I join birthday clubs so I can eat for free
I join birthday clubs so I can eat for free
Name: Danielle Kurek
Hometown: Los Angeles

I've gotten close to 60 free meals a year just by signing up for free birthday clubs at restaurants. I first found out about this when I went to Red Robbin for my birthday a couple years ago, and they told me I could just fill out a form with my name, address and birthday to sign up.

I was a poor college student and I've always been really tight with my money, so I started asking about it at all the restaurants I went to and looking up clubs online -- and I realized tons of restaurants do it. I'm now signed up for about 70 different clubs.

I usually eat free for a week during the month of my birthday, and sometimes even after that because many coupons are good for up to a month later.

A lot of the clubs even send you something just for signing up, so you can get a free meal right away and then another one for your birthday -- some even give you free meals on wedding anniversaries, too. Overall, I probably save close to $500 a year.

My latest free meal was with my boyfriend. We got a $30 gift certificate to a sushi restaurant just for signing up for the club, which was valid until the month after my birthday. So a day before it expired, we both ate all the sushi we could eat and paid a total bill of $5.


Last updated June 16 2011: 7:48 AM ET
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