[marglo]

This is an interesting article and thread. I found that we do many of the things mentioned. We are both seniors, don't eat as much as we used too (or at least we shouldn't!) so we can save if we try. We usually eat lunch out rather than dinner. If available and sounds good, we order off the senior menu, if not, we often share an entree and I may order a small salad to go with it, we just drink water most of the time or share a soda. We use restaurant.com but find most of the restaurants in our area insist on us buying about $10 more than we want in order to use the coupon. I recently bought one certificate for $4 and we are going out with another couple, so they will be the ones ordering the extra $10 and they will still be paying less than if we didn't use the certificate so I think that's a better way to do it. If we are local (not traveling) and we can afford it, we may each order our own entree but then take home 1/2 of them for another meal. At times we have the Entertainment Book and use the coupons in it or the card to get 1/2 off but really we don't eat out enough to justify it every year. I think we eat out more when we have the book just because we want to get our money back, but we really can't afford to eat out that much even if it is 50% off! Occasionally I take on a mystery shopping assignment and get a free (reimbursed) meal that way. Once or twice a year, our daughters treat us to a meal...now that's a good deal! :-)