Restaurant.com coupons. Use them or lose them?

With the economy nearly in shambles, many of us have tightened our belts down to the very first notch. One casualty of all this belt-tightening is the practice of dining out. Some frugal readers, however, have found a way to eat out at fine restaurants for a fraction of the typical cost, by using a site called Restaurant.com.

Restaurant.com sells printable, online "gift certificates" to an array of restaurants nationwide. Type in a Seattle zip code, for instance, and over 135 restaurants will pop up. The gift certificates offered by Restaurant.com typically come in $10 or $25 increments, but you pay only $3 and $10 for them, respectively. Occasionally, Restaurant.com will offer a special bonus code that allows you to buy these certificates for even less, sometimes as much as 80% off.

Great deal, huh? Well...sort of.

The gift certificates really aren't the "same as cash" gift certificates that we all know and love. They're really more like coupons that you can buy. Each certificate comes with a (sometimes hefty) set of restrictions, such as a $35 minimum purchase, an exclusion of alcoholic beverages, a limit of how many certificates can be used per restaurant, per month, and a limited number of days and times that the coupon can be used.

Plus, many of the restaurants that participate in the Restaurant.com program aren't exactly everyone's favorites, although I noticed a few popular places, such as 88 Keys, Alki Crab and Fish, and Kabul Afghan Cuisine.

Restaurant.com's gift cards were the subject of a LifeHacker.com article, and while the article itself was relatively positive, the reader's comments were split pretty equally between those who loved the gift cards and felt they were a great value, and those who felt they were a rip-off due to the excessive restrictions.

What's my verdict? Try the coupons when you have a bonus code to purchase them at the absolute lowest price, and use them only if you are a die-hard frugalite who is patient enough to deal with all the restrictions. The most satisfied customers of Restaurant.com were the ones who read the fine print, and understood exactly what they were getting.

What about you, Frugal Readers? Have you used Restaurant.com, and if so, what was your experience? I welcome your comments!

Frugal Lift Tickets at Summit at Snoqualmie

There's never been a better time to be a girl who shreds the slopes. The Summit at Snoqualmie is offering a program called "Women Of Winter" or W.O.W. On Thursdays throughout March, women can purchase a discounted lift ticket for $30, to use between 9 AM and 12:30 PM at the Central Summit. Click here for details.

Not a woman? Well….if you’re at least over 62, you can take advantage of a similar deal, called Senior Skier Tuesdays. It functions similarly to “Women of Winter”, in that it involves printing out a coupon for a $30 lift ticket, valid for the hours between 9 AM and 12:30, only this time it’s on Tuesday. For details, click here.

Not a Senior, nor a woman? Well, now is the cheapest time all year to purchase the Summit's Big S Pass for the 2009/2010 winter season. The Unlimited Pass now costs $359 for an adult, and is good for any day of the week. The Limited Pass costs $299 for an adult, and is good for weekdays only. Both passes pay for themselves in roughly 6 to 7 visits.

So shred on, Frugal Chicks and Seniors--and everybody else!

Seattle City Stimulus Going on this Weekend!

Don't forget to take part in the grassroots campaign, Seattle City Stimulus, going on this week, today through Sunday. The brainchild of Shannon Kelly, owner of In Your Head Marketing Consultancy, Seattle City Stimulus is an effort to encourage Seattle-ites to shop locally this weekend, and think Boutique rather than Big Box. Go to the City Stimulus web site, download a free stimulus card, and show it at over 50 local establishments for deep discounts like happy hour all night at selected bars and pubs, and up to 50% off regular-priced items at stores like Clutch. Can you say "sustainable" AND "frugal"?

Teen Tix = $5 Tickets for Art Events for Teens

Teen Tix is a discount ticket program for folks between the ages of 13-18. It works like this: your Teen registers for a Teen Tix pass, which comes in the mail as a keychain fob. On the day of a performance that participates in the Teen Tix program, the teen may call ahead to purchase a ticket or go directly to the box office to purchase a ticket. Only one ticket per teen may be purchased, and the tickets are not guaranteed availability, so it’s wise to call ahead.

Teen Tix can be used at many venues, like Seattle Repertory Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, ACT Theatre, Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF Cinema), and the Seattle Opera. And if your teen is actually into opera, then give yourself a great big ol' pat on the back. You've done something right.

On Sundays, teens may purchase a second $5 ticket for an adult. Who says having teenagers is expensive?

Frugalicious Seattle Has a Sister Site!

Hey Frugalicious Readers! Just to let everyone know I'm now posting local frugal info as the Seattle Budget Entertainment Examiner at Seattle Examiner.Com. Don't worry, I still update Frugalicious Seattle...I like to think of the two sites as my children. You don't feed one child and starve the other, that just wouldn't be kosher...

But do check out my Examiner blog--If the two sites were siblings, Frugalicious would be the brainy one, and Examiner would be the pretty one. How's that for bad parenting? ;)

Urban Drinks.Com vs. Seven Nites.Com--Who's Got the Better Happy Hour Search Feature?

Early in the life of this blog, (re: July), I mentioned the coolness of UrbanDrinks.Com, where you can search for a happy hour near you, right this very minute. Urban Drinks is national in scope, but its Seattle Happy Hour page currently lists 350 bars, pubs, restaurants, etc., that have a happy hour.

Lest Urban Drinks should think itself alone in this worthy endeavor, an alternate happy hour search site has been brought to my attention--Seven Nites.Com. Founded by Seattle Happy Hour Examiner Ryan Hagg, Seven Nites takes the happy hour search and "brings it home" to Seattle. So far, there are 275 bars in Seven Nites' database, seventy-five fewer than Urban Drinks, but Seven Nites gives you the option of joining their mailing list and getting additional happy hour discounts from top bars in the city.

What say you, Frugalicious Readers? If Seven Nites and Urban Drinks were in a barroom brawl, who would come out on top, and who would get the obligatory smash over the head with a broken chair? (If this were a Western, that is...)

Calling All Bibliophiles! Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair This Weekend.

If you find old and rare books and ephemera fascinating, or if you just enjoy saying "ephemera", you will probably enjoy the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. Over 100 book dealers will be showcasing their wares. Why have I included this on our humble frugal blog? Because tickets for both days are only $5 at the door, and children 12 and under are free...

http://www.seattlebookfair.com/