o’ crap? It’s called the PetSafe Outdoor Ultrasonic Bark Deterrent. We got this to deter the yap happy Sheltie next door from barking at everything. (You know…birds, people passing by, clouds forming, dust settling, trees falling in forests in Brazil) We aimed it at the offenders porch (which is 15 ft away…WELL within the 50 yd radius it claims it works within) and tried it on every level of sensitivity and nothing. I was tricked the first day into thinking it was working but she must’ve been reacting to something else. Figures.
Sheltie temperment + irresponsible owner = bad neighbor relations and this was our last hope before complaining to the association. I don’t want to be one of THOSE people but we’re both not even able to relax in our own home anymore. I am keeping it in case we get another small dog and it will hopefully work in that instance during training because unlike our rude neighbor we want to be responsible. But for crazy eyed demon dogs who are starved for attention even if it’s bad, it does nothing. (But then again the dog is locked up for 10-12 hours a day during the week) Some people claim it works for them and maybe it does for some but it didn’t for us.
The dog is attacking the door as I type and the owner does nothing. I wonder, is there some kind of shock collar or corrective device I can put on the owner to make her get off her lazy ass and be a responsible dog owner?? I’ve had dreams where I’m tazing her (owner)…is that bad?
Every morning I watch the news and every morning I hear “gas prices have hit a new high again today” or “prices are going up at the grocery store” or my favorite “if you want luggage on your trip then we’re going to charge you to check ANY bags in addition to the price hikes we already made for fuel surcharges.” I see people on local news saying they’re having to make choices on what bills to pay in order to fill up the gas tank to go to work for a job that no longer pays enough for them to have the “luxury” of a normal day of shopping. It’s now people making lists of what they need, where they can go closest to them to get the bare necessities and go home. Vacations are being cancelled or scaled back considerably. I seriously have to change the channel now when the “pump patrol” or oil prices start coming up. I cannot take hearing what new thing is jumping up to a ridiculous level and will put the crunch on even more people.
So what about you? How are soaring prices on everything affecting you? If they’re not, what’s your secret to beating the system?
I don’t know about you but I find it highly irritating when I go to the grocery store and come out to find some local business has jammed a flyer under my windsheild wiper. I don’t need your coupons, I don’t need to know what your latest sale is and I don’t need a grand opening fyi. I don’t like the idea of someone touching my car either. So out of that a simple solution was made. I’ve been sliding this little darling on my dashboard when I go inside and I’ve been immune to the flyer issue while others have them on their cars.
I don’t know if they figure someone who would put that in plain sight would probably come visit them in a rather unpleasant way if they ignored it but it does keep them away. If you’re sick of your car being yet another way for people to spam you, click here to get yours.
When Conan O’Brien vacates his space to take over for the “retiring” Jay Leno, former SNL star Jimmy Fallon will step into the high haired redhead’s place. This should be interesting to say the least.
I fear that Conan will have to reign in his comedy to suit the masses instead of being able to have the freedom to do some of the things his 12:37am time slot allows him. With Jimmy he is SO hyper in interviews and skits that he can barely sit still or keep a straight face. Not sure how well that translates to sitting in a chair and interviewing others. Regardless, I’ll give it a watch and hope for the best for both of them.
While I think Crosby Loggins is talented, I was rooting for Jesse Snider to win. I’ll definitely give a listen to anything he puts out as I’m all for rock and roll making a comeback.
If you’re like me and you were looking for the brownie recipe from the National Body Challenge episode with Vanessa and Fiona, look no further! This brownie has 88 calories and 1 gram of fat per serving. I haven’t tried them yet but plan on it soon…minus the espresso powder…yuk!!
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