Decline of the great Aussie family mover

ONCE upon a time, it was the only car that mattered. So why have we turned our backs on the trusty sedan in favour of hatches and SUVs?

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1SbTMq9

(No heading)

Barrett TownshipDonald H. and Judith B. Crabtree to Edward R. Paul and Cathryn O. Hathaway, Lot 10, Plotting No. 1, Buck Hill Falls, $290,000Eldred TownshipJames J. and Jennifer E. Bates to Mark Warych and Elizabeth Chung, Lot 116, Skyview Acres, $252,500Hamilton TownshipRural Conservation Partners LP (by Gen Partner), Cold Currents LLC (Gen Partner) to 3 Trout Properties LLC, Parcels Strawberry Hill Road, [...]

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1OZ1Exv

Polish restaurant offers"authentic," old fashioned cooking

Aneta Kolakowski and Joanna Nicka have been friends since they met when their children were in the same recreational programs five years ago.But they always shared the belief that, although there are a few Polish delis in the Poconos, there was no Polish restaurant in Monroe County, one that serves food like grandma used to make when both grew up in their native Poland before their families came to the United States about 10 years ago.That is, until late spring when they acted [...]

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1Ol3ZzG

Polish deli becomes a local staple for ethnic food

Bozena Lukomski and her husband moved from Poland to the United States in 1990. It was the year after the Berlin Wall was opened and the year before the Soviet Union collapsed. “Poland is a very different country now,” Lukomski said recently from across the checkout counter of the Pocono Polka Deli, which she owns and operates from a storefront in the small plaza behind the Express Gas station where Route 209 and Business Route 209 converge. She thought [...]

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1OZ1Eh7

Gifts for Kids: 20 Educational Toys That Cost Less Than $35

Every kid looks forward to the holiday season, and it’s no secret why: presents!

Although Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are holidays cherished for family gatherings and festive feasts, for many children, the real magic is in what they get to unwrap.

But if you’re planning to spend money on gifts for the kids in your life, don’t waste your hoarded pennies on junk they’ll forget about in a few weeks. And it’d be better if the gifts served multiple purposes, right? What if they were both entertaining and educational?

We raked the web for this year’s best educational gifts for kids. The best part? They’re all under $35.

Infants and Toddlers

1. Magic Mozart Cube: $31.95

This colorful, musical gift will teach baby about cause and effect relationships and increase hand-eye coordination. Its sounds are harmonious and high-quality, so it won’t give you a headache.

Musical exposure in youth is said to have a ton of brainy benefits — so get your kid conducting today!

2. Pound and Tap Bench: $26.89

Another musical gift, the pound and tap bench is actually two toys in one.

Toddlers can use the hammer to send colorful balls slinking down the xylophone — or play the actual instrument once they’ve honed their motor skills in a few months.

Source: Amazon

3. Infantino Jumbo Elephant Shape Sorter: $13.99

Shape sorters are a classic educational toy for infants — but we love this adorable elephant version!

The bright, multicolored shapes will keep baby amused for hours. Once they’re all in place, press the elephant’s ears to start all over again.

Ages 2-4

4. Tobbles: $23.95

Think a simple stacking game can’t be educational? Think again.

Tobbles spin, wiggle and wobble. Toddlers will learn motor skills and patience as they stack them — or have a blast rolling them across the floor.

Source: Amazon

5. Beginner Pattern Blocks: $17.95

Part puzzle, part building blocks, this handsome wooden set will last a lifetime.

It’ll also help your child learn colors, familiar objects and how to match shapes.

6. My First Brain Quest: $9.33

Hearing a lot of “Why? Why? Why?”

Turn your toddler’s questions around with this game. Not only will it help develop their word skills — it’s also a fun, interactive way for you and your child to play.

I loved Brain Quest when I was growing up — they come in a variety of versions, based on age, school subject or themes like Black History and Presidents.

Ages 4-6

7. GoldieBlox: lots of <$30 options

Girls can be engineers, too — and they sometimes grow into high-powered, high-earning women proud of their “nontraditional” roles.

So get a young girl in your life to put Barbie down and pick up building. She could develop life skills to help level out the STEM gender gap and earn a solid paycheck.

8. Squigz: $24.95

Admit it: you have fond memories of Lincoln Logs and Legos, but these nostalgic toys might be  old-fashioned in your child’s eyes.

Squigz combine the fun of designing and building your own creations with a new tactile twist. Instead of rigid blocks, Squigz are twisty, bendy, squishable and suction-able.

Squigz help engage creativity, hone motor skills and develop investigative curiosity — not to mention keeping kids occupied for hours.

Source: Fat Brain Toys, LLC.

9. Doorbell House: $23.99

This dollhouse doubles as a secret hiding place — and kids can carry it with them using its convenient handle.

The house boasts four doors, each a different color and with its own number, key and doorbell. Your child will love carrying around her top-secret stash and learn to identify colors, numbers and problem-solving skills by matching the keys to the correct doors.

She’ll also use her imagination to create stories about the four little people who live inside (included with purchase!).

10. Growums Gardens: most sets $9.99

We’re constantly reminded childhood obesity is on the rise. Even if your child isn’t gaining extra weight, learning to eat healthy is important — and hard in a world full of dollar menus and Dairy Queens.

Children grow their own gardens and learn where their food comes from — the magic of watching a seed turn into a tomato might even be motivation to eat it.

Growums kits are affordable and all-inclusive for a variety of favorite foods, including pizza and tacos.

Ages 6-8

11. Perplexus: $22.95

This hand-held puzzle game might seem simple: keep the metal ball rolling forward on the track. But its spherical design and various obstacles make that task a challenge — one that will increase your child’s focus, spatial logic and hand-eye coordination.

One commenter even mentioned that her 6-year-old son would rather play with his perplexus than her iPhone, so it’s safe to say it’s an attention-getter. It’s portable and comes in four difficulty levels for children of any age — even adults!

12. Blokus: $24.99

Blokus has won the Mensa Select Award and a Teacher’s Choice Award. Up to four players can learn about strategizing, abstract reasoning and spatial logic as they try to gain more territory than their opponents — and block opponents’ advances.

13. Dude Diary: $7.57

Does your little boy think diaries are for girls? He might be missing the chance to develop his creative expression skills — and a whole lot of fun.

Enter Dude Diary, a guided (and lockable!) book of dude-friendly activities. If he can’t get enough of it, there are more fun editions available for him to write and draw in — and possibly destroy.

This edible chemistry set allows kids to safely perform experiments they can eat! From fizzy drinks to color-changing jelly, your child will be a virtual Willy Wonka — and learn about problem solving, following directions and cause and effect.

Caution: if your child has food allergies, pick a different gift. Some experiments could cause a negative allergic reaction.

Source: Jet

15. Gravity Drop Puzzle Game: $23.99

Help your child learn to apply logic with this falling marble game. Why do we love it? Because it comes with 60 different puzzles spanning four experience levels — so as your child grows, so does the game.

16. FOLD: 10 Origami Brain Teasers: $14.95

Origami doesn’t have to be a dying art. This book contains ten intricate, colorful origami brain teasers to teach young hands spatial reasoning and patience.

Plus, after they finish the patterns, they’ll be hungry to learn more — and might develop a brainy hobby that costs only printer paper. Who knows? The skills might even earn them money when they’re older.

17. Magic Penny Magnet Kit: $24.95

Our list of educational gifts for kids would be incomplete without this device.

It teaches youngsters about magnetism and helps develop their curiosity, reasoning and fine motor skills — all with those pennies you’ve been hoarding!

Source: Fat Brain Toys, LLC.

Ages 10+

18. Laser Maze: $29.95

Bend laser light to solve mazes? I want this toy under my tree this year.

The set comes with 60 challenge cards, so your kids will be on their toes for months, strengthening logic skills and learning to think outside the box.

19. Junk Drawer Physics: $14.95

Kids can learn ingenuity by turning a plastic cup into a pinhole camera or creating a musical instrument out of a straw. Plus, with “50 Awesome Experiments That Don’t Cost a Thing,” you know this book is perfect for penny hoarders.

Looking for educational books for younger kids in your life? Check out our list of science books — many are for kids ages 3-10.

20. Laser-Cut Trebuchet Kit: $19.95

Don’t worry, the only seige your child can stage with this trebuchet is a desktop one. Plus, putting it together will hone their coordination skills and patience — and the finished product is a great way to learn about physics and history.

These educational gifts offer great opportunities to put a smile on your child’s face — and also come with a few extra skills worth learning.

Your Turn: What educational gifts will you get your children this holiday season?

Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a Florida native who’s never had a white Christmas.

The post Gifts for Kids: 20 Educational Toys That Cost Less Than $35 appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1Mu59s6

15 More Free Kindle Books to Inspire and Entertain You

About two months ago, I wrote an article entitled 15 Free Kindle Books to Inspire You to Great Things. Here’s the scoop, from that original article:

The Kindle is an absolute treasure trove of great free and inexpensive books – if you know where to look. Unfortunately, many of the true highlights that I’ve found for free on the Kindle aren’t anywhere near the bestseller list.

Here is a list of 15 of my favorite books for the Kindle, ones that have inspired me and made me think over the years. The material here will leave you entertained, inspired, and ready to conquer challenges in your life. These books will make you think about the deep questions in your life and figure out new paths forward for yourself.

These books will change your life if you’re willing to start reading.

But I don’t have a Kindle! If you have a smartphone or a computer, you don’t need one. Just download the free Kindle app for almost every platform under the sun – PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. You can even read Kindle books on the web if you so choose.

The best part? Your bookmark in the various Kindle books you’re reading synchronize back and forth between various devices. I have a Kindle, but sometimes I read on my phone and occasionally on my computer. It all syncs effortlessly!

The response to this article was fun, to say the least. A number of people wrote in asking for more recommendations for free books, and many more wrote in with suggestions of their own.

Based on that response, I started looking through my own Kindle history and dug out a second set of great free books that are well worth your time. Even if only one or two of these are of interest to you, you’ll still get many hours of entertainment, thought, and pleasure from these titles.

The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

In 1803, Thomas Jefferson purchased an enormous tract of land from the French, known as the Louisiana Purchase. This land more than doubled the land mass of the United States, but this land was largely unexplored in any organized fashion, with mostly just rumors and stories about what might be found out there. Jefferson then commissioned a small group of volunteers from the Army led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore and map this uncharted land, both to get an idea of what might be found in the west and to figure out if there was a “Northwest Passage” that might serve as a water-based route to the Pacific Ocean across North America.

This book consists of Lewis and Clark’s journals from that expedition and it provides perhaps the most exciting real life adventure that I’ve ever read. It’s not hard to get lost in some of the stories that the men tell as they see countless things that no European eyes had ever seen and recorded.

In particular, their notes on some of the American Indian tribes that they encountered are just fascinating. You can’t help but envision what it was like to discover completely new civilizations and ways of life. It’s also interesting to see their reactions to various things, as they interpreted some things nearly with awe while interpreting other things as being savage.

It reads like a great adventure novel full of discovery, but the best part is that it’s a true story, one that sits at a crucial point in American history.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is one of our nation’s founding fathers, famous for his work as a printer and a scientist as well as a statesman. This is his autobiography that was sadly incomplete at the time of his death, as this book ends with events that were leading up to the American revolution.

If you want a strong taste of what life was like for an intellectually curious individual in colonial America, this book is fantastic. Franklin’s down to earth voice and willingness to criticize himself makes this whole thing a fascinating and inspiring read.

This book, perhaps more than any other, makes me wish that Franklin had been given the additional time on this earth to complete it by covering the American revolution from his perspective. The events of his life up to that point are fascinating, but that would have been an amazing cherry on top.

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Silas Marner is a truly great story. On the surface, it’s a pretty simple story of the downfall and eventual redemption of a weaver, but once you start reading it, the book digs into many aspects of society and morality in various ways without detracting from the story, which is a pretty tough balance.

What is society’s responsibility toward orphans? Does morality in society come from the church or come from the hearts of individual people? What value do societal customs and traditions have? What happens to a community when a large business moves in and unseats everyone? The book addresses all of these things and more, but does it so smoothly within the context of the story that you often barely notice it. That’s the sign of a great novel.

I’m truly surprised we haven’t seen a modern retelling of Silas Marner along the lines of some of the modern retakes of works like The Great Gatsby or Romeo and Juliet. It seems like a perfect candidate for it.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

This is one of the fundamental books of political theory, and perhaps one of the most infamous as well. Machiavelli’s book essentially argues that leaders should not worry about the morality of their actions as long as those actions lead to a clear goal, largely because success in that goal will overshadow the immorality of some of the actions needed to get there. In other words, the value of the goal is more important than the value of the steps needed to get there.

For me, this book was a powerful eye opener when I was first beginning to understand politics and business. The Prince provides an incredibly powerful explanation of why (and, to some extent, how) politicians and businesspeople will make decisions that seem immoral and how those immoral choices lead to a larger goal.

Does this philosophy provide an excuse for leaders to act in immoral ways? That’s an interesting question, but there is no doubt that many leaders follow the ideas in this book and people are well-served by understanding them and knowing how they operate.

The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

The core idea (at least as I understand it) of this book is simple: it is impossible to understand much of the world with just pure reasoning and people thus use experience and intuition (and other substitutes) to be able to understand the world.

Within that simple idea, however, is a great deal of very deep thinking and insight about the world around us, how it operates, and how we operate within it. It touches upon how we use reasoning to figure out problems and how that reasoning itself often relies upon personal experiences, and from there goes in a number of interesting directions.

It’s a challenging read, to be sure, but it can be incredibly powerful. When I first read it twenty or so years ago, it helped me recognize that much of what I viewed as reasoning actually rested on a lot of experience in life and that analyzing my own experiences was perhaps the best way to lift up what I saw as “reasoning.” It changed how I looked at my life and how I studied and prepared for life’s challenges.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Faith and doubt, atheists and monks, murder and fratricide, parents and children… this book is a family story almost unparalleled in terms of the richness of the characters, the variety of moral stances of the characters, and the deepness of the relationships between them.

Taken all together, The Brothers Karamazov is an incredibly epic story of a family torn apart by societal change and differing beliefs.

What makes Karamazov even greater is how Dostoyevsky weaves so much social commentary through all of it. Rather than preaching for pages, he relates those ideas through the actions and conversations of the characters, often using an All in the Family-esque method of having family members who deeply disagree with one another (but with higher stakes involved). It ends up being a brilliant, wonderful novel that you won’t soon forget.

The Analects by Confucius

The Analects are a collection of sayings and thoughts attributed to the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius and some of his contemporaries. The book’s entire point is that a strong society is built on how the people within that society treat each other, particularly with regard to their families and their community.

The main focus of much of the Analects is on the concept of ren which is the good feeling that people get when they do something purely altruistic. When you do something for someone else, you naturally feel good about it, and Confucius argues that such a feeling is a natural guide for right behavior.

Much of The Analects, then, boils down to how to cultivate ren often in your life and that mostly comes from building strong relationships with people around you and building a strong community through helping others.

It’s a fascinating book and one that really provides some deep insight into the modern dissatisfaction that many people feel when their lives are largely without that good feeling that comes from altruism and community building.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights is the prototypical “gothic” love story, with a heavy focus on characters with strange morals and customs and a hint of the supernatural throughout, along with some scenes of mental and physical cruelty. The recent trend toward such stories in the form of books like Twilight turn out to, in many ways, be borrowed concepts from this book.

The book focuses on the relationship between Heathcliff, an orphaned child who scrabbles his way into what one might call middle class society, and Catherine, the woman that he is obsessed with to the point of destroying her marriage to another man and the consequences that has for all of the other people in their lives. There are some significant supernatural elements, particularly at the beginning and near the end, that could be argued to be projections of people’s minds as well.

For me, this book stands out due to its setting, which is simultaneously dreary and quite alive. These characters inhabit a dark and dreary place in which the brightness of the spirit of some of the characters shines like a candle in the darkness.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is the story of an affair between a married woman and a single man and how it affects the lives of everyone involved and how the overall community responds to it. It may seem like a simple plot, but more than any novel I’ve ever read about human relationships, Anna Karenina exposes the affair as being much like a pebble tossed into a still pond, with the ripples stretching ever further outward.

Like any great novel, you find yourself at various points sympathizing with and being frustrated by the main characters. Why? Because they’re intensely human, something that Tolstoy is very good at doing. Human beings are a mix of good and bad traits, and it’s that mix that makes characters interesting. Tolstoy does that perfectly, starting with the couple at the center of it all.

Anna Karenina is a novel that stuck in my mind for years after I read it, which is perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid to a novel.

The Art of War by Sun-Tzu

The Art of War is often lauded as a business book or a book to guide people’s professional relationships, which is an interesting take on an ancient work on warfare.

The book is interesting because it’s primarily about how to wage war without actually getting involved in battles. It’s all about positioning and maximizing the value of your position so you can appear to have the most value or the most threat when negotiating a solution.

Obviously, that kind of perspective has a ton of application when it comes to modern business relationships and negotiation. While The Art of War can be wordy at times and is really couched in the language of warfare, it does include some great thoughts on how to negotiate and how to make your personal value appear as high as possible.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

This is the prototypical science fiction novel, as it focuses on the work of a scientist to create artificial life and the horror of that creation. It melds together elements of science fiction and horror to create something that has been duplicated many times since, but this novel has a level of originality that is incomparable.

We’re all familiar with the basic structure of the story – a scientist scavenges body parts, assembles a humanlike form, and brings that form to life to the horror of the town in which he lives and the misery, in many ways, of the now-living being. The story is familiar because it’s been borrowed and remixed over and over again, so why read this one?

This original stands out because of the characters. This book really captures the madness of the doctor, the horrible existence of the creation, and the disgust and anger of other members of society. More than anything, though, the creature is the one that brings about sympathy in me as his horrible, lonely, rejected existence is so painful and it was foisted on him without choice. Read her book and you’ll feel that incredible sympathy, too.

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations is one of the most powerful books ever written on economics. It collects together countless observations about the industrial revolution and develops some very interesting theories about those observations on things as diverse as the division of labor, the perspective that workers are essentially “assets,” the growth of investments and long-term economic growth, and how all of these things affect states and governments.

Almost every page of this book contains something well worth thinking deeply about, and although the book was obviously written two centuries ago, most of the ideas presented in this book have strong echoes in modern life. We’re still struggling with these things – the role and value of the worker in a business, the relationship between the economy and the state, and so on.

It’s a challenging read, but it’s a really worthwhile one if you want to gain a greater grasp on how the world works.

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

Unlike many of the novels listed here, Sister Carrie is a pretty uplifting novel about a woman who leaves a small town to go to a large city to find her fortune and eventually does after some trials and tribulations.

This book stands out from the pack because of how real the characters are. They make a lot of romantic and personal choices that would seem completely normal today and the consequences of those actions feel far more realistic than they do in other novels. The main character, Carrie, feels like a modern woman in a lot of ways, though this novel is from the start of the 1900s.

How does it feel modern? Many novelists of Dreiser’s time liked to turn characters into idealized people or despicable villains that either showed off total moral virtue or else were dastardly in almost every way. Carrie manages to be immoral by the standards of the time in many ways, but is not viewed as dastardly. She’s viewed as human, and that’s what makes everything work so well.

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

This book is probably as close to a modern romance as appears on this list. The book focuses on Lucy, an English woman traveling in Italy who meets an eccentric family and eventually begins to fall in love with their son.

Lucy is a wonderful character, developing a headstrong independence during the era when women’s suffrage was really taking root. Her strong views and growing sense of self-determination and independence make the book feel almost as if it is watching a modern woman be born into Edwardian England.

I read this during a period in my life when I was devouring classic novels and although the subject matter isn’t something I typically enjoy, Lucy has stuck with me over the years, which is a sure sign of a good book.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The Jungle tells the story of an immigrant family made to work under horrific conditions in a meat packing plant, the details of which became a scandal at the time and led to some serious scrutiny of the meat packing industry. It can still turn your stomach today.

Yet, if this were just a stomach-turner, I wouldn’t be talking about it here. It’s the story of the immigrant family that sticks with you. Most of us are the descendants of immigrants and it’s often hard to remember the challenges they went through due to adapting to a new culture, learning a new language, and becoming a part of a new community all at once.

This is a heroic tale of immigrants with a brutal backdrop. Those elements bundled together make this book incredibly memorable.

Hopefully, this list has helped you find some great free reading to take on during the coming months. Enjoy!

The post 15 More Free Kindle Books to Inspire and Entertain You appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar The Simple Dollar http://ift.tt/1Lsoeaa

How to Eat for Free and Other Tips for Saving Money at Restaurants

Maybe you’d like to have someone else do the cooking more often, but you’re on a budget. What can you do? You could be eating out for way less than you think, and much more often.

A recent Zagat survey found the average per-person cost to dine out in the U.S. is $39.40. Ouch!  But when my wife and I go to Applebee’s, we eat for free.

You can sometimes cut the cost of a lunch or dinner out by more than half using these 25 tips. That means you can eat out twice as often on the same budget.

Let’s get started with our free meal trick…

1. Use American Express Card Special Offers

Search the “Amex Offers & Benefits” section on your American Express account page. Our upcoming free meal came from a $10 credit offer for buying something from Newegg.com using Amex Express Checkout.

I used each of my three Amex cards to buy a $10 printable gift card for Applebee’s. The $10 credits appeared on my accounts within a few days, refunding 100% of my purchases. Voila — $30 to spend at Applebee’s!

Basic statement credits offers are common. A recent one was “Spend $30 at Chili’s and get a $10 statement credit.” Click the offer to load it to your account and use your card when you pay. That’s it.

Offers are tailored to individual accounts. For example, one of my cards has 64 offers (three for restaurants) while another only has 25.

You can also follow the Amex Special Offer Facebook page for deals sometimes not available on your account page.

2. Buy Discounted Gift Cards for Eating Out

Many people don’t realize you can buy discounted gift cards for restaurants online.

I recently bought a $25 Applebee’s gift card (yes, we eat there occasionally) on Cardpool for $19.75 — a 21% discount.

I stick to big sites like Cardpool and Raise. I’ve never had a problem with printed digital cards or physical cards sent by mail.

Want to save even more? Buy discounted gift cards through cash-back websites and use a good cash-back credit card to knock a higher percentage more off the cost.

3. Use the Right Credit Card

Use one of these cashback credit cards when eating out. Getting 1-2% back may not sound like much, but the savings add up when combined with these other strategies.

If you have a Chase Freedom card, check their cash back calendar to see when you’ll get 5% back on restaurant meals.

4. Go During Happy Hour

Try eating at restaurant bars during happy hour. You’ll save on drinks, and find half-priced appetizers at many places, often only in the bar area.

Seating is another advantage. When we’re happy to sit at the bar, we often walk past lines of people waiting for tables in the main dining area.

5. Make a Meal of Appetizers and Sides

When we became vegetarians, my wife and I avoided meat by ordering side dishes and appetizers. Sometimes it ended up being the best food in the restaurant, and the meal was much cheaper than two entrées.

6. Eat at Casinos

Before slot-machine casinos were outlawed in Florida, many offered players free drinks and meals. We went to one that gave us each a free dinner and $5 for the slots. We ate before we lost any money, so we got a free meal and made money.

Free meals are less common now, but many casinos have inexpensive restaurants to attract customers. They also have events with free food, like free slot tournaments you can find online.

7. Research Menus Online Before Eating Out

Most restaurants have their menus on their websites, so you can choose a place with inexpensive dishes you like. We also use their websites to find daily specials before we go out.

You can also see menus for restaurants across the country (even some that have no website) at AllMenus.com.

8. Join a Vegan Group

Find vegan groups on MeetUp and join one that regularly has pot-luck dinners. For our last vegan potluck dinner, we bought two cans of dolmas from Trader Joe’s and stacked them on a plate with some lettuce-leaf garnish.

Total cost: $5.

They were a hit, and we ate ten delicious dishes brought by others. Even if you’re not a vegan you’ll be welcomed as a potential convert. It’s a great way to get out of the house and have a big meal that’s (mostly) cooked by others.

9. Eat a Late Lunch

Items on lunch menus almost always cost less, even when they’re the same entrées served for dinner. So eat out for lunch to save money.

You can eat an early dinner at lunch prices if you go to one of the many restaurants that serve lunch until four in the afternoon. We especially like to eat lunch out as a cheaper way to check out expensive restaurants.

10. Go Sampling

We sometimes buy a few things when we go to Whole Foods to eat all the free samples. But we also eat enough samples to fill up for free, justifying the cost of the wine and craft beer they serve (and yes, you can drink as you shop).

Ask employees in your local grocery stores if they have special sample days.

11. Drink Water When Eating Out

Wine and beer with dinner can quickly get expensive. Make eating out about food, and save the drinking for when you get home. We order water with lemon (always free).

12. Bring Your Own Wine

If you are going to have wine when you eat out, why not bring your own? According to Eater.com, many restaurants will let you do this. It’s certainly cheaper than paying full price for a glass off the wine list!

13. Skip the Appetizers When Eating Out

Unless you’re going to make a meal out of them as way to save money, skip the appetizers.

In our experience, most restaurant meals provide more than enough food, so save the money.

14. Join Mailing Lists

If you like a restaurant, and it has a club or mailing list, sign up! You’ll get emails with special offers and maybe a free appetizer once in a while. We receive both regularly from several restaurants.

15. Go to Free Investment Seminars

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FIRA) warns “free-meal investment seminars are not solely about education.” They’re meant to sell you something.

Still, they are educational at times, and entertaining. We’ve eaten the free meals many times without buying anything. Earl Bronsteen has done even better, writing a book about his attempt to eat 50 free lunches at financial seminars in one year.

16. Eat at Buffets

Dining at an all-you-can eat buffet is a way to get the most food for your money. If like us, after a lunch buffet you’re too full to eat dinner that night, you’ll reduce your food expenses, but maybe not your weight.

17. Split a Meal When Eating Out

When we find restaurants that serve large meals (most of them), we order a meal to share. Once in a while a restaurant will charge a couple dollars for the extra plate, but even then it’s a way to reduce a dinner bill substantially.

This works especially well at Mexican restaurants, where you are likely to be half-full from the tortilla chips by the time the meal arrives.

18. Order the Daily Special

Often the daily special at a restaurant is much cheaper than the other entrées.

But beware, there are two kinds of daily specials. The ones announced that day are often a way for a restaurant to use up old food. The regular specials that rotate by day are a better bet for a fresh meal at a lower price.

19. Bring Coupons

After using at least 100 restaurant coupons I can tell you: Read the fine print!

A buy-one-meal, get-one-half-off coupon gives you a discount of only 25%, and even less if you have to buy two drinks just to get the deal.

BOGO coupons are the best, and you can find them in mailers or websites like Valpak.com. (We also write about them here on The Penny Hoarder whenever we hear about them!)

20. Eat at Two Restaurants

How do you enjoy the ambience of a high-end restaurant without paying premium prices? Eat a light meal at a cheap restaurant first, and then go to the expensive place with a view for drinks and/or desert.

Yes, we do this, too.

21. Order a Pizza

If your goal is just to have someone else cook, order pizza for delivery. A couple pizzas can feed four people for much less than eating out.

Ideally, you’ll also have a coupon. If you really want to get out of the house, take the pizza with you (see the next item).

22. Have a Picnic

If you want to get out of the house and have someone else cook, order Chinese takeout and head for the park or lakeshore.

In our experience takeout boxes hold more than you normally get at the restaurant, so order one meal to split and take it to a nice picnic spot. Plus, you don’t have to tip. This can work with other types of takeout food as well.

23. Take Advantage of Free Kids Meals

If you are going out with your children, here’s a list of restaurants where kids eat free. That could cut your cost in half.

24. Eat Out on Your Birthday

Check out these places that give you free stuff on your birthday. Free food rules.

25. Combine Strategies for Eating Out

The most powerful way to cut the cost of eating out is to combine two or more of these strategies.

You might eat half-priced appetizers at a restaurant bar during happy hour using a discounted gift card that you bought with a cashback credit card.

Then have the second beer or glass of wine at home.

Your Turn: How do you eat out for less? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The post How to Eat for Free and Other Tips for Saving Money at Restaurants appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1lAuS9w