There are very few things I’ll do at this point in time without having a coupon.  The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is big-time theatre performances.  For instance, we have tickets to see The Lion King when it hits Chicago in October.  Of course, my boyfriend paid for the tickets so those are kind of a discount to me, right?

Daily deal sites have made it so easy to not pay full price for a meal at this point that going to a restaurant without a coupon is sacrilege.  For those days when I don’t have a Groupon or YouSwoop or coupon from myriad other sites available I turn to Restaurant.com.

Are you familiar with the site?  Restaurant.com is based out of Chicago and they offer really inexpensive gift certificates to area restaurants.  When they’re not having a sale you could pay $10 to receive a $25 gift certificate.

However, they’re almost always having a sale. And good news for all of you – today is a sale day! Through August 31, 2010 you can save 80% off Restaurant.com $25 Gift Certificates! Enter promo code CLEARANCE at checkout and you’ll pay just $2 for a $25 gift certificate!

Make sure you read the fine print – on most $25 gift certificates, there’s most likely a minimum requirement that you purchase a $35 meal in order to use the certificate. Therefore, if you purchase a $25 gift certificate for $2, you’ll probably end up paying about $12 for a $35 meal.  {$10 for the overage over $25 plus the $2 purchase price.} So, while you won’t actually get a $25 meal for $2, paying just $12 for a $35 meal is still a great deal!

One thing I love about the gift certificates is that they’re INSTANT.  If you know you’re heading out to, say, Crust, for dinner this evening then log onto Restaurant.com and check to see if they have a gift certificate available.  It never hurts to look, right?  Good news – Crust is on Restaurant.com!  Purchase a gift certificate, print it out, and you can use it that evening.  There’s no lag time.

Note – most restaurant.com gift certificates can be used to purchase alcoholic beverages. Read the fine print as it varies for each restaurant!  These gift certificates have far-off expiration dates, so if there’s a place you frequent, you might consider stocking up!