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$3 for sandwich meat? I largely agree with you, but to make 10 sandwiches like subway I think you are looking at these prices.
Bread: $3
Cheese: $4
Meat: $12 (2lbs of meat should be plenty to make 10 sandwiches)
Condiments: $3
Vegetable Toppings: $4
Total for 10 sandwiches: $26
Total for 10 Subway subs: $60-70
But I agree with you, unless you are eating nothing but the dollar menus at fast food places it is far cheaper to make it yourself than go to any type of restaurant.
no argument on your estimates.
I have a hard time accepting the idea of people who pack sandwiches for a trip. When I'm on vacation I want to immerse the experience of the trip to include food and not the same old sandwiches that I've been eating for lunch everyday for lunch.
Yes packing lunch for the trip saves money but I've always felt a vacation is a break away from your daily grind even if that means taking a break from preparing meals also.
My family used to eat out for lunch on saturdays and sundays and those meals added up to 500-1000 per month. Cutting back on eating out once a month is much more palatable these days.
Mother's day last month. Father's day this weekend.
I don't see a issue with eating out on friday and saturday night as long as you have a set number to stick to for your budget. Since you work all week there is nothing wrong with treating yourself to something you enjoy eating. No point in just going to work to pay bills and not ever enjoying life.
Taxes are biggest waste of money, everything else, money are meant for enjoyment.
Except that taxes are not a "waste" of money. For our taxes we get libraries, paved roads, education for the nation's children, a safe food supply, fire protection, police protection, and more. Doing without all of the above is not a reasonable option.
I love eating out (when the food is good). I easily spend $1500-2000 a month doing so. Would I like to spend less, sure but I don't smoke, I don't drink in bars, I don't casino gamble so pick your poison.
I happen to live in an area with a wide variety of restaurants so I am lucky enough to never eat at chain restaurants, I don't do fast food or even Starbucks. My house is almost paid for and "all of the other boxes of responsibility are checked" so I would say that it is something I enjoy.
$1500 a month for eating out is $50 per day, and $2000 a month is $67 per day. Is that just for you, or for you and a wife? A lot of people, including me, would consider that extremely wasteful, but philosophically I agree with you; if you can afford it, it's your choice.
The major proviso would be that you are not neglecting your own retirement to the extent that you will become a burden on the taxpayers in old age. In that case your choice has a negative impact on other people.
To not be considered a waste, eating out must be a couple of things. The food needs to be as good as mine, not easy. Haha! The time it takes for me to leave the house and have food sitting in front of me needs to be less than 1 hour, which is the time it takes for me to make a meal at home. Now we only eat out when we meet with friends because they are the positives to any negatives of eating out.
I agree with Harry Chickpea that the wrong type of housing can become a waste.
Everybody has their own ways of spending their discretionary income. As long as your savings rate is adequate, who cares how you spend it? We would all survive just fine living in a cheap studio apartment, eating rice & beans, and driving to work in a $15,000 Korean econobox.
There is a reason why miser and misery have the same Latin root.
The trick, of course, is to have the self-discipline to do the saving and investing part first before expending the discretionary part.
Taxes are biggest waste of money, everything else, money are meant for enjoyment.
The big difference between the U.S. and the northern European countries that have much higher tax rates that some politicians think we ought to follow is they, by and large don't think taxes are a waste of money. The reason is simple, they feel their tax money is not wasted like so many of our taxpayers feel.
So, yes I agree with you, taxes here are wasted but taxes are necessary and I wish ours were spent better.
It took me a while to figure out that we were eating out too often. Five people eating out sat and sun for lunch and dinner was costing us around $1000 per month.
We cut back to 1 dinner out per month or less and it helps a lot.
Renting is the biggest way to throw out your money. Granted, you don't see a "return" on dining out, but chances are you are not spending the equivalent of a month's rent on eating out.
Renting is the biggest way to throw out your money. Granted, you don't see a "return" on dining out, but chances are you are not spending the equivalent of a month's rent on eating out.
Which is why i think apartment owners should by law be required to report rent payments to credit bureaus.
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