Groupon Makes Me Happy

As many of us know, tight budgets make it harder to get out and do things. Moving to a new area, where one has few or no friends, also makes it difficult. Since moving to Lancaster, I rarely go out. Not that I was too much of a social butterfly in Pittsburgh, but when my colleagues were going out for happy hour after work, I would go, too. If someone was having people over, I would join them. If a friend invited me to go to hiking.... you get the picture. In Lancaster, not only are there few things going on, but I don't really know anyone here, either.

Enter Groupon and Living Social. I imagine you know them, but if you're not familiar with these two websites, I urge you to familiarize yourself with them immediately. You sign up by typing in your email address and nearest city, and each day you get an email for a deal in your area. It's frequently something like, $10 for $20 at a restaurant, or $235 for a two night stay somewhere nearby (Groupon Getaways and Living Social Escapes are the vacation deals, with everything from weekend trips in the Poconos to African Safaris). When I lived in Pittsburgh, all of those local deals were within a few miles of me. Now that I live out here, I've had to set my city as Harrisburg/Lancaster; which means the deals are often a 30-50 minute drive away. Now for some of them, I don't really mind. I bought a wine-and-cheese pairing class (tasting glass and $10 gift card included) for 2 for $15. It was such a good deal, I couldn't pass it up, even though the vineyard is probably 50 minutes or an hour from here. It'll be a nice weekend outing.

Looks okay, I guess.

Another purchase was for Indian Caverns, which is more likely over an hour away, on the other side of Harrisburg. But I've never been in a cave, and it was two tickets for a guided cave tour for $7. Seven dollars! Okay, so it was $12, but Groupon sent me a $5 gift card for no reason, so I ended up spending $7. How could anyone pass that up? I mean even if it's totally lame, it was $7. I'm sure it'll be a good story. Nina said she's already been there, but she's willing to go again.

It'd better look exactly like this, or I'm going to be outraged.

But the real crème de la crème of savings heaven this weekend. There are lots and lots of spas that offer massages for half the price, but the only ones I've seen since signing up have been far away. I mean, I want a massage, but not that much. On Friday, I got a Living Social deal for an organic spa in Lancaster: one-hour massage for $35. Hey, all right! It's just this one guy (I admit, I was a bit apprehensive about that; I've never been massaged by a man before, but I've decided to trust that he's a professional and get over the weirdness of having a man other than my betrothed touch me) who owns his own studio and graduated from the Lancaster School of Massage. I like supporting local, small business. The best massages I've ever had have been by a good friend of mine who ran a studio out of her house. The big chains and overpriced spas just don't give you the same kind of attention and quality. I especially enjoy that on his website he describes his several different styles of massage and how he works with you before to personalize your experience. My reaction: heck, yes. I picked up a couple for me, and one for Dad for Father's Day.

At least his hands look very professional.

If you're thinking that's a good deal, you haven't seen anything yet. The Groupon for Friday was this: $29 for an hour-long massage, facial, or mani-pedi, or $55 for a massage and a mani-pedi or facial at Arianna's Retreat in Lancaster. (The massage, facial, and mani-pedi all last an hour, including the two-for deal. Not sure if that was clear.) I'm over the moon about this. That's the cheapest deal ever. So I bought two of the mani-pedi's + massages, one for mom, and one for me for Mother's Day. Bam. Spa day. I'm the best daughter ever.

This is about to be me.

So all of this is to say I love me a good deal, and I'm thrilled about all the spa treatments I've got coming up, as well as enjoying the previous purchases on Living Social for bowling and lunch at the Brick House Cafe. I recommend jumping on the bandwagon!