news and notes

working hard finding
you deals

Team Cheapskate... oops... Team VFH has been diligent this summer in seeking out deals to pass onto you fair reader. We have worked tirelessly and after sweating days and days we have discovered several ways to stretch your hard earned dollars to the point of snapping! Covered here is a quick ledger of some of our discovers.

RESTAURANT WEEK in New York City.  From July 16 through August 10 several restaurants in the New York are offering three course meals for a good price... $24.07 for lunch and $35.00 for dinner. This does not include drinks or tip.New Yorkers usually flee the city during the summer, leaving it for the tourists. This is a way for restaurants to drum up some business. Janet and I went to DBGB Kitchen and Bar on the Bowery before a Missy Higgins concert. Great food, great service, and a great selection of expensive beers. I had an Ommegang that cost me $12.00!!!!!! We could have ordered off the regular menu, but we stuck with the offerings for Restaurant Week. We splurged on this one. Check out the website for the listings.   http://www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek

SANDY HOOK CONCERTS. Talk about sticker shock! The daily fee for getting into Sandy Hook went up to $15.00 per day and $75.00 for a season pass. Yikes. Last year it was $10.00 and $50.00. You can still get into the park for free though if you arrive before 7:00 a.m. or after
4 p.m.. If you arrive before 7 a park ranger will give you a day pass, but not ask for money. (Janet says getting to the shore before 7 a.m. is ridiculous. I guess some just like throwing money away!) Anyway, we went last Wednesday and left around 5 p.m. There was a lot of traffic coming into Sandy Hook as we exited. We learned that there is a free concert  held every Wednesday during the summer at 6 p.m. Taking advantage of the free entry after 4, people pile in for the early evening show. It looks like it is well attended. Advice would be to arrive around the cut off time
http://sandyhookfoundationnj.org/eventprog.htm


LIVING SOCIAL ... I never thought much of savings coupons like Living Social or Groupon, but Janet turned me into a believer. Through Living Social's website she bought tickets to the Bruce Springsteen exhibit at the National Constitution Center for $12 each, instead of the $25 per ticket that they charge. We are going Monday; we'll let you know how this works out.
http://www.livingsocial.com/

PIZZERIA UNO  Team VFH likes going to the movies. We also like our beer. It turns out that the Pizzeria Uno on Sloane Avenue in Hamilton, NJ is on the grounds of the AMC movie theater. A couple of weeks ago we got to the theater a bit early for our viewing and decided to drop in for something to eat and drink. Not only were we pleasantly surprised at their beer listing and the quality of their deep dish pizza, we also noticed that for any purchase, even a bottle of water, we could also purchase movie tickets for a substantial savings. We of course leapt at the opportunity.
You should also look for similar savings at either a Pizzeria Uno or similar establishment. The beauty of Team VFH is that we always are on the look out for a way to save some money.

If you happen to come across any similar savings, no matter how small, please share them with your favorite mooch crew. We will post your leads here on future blog entries.
Send them to: greg.dunaj@yahoo.com.

Love,
Janet and greg.