$10 Dining or Dishwasher Refining?

There are two kinds of people that walk into restaurants those with three different ways to pay and those with only $10 in their pockets. The majority of the time I'm chilling with those in option number two. Whether going out to lunch with a few friends or having drinks to celebrate a birthday it involves money. Your thinking duh of course it involves money, but it involves friends and your friendship with them as well.  You can't let them down but you can't let your pocket book down either.

And so here I am with $10 in my pocket walking into a sit down restaurant. First I'm thinking, man is this stupid of me they don't serve cheese casadia's with a free appetizer of chips and salsa here! What am I thinking?

 I'm thinking. This place is fun, nice and I want to go out with friends, treat myself, you know? I work hard, I try hard, is it really so much to want to go out to lunch with a friend?

Sadly no matter what pep talk I have with me and my besties (me, myself, and I) I will still only have $10 when it comes down to it. And so I decided I can have it all or at least I can try with my 4 simple steps for savory, satisfaction.

1. Plan ahead If you can plan ahead. (I know it's practically impossible to plan ahead for these things but if you can, good job, your doing better than me.) Go online. See if you can find coupons for the restaurant, www.retailmenot.com is a great place to start. If your not embarrassed about being kind of "momish" you can always bring a coupon book with you in your purse or the car. If you get lucky there also might be a menu outside of the restaurant. That comes in handy if you have never been to the restaurant before and don't know how much everything cost. That way you don't have to fake talking to your mother on the phone about your cat that just got hit by a car and frantically run out of the restaurant before the waiter comes to take your order.   
2. Get acquainted with the menu So now that you are committed to going to this restaurant. You need to know that menu like the cop that arrested Al Capone, inside, outside, everything from the laces on his shoes, to the taxes he never paid. That means you need to read everything. You have to know everything that is included in the meal. Are the fries separate? Is substituting a fruit cup instead of fries going to add another 99 cents onto your tab? Is water free or bottled?
3. Order with Wiggle Room Don't order a $10 hamburger when you only have $10 dollars. There are always other factors. Remember you need to tip the server and really, come on, don't skimp on the tip. They are making under minimum wage don't be a....yeah you know what. Also tax it's always a "Oh yeah I forgot about that," moment. Well you have had over 20 years to get used to the fact that we have taxes that magically appear like Dumbledore's phoenix. So expect the unexpected people and save some money to pay food taxes. Also beverages are usually not priced on the menu but most Coke and Pepsi products are between $1.50 and $2.75 so leave some room for a drink or just get a water if you don't want to chance it. In other words step 3 means don't be stupid and leave room for the wiggles (Not the Disney T.V show.)
4. Laugh and have Fun! Stop sweating over it. You already ordered and no one likes eating with sweaty people at the table so enjoy because you just might be washing dishes in the back later. Just kidding! Good Luck and may the dollars be with you!