Smart dining save money
[music] bitsy: hi everyone i'm bitsy jennings fromthe frugalicious show, and i have a special guest with me today, pleasewelcome my friend monica from 365 guide. welcome monica! monica: hi bitsy i'm happy to be here. bitsy: and we're really happy to have you.now today monica is here to talk to us about dining out on a budget. monica: i'm here to tell you that yes it ispossible! sometimes people feel guilty about going out because it's so expensivecompared to staying at
home, but you just need to know where to go.and most people need advice which is why i started my website. bitsy: right, and you're coming out with abook. tell us a little bit about that. monica: yes it's called 365 guide drink eatsave every day of the year. and it's basically packed with and eating anddrinking deal for every day of the year in new york city. bitsy: that's awesome. monica: so your fans can find 365 guide ontwitter and facebook as well as
my365guide.com i'm on there every day givingyou a deal a day. bitsy: of course my365guide.com is a greatresource for all those dining deals in nyc, but what are some of your otherfavorite websites? monica: i really like yelp and citysearch.they are national websites and yelp has a lot of really honest reviews, ilove that. citysearch has useful information like whether they take creditcards or what their happy hour specials are. bitsy: ahhh, happy hours make me so happy.for hours! actually, you know what, i did just download this amazingly frugaliciousapp, which means it's
free, and it's called drink owl, and it allowsyou to find happy hour deals in your city so check it out. now let's getdown to the brass tacks of this whole thing. what are your tips for savingmoney while dining out? monica: my first tip is to follow your favoriterestaurants online. even if you're traveling find out where you're goingand find some restaurants you want to try and follow them on facebook andtwitter and often this is how you'll find out about special offers or couponsthat could be available. bitsy: there you go and that's a great tipand i've seen where a lot of restaurants and business will ask you to likethem on facebook and just for
doing so they'll give you a special discountor a coupon. monica: that's true, a few months ago haagendazs was giving away free dazzler sundaes and chipotle had a buy oneget one free burrito deal, just for liking them on facebook. bitsy: that's awesome. what's your next greattip? monica: well don't be afraid to ask. you knowa lot of times you'll go into a nice restaurant and you'll feel kind of"cheap" like i shouldn't be asking if there's a happy hour here - theyhave them! why not take advantage of them? and if you're in a citywith a theatre district, a lot
of times they have a price fixed menu beforeand after shows. bitsy: that's a great idea and what a niceevening out that would be. tip number 3. monica: well consider the timing of goingout. bitsy: you mean like the day of the week? monica: yes, you know sometimes earlier inthe week say monday through wednesday restaurants aren't as busy and youmight find that you get to eat free with the kids or have a free drink ora free dessert. you just never know what you might find.
bitsy: you'll never know unless you ask. andyou'll have the added bonus of not having to deal with crowds or reservationsthat you might need for a friday or saturday. monica: definitely, and also consider thetime of day. you know, these same restaurants have lunch specials, and sometimesthey might go till 4 or 4:30 so if you can get in there a little earlyyou can linger into the early evening, you will save 20% on the same exactfood. bitsy: that is awesome. and speaking of timinglet's not forget about restaurant week!
monica: absolutely restaurant week is a greatway to try out some fancy restaurants without spending a lot of money!and there are forty cities in the us and canada participating in restaurantweek. they'll offer three course dinners and lunches between $20 and$35! and we actually have a link below with a list of the cities so make sureyou check it out. bitsy: fantastic. monica you have given ussuch great information i'm so excited to have you here because really it'sa lot of food for thought. monica: well thanks for having me. bitsy: and thanks for watching everyone, we'vegot the links below so you
can check out all of monica's great information,and we'd love to hear from you. how do you save money when you eat out?leave us a comment and let us know. and don't forget to like us on facebookbecause we share some great deals with our fans too! bye now! and makesure to check out monica, what's your deal for tomorrow? monica: well my deal for tomorrow is a placein nyc bitsy: oh check it out, don't tell them! [laughing] monica: you have to get online to find out.
bitsy: we're going to pull you in.
