We always seem to be going over (badly) on the out-to-eat category of our budget. Recently a reader suggested we think about WHY we like to go out to eat so much, what need it is filling and how we could fill that need in other (less expensive) ways. I thought this was a great idea, and we even took it a step further by having the entire family (the ones that are old enough to talk anyway) write down the reasons we like to go out-to-eat. It was fun AND enlightening! Here is what we came up with...
The reason's my husband wants to go out-to-eat:
1. Wants comfort food
2. It's fun
3. Gets bored at home
4. Cravings for certain things (hamburger, drink, etc)
5. It's entertainment...we don't go do other stuff
6. The wife (me) won't have to cook/it's easy
The reason's I want to go out-to-eat:
1. I don't have to cook or clean up
2. It's something to do, gets us out of the house
3. It tastes good, I crave it
And our four year old daughter:
I love to go out to eat, it's so fun! I love Taco Bell!
To try and curb our appetite for going out-to-eat we came up with the following ways that we can fill those needs. Here are a few things we are going to try doing instead...
1. Picnics
2. Rent movies at Redbox/have more movie nights (only $1 per movie for one night)
3. Limit fast food to once per month
4. Grill hamburgers and hot dogs more often, make home-made fries
5. Make iced mochas at home
6. Have date night once per month
This was a great exercise and I think we were able to realize that we don't really need to go out-to-eat as often as we do, we can do other fun things as a family that will save us money on our monthly budget. I hope this works!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The Reasons We Go Out-to-eat
Posted by Tracy at 1:11 PM
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7 comments:
I had to do this a long time ago because when confronted with the fact I was spending $60 at McDonalds type places doing "eat-and-runs" by myself while we dedicated only $25 to a date once a month. It made me realize that wasn't how I wanted to spend my time. I used to find Arby's to be the ultimate "comfort food" on a bad day. But, when we moved we got in the habit of going on long walks and splitting a smoothie as a family (one would easily feed the three of us, and the business was happy to split it for us). Fulfilled the same needs, but in a way that made better use of family time.
that is great --- now it may be a bit easier to eat at home!!!
Melanie, thank you for suggesting that we do this!
What a good idea, for me my two biggest are not wanting to do dishes and getting bored. You know what has helped lately? Doing more crockpot dinners and planning meals a week at a time....good luck!
I should get out the ol' crockpot more often! :)
I have the same problem as you! I love to go out to eat so that I don't have to cook! Oh, and I go out to eat when I didn't plan very well. I run out of groceries sometimes because I hate grocery shopping as well.
What I have started to try to do is plan better and like you mention have a family movie night. We have homemade pizza at the same time. I throw some ingredients into the bread machine earlier in the day so that it can get my crust ready which only takes 5 minutes. Throughout the week I save things that I made during dinner such as left over italian flavored ground beef, diced up bell peppers, etc. So it really only takes another 5 minutes to put the toppings on also. Cheap and easy!
That is a great idea! I usually buy my fresh pizza dough at Winco for around $1.50 (makes one pizza) or Trader Joe's for around $2 (also makes one pizza). It is a lump of dough in a plastic bag found in the cheese section of the store.
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