McDonalds vs. Starbucks

Starbucks addiction is one thing that helps keep people broke.  When a cup of coffee can reach $5, your money can be frittered away in a hurry.  It's called the latte factor by financial planners.  Starbucks convenience food items can also add up.  Fortunately, there are ways to break away from Starbucks before it breaks your budget. 

When it comes to coffee, size matters.  Here is a McDonalds Small and a Starbucks Grande

If you like Starbucks. you owe it to yourself to try McDonalds.  The iced hazelnut coffee at McDonalds is awesome.  Their Mocha and Iced Mocha are very good.  But, their Mocha Frappe is out of this world.  Plus, with all day breakfast available it's easy to get something tasty with your coffee.   Plus, McDonalds prices are affordable.  You can get McDonalds for half the price of Starbucks.  That keeps money in your pocket.  Plus, you don't have to keep track of tall, grande, venti, and trente.  McDonalds speaks English with Small, Medium, and Large.

Of course, if you want to save even more money, you can simply make your coffee at home for pennies on the dollar!

Domino's Pizza for a Week

On Monday through Friday, our local Domino's Pizza has carry-out three topping pizza for $7.99.  We got two.   We ate for dinner and I ate two slices of pizza for lunch every day.  It's a cheap lunch.

Saving Money at McDonalds

Even though value menu items are creeping up in price, it is still very easy to save money at McDonalds.  It's not everyday fare for us.  However, on a recent stop at a McDonalds in the Atlanta suburbs, my wife and I bought -

2 McDoubles
2 Cheese Burgers
1 Hamburger
2 Large Iced Teas
1 Cup of Ice Water

Our entire total was just less than $9.  Our dog ate the meat from the hamburger.  That little meal held all of us pretty well for over 4 hours.  If you want to save money, don't mindlessly order a Big Mac combo.  Change it up some and explore the world of the Dollar Menu-aire!

A McDonald's Restaurant - by Bidgee (Own work) [GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Money Saving Tips for Football Season.

Football season is a great season for saving money.  While lots of businesses try to convince you to spend more money during football season, my money-saving technique for the season is actually very simple.  Are you ready?  Here it comes.  During football season, you should simply sit on your ass and watch football.

If you want to eat during football season, McDonalds has a box meal with 2 Big Macs, 4 small fries, and 20 McNuggets for only $10.99.  You don't want to eat like that every day, but it is a great deal.  In Atlanta, it is marketed as a Falcons box.  We tried it and it was good eating.

Saving on Fast Food - Just The Burger Please

Fast food restaurants are always trying to increase the average ticket price.  They want to sell more food to each customer and get more revenue.  But, you can subvert their efforts.  You can bring your own beverages and you can bring your own side item.  For example, if you bring your own chips and a soda or a bottle of water, then all you need is the burger.  That saves money. 


If you are on a diet, you can also save calories.  A couple that uses this strategy might spend $6 to $8 at a fast food window instead of $12 to $15.  If you stick to the value menu, you could save even more.
 

By Ildar Sagdejev (Specious) (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

If you want more than a burger, Steak-n-Shake has lots of meal deals that omit a drink and cost only $3.99.  That makes your fast food costs predictable and affordable!  Plus, you get fries!

Saving Money with Receipts!

Everyone knows that fast food restaurants provide the most food for your money outside of the grocery store.  You can eat pretty well as a McDonald's "Dollar Menu-aire."  You don't want to eat McDonald's every day, but in a pinch they will do.

I think the Quarter Pounder is called the Royale with Cheese in France

 

Lately, I've been noticing customer satisfaction surveys on the back of fast food sales receipts.  If you take the survey, McDonalds gives you a code to turn your receipt into a coupon.  Currently, McDonald's offers "buy one, get one free" on Quarter Pounders or Egg McMuffins.  If you bring your own bottle of water, you can eat really well or serve two people for the price of one.  It's just one more trick for eating cheap.




Photo by:  Fritz Saalfeld (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons