Friday 14 February 2014

A free alternative to The Entertainment Book

I am a huge fan of The Entertainment Book.  It offers great ways to save money from large discounts on dining out and eating experience, to discounts on car hire and hotels to being able to save 5% off your weekly grocery bill as well as discounted movie tickets.  The list goes on and on and the book is huge.

The book also raises money for charity and is a great way to both benefit charity and save money yourself.  The one downside is that the vouchers in the book only last for 12 months and it is typically $65 per year to buy the book.  It is not a huge cost but for some people (especially if you are single and are not likely to get the full benefit of the book) this cost can outweigh the benefits of the book.

One way you can get a lot of the benefits of The Entertainment Book is through the Red Energy rewards program

I recently posted about my hunt for an energy provider and how I settled on Red Energy.  I did not do this because of their rewards program for members - I think those sort of programs exist to distract people from looking at what gives them the best value for money.  It just turned out that for me Red Energy happened to be the best and cheapest solution.

What I didn't realise was that I would get a slimmed down version of The Entertainment Book for free.  They call it something else but if you look at the vouchers in the book they are actually straight from The Entertainment Book. Even better, their online system has many more vouchers that can be printed or just redeemed using a membership card that they send you (avoiding the need to even use a voucher).

The big benefits that I use are still there
  • You can still get Coles and Woolworths gift cards discounted by 5%
  • You can still get super cheap movie tickets from Hoyts and Village
  • There are still heaps of restaurants available (although it should be noted that it is not even close to the number offered in The Entertainment Book)
And the best bit is that it costs you nothing.  I confess that I feel a little bit guilty that I am not donating this money to charity through this program.  However if I can donate the same $65 to charity and get a tax deduction (which I do not get when I buy The Entertainment Book) then I am still saving money and the charities are getting the same amount from me.

If you are a Red Energy customer...get onto this program.  If you are not - do not simply change because of it

I want to stress once again that I did not sign up with Red Energy for this rewards program.  In fact I didn't even realise that the offers would be as good as they are until I received my welcome pack in the mail.  If you have decided to go with Red Energy anyway then I recommend having a look and using some of the vouchers and deals available.

If you use another energy provider which is more cost effective for you do not switch over just for this deal. It is much better if you stick where you are and just buy The Entertainment Book and let the extra amount you spend go to charity.  

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