The best things in life are FREE *

*Nothing in life is really free, is it?

The past few weeks we've had a few FREE moments that I wanted to share.

We have about a million movie tickets that we need to use, so I got a babysitter and we went to go see Wolverine. We got to the Cinemark theater and it was sold out for the night. BUMMER. I called the babysitter and she said it was fine if we went to a later showing of something else. We decided to go to the Star Trek movie BUT, they wouldn't take my passes. I was mad and told Jer I wasn't going to pay when I had all these free passes. We decided to go home. On the way home I finally broke down and said we'd just to pay at Thanksgiving Point Theater and see Wolverine. So...Our free date ended up costing $16 for the tickets, $10 for the dinner we went and ate (that we weren't planning on)while we were waiting for our movie, $5 for the popcorn that I had to have (at least I smuggled my drink from dinner in my purse. Jer kept giggling about the ice sloshing around in there), and $15 for the babysitter. Not such a great deal, eh?

We also had FREE dinner coupons for KFC. So we went - excited to have a free dinner. We got there and they had a sign up that said they were no longer able to accept the free meal coupons. I really didn't want KFC, so I said we weren't going there. I came up with this brilliant plan...
"Let's go to ihop, kids eat free there on Tuesdays" (and behold! it was Tuesday).
Kids eat free* (with the purchase of a drink). AND, there prices were a lot higher than the last time we ate there. $25 later, we left and grumbled all the way home about how awful and overpriced the food was.

And the other night, our good friends went out to dinner because they had a FREE gift certificate. BUT on the way, he got a speeding ticket. Not so free now, is it??

On the other hand, with my coupon shopping, I do get some items for FREE. This past week it was BBQ sauce, crackers, Mayo, and dressing. BUT, would I have gone to the store at all if I hadn't had those coupons? What about the other $20 I spent while I was there? Dang it.
I guess nothing is really free.

I would love to hear your awesome FREE stories if you have some...