Groupon / Living Social

We all love to save a few bucks right? I know most people out there have seen/tried Groupon and it works pretty well. You get an alert via email/text/web/app with a 'deal of the day' where you usually get 1/2 off at a business for a particular service or dinner deal or whatever it might be. We have utilized Groupon one time so far to try a restaurant called Cellar 6 in St Augustine FL.

It was good to have the Groupon. It was a place we hadn't been to and it sounded like fun, it is a Tapas/Wine bar type place. One cool thing they have is menus that light up and they might be LCD screens, I can't recall exactly, but they are obviously proud of them because they're prominently featured on the main page of their website. We tried the Spring rolls, some Bruschetta and a glass of wine each. We didn't particularly care for the appetizers, but I'll put that on us, not the restaurant.

The Spring rolls were not the fried spring rolls of yummy goodness that we're used to trying, but instead they had a slimy clear cool 'skin like' wrap around the outside. I had one, complained slightly to the wifey and she gives me the 'you're so picky' look without saying anything verbally. Then I got my vindication when she bit into hers and I witnessed the 'oh my god what the heck am I eating' look back. I'm sure it is perfectly good and yummy for anyone that normally eats sushi type stuff, but that is NOT us and so now we know, make sure the spring rolls are as you expect before ordering! But that's where the Groupon was good, it was $20 for $40 worth of stuff, so it was like the appetizers were pretty much free anyway. We've since heard that the fish tacos are pretty good, so if we were to go back, we would try those instead.

But I digress....The point of this post is that everyone loves a deal! The Groupon deals are good, you just have to be sure that you will use the deal before it expires, you have to use it all on one visit and if you're going with other couples, be aware that you can usually only use ONE Groupon per table. But it works good and you can even show the Groupon on your cell phone screen and redeem it that way. For the right deal we'll definitely try it again.

I've seen a few peeps on Facebook post links to restaurant deals from Living Social recently. I hadn't checked it out until today, but it looks very similar to Groupon. The one main difference I noticed is that if you purchase the deal, it provides you a link to share with your friends and if you get 3 other people to purchase the deal yours is free. So not only do you save 50% or more on your deal, you could get it for free. If it's free it's for me!

I purchased today's deal, which you can signup for today, tomorrow or Sunday. It's $15 for $30 worth of food and drinks at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, La Nopalera! We are actually going there today, but as I suspected, I couldn't actually use the deal today. Groupon is the same way, you can't use the deal on the day that you purchase it. It said I will get an email on Monday with the details.

Just one more way to save a few $$. Have you used Groupon, Living Social or any other $$ saving apps? Would love to hear about any that work particularly well and would like to hear any tips/tricks for anyone that has used any of the services multiple times!

Posted in: Groupon , Living Social