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so in the last 12 months, ive spent 9,522.45 in restaurants/fast food/coffee shops. i dont really go out during the week, just not convenient with work and kids. we go out a 2 or 3 times on the weekend but if i go out with my mom or dad, they pay. if i reduced it, it wouldnt really change my retirement or other spending plans.
so in the last 12 months, ive spent 9,522.45 in restaurants/fast food/coffee shops. i dont really go out during the week, just not convenient with work and kids. we go out a 2 or 3 times on the weekend but if i go out with my mom or dad, they pay. if i reduced it, it wouldnt really change my retirement or other spending plans.
I’d say we spend more eating out than I would like ideally but I also can’t say we have any other excessive spending as I’m a pretty cheap, frugal guy I just enjoy eating out as neither of us cook (she can cook some things but we really don’t bother). I don’t think the savings are that significant to me besides making an effort not to eat out more than 3 times a week ideally.
No. Would you consider allocating a fixed percentage of your gross income for save/invest accounts?
Pay yourself first. Up front... and then budget your life (and meals out) from the after tax balance.
It's the only way.
This is pretty much what we do. I have no idea what we spend on eating out or travel, as long as we keep hitting our yearly savings and investing targets (although our targets are fixed dollar amounts, not percentages).
I think you could continue to eat out but just reduce the cost or go out once a week less to start. My husband and I eat out 2-3x a week but we stay under $200 a month in eating out. We always get water, usually skip appetizers or desserts and whenever possible go during happy hours or daily specials on food. Saves a lot of money but still enjoy going out. We also get restaurant gift cards from Discover (cash back program). Can’t say how many, we get them quite often and that helps a lot.
$200 a week is a lot to spend eating out, if you think the money is better spent going towards investments then first try to reduce each meals cost or reduce how often you go. We actually enjoy eating at home more now then ever. We cook together and try new recipes often. Plus we make and season the food how we like it, everything is cooked exactly how we prefer. This is something that isn’t always the case for us when eating out. We enjoy eating at home just as much, if not more sometimes, then eating out.
Currently, my wife and I eat out at regular restaurants about 4 times a week. On average we spend about $25 a meal per person, so that would equal about $200 a week for both of us.
After looking at our credit card bill for eating out, we asked each other if it was really worth it. My wife asked how much would each of these $25 meals cost if we cooked them and bought the food at the grocery store. (Equal quality food and ingredients) Is it worth the hassle to eat at home for most of our meals to save money? We eat out so we have more variety in our food, etc.
Let's say having that meal that costs us $50 combined at home costs us $10 from the grocery store. So we would save about $160 a week. If we invested that money saved in the Stock Market over a five year period how much would we have?
I'd never blow my $$ on dining out like that. I might eat out somewhere once or twice a month. I just refuse to spend that kind of money on a meal - especially since I don't eat but half of it, usually. I take my lunch to work every day as well.
The food we have at home tastes better than eating out about 95% of the time (and it's way healthier, better ingredients, etc), so it's a no-brainer.
But we have always paid ourselves first, so we don't think about it that way anyway. If we eat out somewhere $$, whatevs.
Same. I prefer my own cooking for the price. The exceptions would be things I won't make at home: grilled hamburgers, dim sum and sushi.
Not even pho, Indian or several Thai dished as I've learned to make several yummy ethnic dishes (courtesy of Budget Bytes).
We don't own a grill and I have no interest in making my own sushi or dim sum. Otherwise yum... I look forward to making my weekly menu and preparing our meals!
Go out two nights a week. But if you just stay at home and don't enjoy yourself, what exactly is the point of life?
As a homebody, I take a little umbrage in the idea that you can't enjoy yourself at home, and it's a pointless life. To each his/her own.
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