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I don’t know about you but I struggle to do anything in the morning without my good friend caffeine, usually in the format of a coffee or a red bull. On workdays it just has to be done, else it is pretty much impossible for me to motivate myself to move from my bed, let alone stay awake at my desk. When my friend left our company he left his trusty supply of Pro Plus for me as we’d spend our days moaning about how tired we both are and it often in resulted in taking a pro plus tablet (well two to be precise), and it gives you the kick that you really need to get your work done. Pro Plus gives you a caffeine equivalent to a strong cup of coffee and can be purchased for £2.63 from Boots.
Strangely in the same week, I was contacted to by Pro Plus to take part in their ‘Live Like A Pro’ campaign, where I was given a budget of £28.84 to spend on having the best dinner and drinks (mocktails for me) their aim of the campaign is to show you how you can live life like a pro and being a millennial, managing money takes some pro skills in my opinion. Until I did this experiment I didn’t actually think about how much exactly I was spending on going out for dinner and when it came out of my bank and appeared on my statement it was something I wasn’t exactly keen to take a look at.
From being a student and learning about being savvy I hate to spend full price on anything these deals, especially with food as there is usually a discount code somewhere around or even a set meal and with there finally being more than three restaurants in our town we can actually be choosy with where we go, this can often mean going to the place with the best offers on. Also with being a student, you can get amazing offers with sites such as Unidays and Student Beans, which if you’re looking for a new outfit to go out in this can be an amazing place to start. Hopefully, you enjoy my top tips for ‘Living Like A Pro’ and let me know in the comments what your top tips are.
Pro Tip #1
When finding a deal online such as a set meal, mention it to your waiter as sometimes they will keep this menu aside and only give it when it is asked for. When in Pizza Express we were not automatically given this menu, but when we asked for it they were more than happy to give it to us, even on a weekend. The portion sizes are no different at Pizza Express compared to their normal menu. Frankies and Bennies are one of the only places I’ve been where they provide you and inform you of the different offers from the start. At the start, for me, it was always worrying they’d be annoyed, but you have seen this offer and if that’s what you are here for, you should be able to get it.
We ended up getting 2 courses for £10.95 which is a pretty good deal for an evening meal, although this a set meal, there is usually a few options to choose from in regards to starters and you can pretty much get anything off the main menu, I always get pizza and dough balls so it was a win for me, we decided against dessert as there wasn’t anything that took our fancy and decided to get mocktails and dessert after. However, for an extra £3, you could have gotten all three courses. With the drink on top, the total for Pizza Express came to £13.90, which I found pretty impressive for the quality of the food and the service provided.
Pro Tip #2
Drinking tap water at the restaurant is a great way to watch your spending, I usually purchase one drink upon arrival and then any I need/want after this is tap water, usually, drinks are more expensive in restaurants especially alcohol. It’s worth saving that until you’re in Spoons or the equivalent as you get so much more for your money. As I am not a drinker, I do usually go for the soft drinks like Pepsi, and sometimes Mocktails however in some restaurants you are almost paying as much as cocktails for a mocktail if not the same, it’s always worth checking out this before purchasing. Luckily for me, not all of my friends are massive drinkers either. However, we are massive foodies and always love getting dessert!
There are dessert shops popping up all over the place at the moment and we decided to go to our favourite which is the little dessert shop, it’s a little on the pricer side for dessert and mocktails but it’s usually a good atmosphere and who can say no to waffles right? For my snow-white crepe and a mocktail, the price came to £8.90 which is a pretty good price for both a large drink and a huge dessert. I definitely prefer these kinds of places for catching up as opposed to a pub.
However as the night was still young we decided to head to Spoons for a quick drink before heading home, I decided to get myself a Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime cider for £2.99, there are a huge range of deals on in Spoons with 2 for £5 and 3 for £5 which are great for keeping the funds low and still having a good time and with that, I was left with money to spare, which was a pretty big shock to me! £3.05 to be exact, which is pretty impressive that I managed to have so much fun on such a low budget.
What I’ve Learned:
From this experience, I’ve learned that having cash works a lot better for watching what you spend, it’s easy to tap your card and not actually think about the money you’re spending, I’ve also discovered it is easy to have a great night out under £30 which when I was set the challenge I was pretty unsure I wasn’t going to be able to stick to this, so I took my card along just in case, but I didn’t even need to touch it, win.
What are your top tips for pinching the pennies?
*This is a collaboration with Pro Plus, but I really did have a great night out under £30.
