Living Social

I have a bit of a problem.  I am obsessed with Living Social.

I've been promising to introduce you to Living Social for a while now and as I'm constantly going on about the deals I've found on Twitter I thought I really should share the joy with everyone rather than hogging all of the deals for myself,

If you don't already know, Living Social is a website featuring deals on the best things to do in your area.  

From the website you can select your location and then search all of the deals in your area.   To check what cities the site covers just take a look here .  To give you an idea it features a lot of cities in the UK and Ireland including London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol, York, Leeds and, of course, Newcastle.

The local deals feature everything from spa treats and beauty treatments to coffee shops, restaurants and hotel stays.  The offers tend to come from local independent businesses which I love because it means that I discover somewhere exciting and new in the area that I hadn't necessarily heard of before.   There's also been quite a few times where a voucher has popped up for a place that I've been wanting to try for ages which means  I suddenly have the perfect excuse to finally go.

The deals are updated daily and most days a new deal pops up that I want to purchase.  Simon is now use to me dropping him a cheeky text or tweet to tell him there's yet another deal I'd like to get.  I think he probably thinks I'm a bit crazy, but you'll never hear him complaining because he loves trying out new places as much as me.

Quite a few of my recent foodie posts have been places that I've been to thanks to a Living Social deal, including: a two course Italian meal with wine at Pinocchios for two people for £18.00, and two brownies and a hot drink each for £6.00 at the Brownie Bar.

I currently have another five vouchers just waiting to be used including coffee and cake at Kuppa Coffee, afternoon tea for two at the Bank Bistro in Low Fell, four coffees and four slices of cake at  Flat Caps Coffee and a two course lunch for two at Marco Pierre White (all places I've been wanting to try for ages) as well as a cupcake and coffee voucher for one of our favourite cake places in the North East, Lottie McPhees.   (I've linked the deals above that are still available, unfortunately some of them are no longer on the site).

Once you've found a deal that you like, you can click on it to get more information.  Make sure you always read the fine print as it tells you the exact terms of the deal, if there are any restrictions, if you need to book a table in advance and, most importantly, the expiry date of your voucher.  Most deals are valid for quite a few months but make sure you that you always check.

For those who live their lives on the go Living Social is also available as an app on your phone (very dangerous!).    It is so easy to use and you can set it to your local city so that you can quickly swipe through all the deals on your phone.   It also stores all of your vouchers for you whether you've bought them through the app or through the website which means you don't have to print off your vouchers.  Helpfully the app also flashes a little notification message on your phone if you happen to walk near somewhere where you've bought a deal to remind you that it's there ready to be used.

I don't think my addiction is likely to end any time soon.  Of the five deals I've mentioned in this post I bought two of them today and my day will continue to very much be brightened every time a new deal appears.   I can't wait to see what might appear tomorrow!


Living Social have gifted me with a deal for review purposes (coming next week!), however my obsession is very much real ... just ask poor Simon!