The Joys of Music

Most of today I have listened to music. Right now I have Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits in, a disc I inherated from my mom. The upside to this is I have gotten a ton of stuff done today. The downside is that I have a stack of movies to watch this week. Fortunately most of them are either free or part of Netflix so even if I don't get to them no big deal.

One of the reason I have so many movies is because of my Entertainment Book. For those who have not seen these, they are books of coupons from the area you live in. The bulk of the coupons, at least in the Akron, OH version, are for various restaurants in the area. However Giant Eagle has 1 coupon a month to rent one get one free video rentals. At $2.50 a pop that alone almost pays for the $28 book. There are also some coupons in there for reduced price oil changes, car washes, movie coupons (typically matinee prices in the evening), etc.

The downside of these books is most of the coupons are buy one, get one free. Not bad if you have someone to share with, but if not you are pretty well stuck. I have been working my book alone for the last 2+ years and have made the following observations:

1) By and large burgers keep pretty well for lunch. Skip the mayo (which most us probably should anyways) and they keep well. If you reheat lettuce goes limp. Fries & pop (or soda for some of you) do not keep, so plan on eating them right away. I try to get the smallest fry/drink that I can if I need to.

2) Fried chicken keeps the best. Taco Bell chalupas keep about as well as burgers, but don't reheat as well. I find they taste fine cold though. Burittos are a mixed bag depending upon which one you get. It goes without saying the Chinese food keeps the best.

3) Pizza - this is a tough one since many of the coupons are buy a LARGE, get one free. I have some local places that just do 50% off, so they naturally get my business first. I easily get 4 meals out of a 12" large that they have. Usually works out to about $1 per meal, sometimes less. It keeps pretty well, although you may burn out on pizza if you are eating 4 meals straight. One lady at works told me her grandfather would freeze the pizza and eat it later. I have yet to try it, but I do have a couple for buy one get one free any size pizza and may try it.

4) Other local stuff - Some of the movie passes are a mail in offer, which means you have to make sure to use them. Since I usually see movies in the afternoon or at my favorite second run theater (1 big screen, and popcorn that tastes SOOO good but is SOOO bad for you) I don't take advantage of those. There are many golf coupons if you have a buddy as well.

5) Non-local stuff - You can get up to half at many hotel chains nation wide. I have yet to compare the prices to say Travelocity. United Airlines also has $50 or $100 off flights, plus every car rental company has a variety of coupons in.

I am a little anal and I want to make sure I always get my money's worth, and over the last 2 years I have gotten at least $84 in total savings, which is pure savings of twice what I paid for the book. So far this year (which startes Nov. 1st) I have $19.26, and that is not being good about making use of the coupons.

Walking miles to date: 39