Romantic Getaway on a Budget: 2nd Edition.

A few weeks ago we celebrated our wedding anniversary. Now that my husband's done with school and we're in position where our monthly income exceeds our monthly expenses, we probably could have really splurged for our anniversary. However, we're trying save money and pay off the student loans that we acquired putting him through school instead. Besides that I was seven months pregnant at the time and extensive traveling isn't high on my list of things that sound like fun. The answer: plan and find a coupon. We visited family in Utah county for a few days, then left the kids with Grandma and headed to Salt Lake for a couple days with an envelope full of coupons and gift certificates. All total our getaway cost less than $200 and I over-prepared as far as coupons were concerned. (We also hit a movie with a movie gift card that a friend had given us.) But you can take any of these deal sites, pick your destination and find deals on food and entertainment.

Here are some of the deals I planned:

Groupons:
Blue Iguana for dinner-50% off
Vosen's German Bakery for breakfast- 50% off
Laser show at Clark Planetarium- 50% off

I love Groupons.  Every Groupon is at least 50% off. I've gotten some great deals on restaurants and shopping. It also takes some of the guess work out of where we should go for dinner.

CityDeals Gift Certificates:
60 Minute Massage- 85% off
Taste of Thai- 60% off

I am very pregnant and my husband is developing back problems from sitting in front of a computer screen all day. We both needed a good massage. I also enjoy Thai food. :) One bonus with gift certificates is that you're less likely to run into the problem of the cashier, waitress, etc, not knowing how to ring up your discount.

Ebates
Hotels.com- Here I booked a popular hotel for 50% off and using Ebates I got $6 back.
Restaurant.com- Another discount restaurant gift certificate site where I got a few discount dinner options. Pros- With Ebates you get 15% (sometimes more) back + there are often coupon codes to get an additional 60-80% off. Cons- there are a few more stipulations to the gift certificates than others that I've gotten. However, they can still be well worth it.

For other ideas on saving money on a romantic getaway, see my post from last year.