We didn’t get one last year because we were moving from one area to another, but this year, we’re all nice and settled. To put it bluntly, the boyfriend and I are coupon whores. We hate eating somewhere if we don’t have a coupon. Wow, that makes it sound like we’re being cheap. Frankly, we are. Unless we have some reason to eat somewhere without a coupon (meeting friends somewhere, special occasion, whatever) we just don’t. Or, we sometimes eat without a coupon… begrudgingly.
Nearl all of the coupons we use right now come in the mail. You’d be surprised the amount of junk mail and coupon flyers that arrive in our mailbox. But it tends to be the same things, week after week. Even though the Arby’s coupons are amazing (3 for $5 Beef ‘N Cheddars!), man cannot live on shaved roast beef alone.
So, like our experiment two years ago (which went very well), we’re grabbing another Entertainment Book. I frankly don’t know how it will work out. The quality of the coupons in the Entertainment Book varies widely from region to region. The ones in Rochester were spectacular, and it more than paid for itself. The nice thing about Entertainment Book’s website is that they give you a preview of some of the coupons you’ll be getting in your book. I can tell from the preview for the Washington DC/Northern Virginia one that we’ll use enough to at least save us the price of the book. So it’s about as safe of a gamble as they come.
Come back at the end of the year, and I’ll tally up exactly how much we save, and estimate any extra costs (gas for driving out of our way, Metro fare, whatevs). Hopefully, it will make for an interesting year that gets us out to places that don’t mail coupons straight to our house.
If you decide to try out the Entertainment Book for yourself, be sure to check out my list of tips for getting the most out of your Entertainment Book.
*Disclosure: I get $4 if you buy an Entertainment Book through one of the links on this site. The links also serve as coupons themselves, and will sometimes save you money off the price of the Entertainment Book when you go through the link rather than going to the website directly (depending on the current promotion).
Stephanie,
In a similar vein, there is now a fantastic website called Groupon.com. It lists a “deal of the day” in your local area (they are in a lot of big cities already but not all of them). You can buy gift certificates for restaurants, salons, massage, gyms, etc. for 50% off the retail value. I have received $35 worth of restaurant food and drink at local restaurants for $15, $50 worth of groceries for $25. The deals are fantastic. The added bonus of that site is that you can purchase only the deals that you actually want or think that you’ll use. It’s stretched my “entertainment” budget significantly!
I remember reading about this in your blog last time, and unfortunately they just don’t have good enough deals for where I live (Vermont), but there’s a chance the boy and I may be moving to Boston later in the year, so it might be worth a test run then. I wish there were more deals like this!
I’ve had the Northern VA Entertainment Book for now the second year. My boyfriend and I love going to movies, and the amount we saved just from the movies paid for itself. I rarely shop at Safeway, but I do so once a quarter for the $5 coupon. I’ve given some of the coupons to my friends to go to amusement parks and everything. Overall I really love these books, but I think I’m going to follow your lead and make note of how much I’m saving before I renew.
Do you have a spare coupon for Cantina D’Italia restaurant? (Any location will do)
It’s a friend’s favorite restaurant and she has been in the hospital 3 times for more than 2 weeks each since May. As soon as she is sprung, I’d like to treat her to dinner.
I’d be delighted to send you a dollar to cover postage.
Please let me know if you can do it.
I never got to buy the book this year.
Thanks,
Roberta
I’ve used the Entertainment Book in the past and split the cost with a few friends. If you do it that way, you save even more money and use only the coupons you need.
I have used the Entertainment Book in the past but I haven’t gotten one this year.
There are so many coupons in each Entertainment Book, one thing I do is give coupons to friends that like different restaurants than I do…it saves them money.
The best deals on Entertainment Books seem to come toward the end of the year in November and December. During these months you can often get significant savings on the price of the book plus get free shipping.
That’s a great tip to split the cost of a book and share the coupons!
Thanks Mark! Actually, I find the good deals on the Entertainment Book start in July. The problem with waiting until November or later is that some of the coupons expire in November, and you don’t have much time to use the coupons before they all expire at the end of the year. I don’t think it’s worth it to wait very long into the year, because you’re cutting down on the number of occasions where you’ll have use for a coupon. August is about the latest I would buy an Entertainment Book, personally.
I bought the book last year and ended up spending way more than I would have without the book. We ended up going to a lot of places just because of the discounts (adverisement at it’s finest). But it is a great way to save money on entertainment if you were going to do it with or without the book.
just wanted to add, i know some of the books have coupons for $5 off $50 at a lot of iga grocery stores & whatnot. i work at stop and shop and these are the types of competetor coupons we accept, no matter how far away the competitor is. as long as it’s not expired, it’s a good way to save some money on groceries.
Never heard of an Entertainment Book, sounds amazing! I’m going to find out where to get one around where I live.
Thanks for the Information!
Matt
Thank you so much for the info in this article. I started using coupons 3 years ago and I totally love it!! Using coupons is a way of life for me now:)
This is pretty similar to GroupOn, which IMHO, it is a pretty helpful site
Pretty cool, I like that they’ve partnered with B&N. I’ve also used restaurant.com for all my food discounts. Thanks for the info.
I love all these sites that help me save money especially since the price of everything continues to soar. Thank you