So what's the (daily) deal?

Facebook sent me another alert. Apparently, I have memories to look back to. Went on it and saw an album filled with photos on a night out with my mother-in-law. Gosh, this was 2012! I vividly remember that 3 course meal we had in the Shore. (That is the North Shore in Auckland, for those not familiar with the term.). The plating looked great and the food tasted really good from the entree to the dessert. It would have been a very expensive meal for our family but thanks to a daily deal, I paid just under $25 for each.

My fascination with daily deals started when grabone was fairly new. My mother was scheduled to visit us from the Philippines towards the end of 2010. That was when my love affair with daily deals started. I can't even remember now who introduced me to grabone. But I was on the site everyday once my Mum had finalised the dates of her visit. I browsed for deals that I could use to get Mum in and around Auckland and the neighboring areas with the whole family. And I haven't stopped since then.

Over the years, I continually patronized these sites. After a couple of vouchers expiring on me without having been used, I have become a smarter shopper (I hope). At least that's what I would like to think. hehehe. I now have learnt restraint and not buy anything with my "I may need this later"  mentality. I still go  and browse the sites regularly (like daily!) but now, I only buy when there is a planned use of an item or experience. I search for cake, doughnut and cupcake deals whenever a birthday is approaching. I search for restaurant deals when a celebration is planned. And search for experiences or activities when school holidays a-comin. There are a lot of daily deal sites now but I'm an oldie. So I stick with grabone, treatme and groupon pretty much.

These sites are good when you are planning ahead. Way ahead. But what if you are unable to do that? Well, guess what? There is a site ideal for that situation too. It's called bookme. Recently, we took a trip down South Island. We had the number of days fixed but not the itinerary. So the daily deal hound in me went into bookme when we arrived in Queenstown on a Tuesday night. This site is awesome with lots of discounted activities in major tourist areas. You can check this site here: https://www.bookme.co.nz.

That night, I grabbed activities for the following day. I paid $7pp for Below Zero Ice bar experience which was normally $20. We took the Queenstown Lake Cruise around Lake Wakatipu for almost 30% off its original price. This included free entry to the Queenstown Underwater Observatory. We had to pay a dollar to release food for the fish there though. But still, came up way cheaper than paying full price.

And this is the beauty I see in these daily deal sites that I go to. They have enabled me to do just a little bit more by stretching my budget to go just a little bit further. As a family of five, going out has always been costly. Like any other mum, I try and find ways to do the things we want to do in the cheapest possible way. So I am sticking with these daily deal sites for now or should I say until now.