Save Money On Eating Out – By Going To 2 Restaurants

Double the places you go… to save money? This concept works; trust me.

Last weekend my brother-in-law recommended a fantastic restaurant to check out. It was Italian and had great reviews – we had to go.

Before I took the Mrs. out, I went online to check out the menu (and pricing). I wanted to see how much to budget for this special meal and get an idea of what was on offer at this highly-hyped place.

Looking through the menu, I realized that while the gourmet food was reasonably priced at about $17/main plate (including tax & tip), the wine and drinks were quite expensive. I took a look around the neighborhood and saw an opportunity for some savings while having a great night out.

There was a bar next door that had a great Thursday night drink menu – packed with specials. If we extended the night to have a drink later, and only had water with dinner we could save a ton of cash and do more.

Additionally we could skip the post-dinner coffee, in-restaurant, and either have an extra drink, save the cash or hit a coffee shop in the neighborhood.

By checking out the menu earlier, we weren’t surprised by expensive drink purchases and tried two new places instead of just one. Check out the full breakdown of costs below:

Potential Cost: $90

2 Meals $17 x 2 = $34

Wine = $44

Coffees: $12

Actual Cost: $50

2 Meals = $34

2 Drinks at bar close by: $12

2 Espressos at coffee shop: $4

WIN