Do you love going out to eat?

So many Americans love going out to eat. I have heard by lots of viewers that they are not willing to sacrifice going out to eat. Many due to exhaustion of working a full days work. Here are some tips on keeping your out to eat expenses down.
1. Look at your local restaurants and see what day they offer for the kids to eat free. Make a list you can keep in your purse for those exhausted days.
2. Keep the local flyer's on coupons on restaurants. Many times there are good deals for the family. Keep a little folder and put it in the car you frequently use.
3. If your not tired of fast food restaurants, like McDonald's, etc. Use the dollar menu! A family of 4 can eat for about $8.
4. Drink water when out to eat... This is the most expensive item on most restaurant menus. On average it only cost the restaurant 28 cents for the cup and 3 cents for the soda. So when you pay $1.99 for a drink. Your giving them a huge profit. A drink at a restaurant cost more than a 2 liter at Wal-mart.
5. Use www.restaurants.com to get a gift card cheaper for a restaurant
6. Keep a cash system on how much you are going to spend in a week or month on restaurants. When your out of money, thats its... Don't spend anymore!
7. If you love to eat really expensive ask for a gift cards to that restaurant for Christmas or birthdays. This will help off set the cost to you.
8. Get on the restaurants email list. Many times they send coupons over email (Zios is very good at this)
9. Plan ahead if you know you go out to eat on Sundays because of church and the time crunch. Make a crock pot meal Saturday that you can just plug in before you leave for church. Learn your schedule!
10. Look for free items! For veterans day Applebees, Golden Corral, Hy-vee offer free meals. Also for firefighters on firefighters day Baskin Robbins offer free ice cream to all.
11. See if the company you work for offers deals for using corporate savings. For example Sprint has a website all employees can use for deals. Are bank also does this.
12. Eat lunch instead of supper. Huge savings! Some times the same meal is $2 more for supper than at lunch.
13. Share meals with your spouse. Get an appetizer and one meal. This is usually filling enough to get you home!
14. Keep a goodie bag in your car if you travel a lot or have sports events... This will allow you to make it home to make a meal if you prefer to eat at home.
15. If your not to hungry, and have kids with you at a nice restaurant order a kids meal. This is usually cheaper. Check the prices though!

Gift Certificates

Do you know that on restaurants.com you can find restaurant gift certificates at a cheaper value? They usually have some stipulations on the gift certficiate but however if you want a good deal this is the way to go. Some stipulations might include you spending $35 or such. Just read the fine print before using to make sure this is a good deal for you. Usually you can get a $25 gift certficate for $10. There sometimes are coupon codes out in the internet to google that can even lower this price. I personally have not used this but do know of some friends who have and love this. I think this website would work for special occasions and large groups of people of large families. I plan on using this soon.

Large Family Savings at Restuarants

Wow, lately I have had the opportunity of going from a family of 4 to a family of seven. Now I have had to find out other ways to save big when going out to eat. No longer can we go to the really nice restaurants and make it affordable. Great ways to save. Check dollar menus! Mcdonalds, Burger King have these. Taco bell also has a dollar menu, some items are even cheaper than $1. That is always a good thing. Subway has buy a footlong for $5. Little Cesars has pizza for $5. Yeah I know their left overs are not so great however for a quick meal on the go. These ideas can be very affordable. Always drink water. That saves the $ even more! All of us can go to Taco Bell for under $15. Still remember to keep a food budget no matter what size of a family you have. This will help you stay on track to keeping your dollar where it belongs.