WOW! I think we're out of control! How much do you spend?

[Colleen27]

We have our ups and downs with this. It is amazing how quickly it adds up! We are just coming off a very busy time and ate out WAY too much, so I'm trying to rein it in now!

Us too. Back to school is always a tough time as far as cooking goes because we're pulled in so many directions, and the take-out we get is never worth the price (or the calories ). School has only been in session 3 weeks and in that time we've spent a little over $100 on take-out.

I don't mind spending on decent meals as part of outing - like on Sunday, we're going to the apple orchard which will likely include dropping $20 on donuts and cider for breakfast and probably another $50 on lunch at a little restaurant out that way that we only get to twice a year (apple season and tree cutting season). Those things add to the experience and are worth the expense. But I HATE adding up the receipts and realizing we've spent hundreds on "too lazy too cook" take-out when I could have just thrown some chicken on the grill or scrambled a bunch of eggs to serve breakfast for dinner and had a better meal for less money.

The one exception I make is DH's lunches. I know packing is supposed to be cheaper but I've never seen much savings there, because he doesn't go for big/full meals. I fill his thermos with coffee, pack a cooler with water & soda and he stops for something off the dollar menu once or twice a day (he's on the road for most of the work day). Since I haven't figured out a lunch that he likes for the $1-2/day that he's spending I just budget for him to eat out.

 

[lovesmurfs]

that is awesome! can he come teach my DH how to drive by home depot without stopping to buy more tools?!

You don't want him to. Mr. Handy, he's not. That's how I got my tag -- he told me that the Home & Garden Network should be a premium pay TV channel, because it costs him money every time I watch something.

 

[xxunluv3dlizxx]

Oh wow..i'm so glad I decided to glance on this thread..I was doing really well with limiting eating out and not eating fast food then life happened and I started back up with those things..I looked at my bank statements and I spent $163 just in restaurants and fast food so far this month and never even realized it added up to that much! Granted I did take my parents out to Olive Garden and my brother to Red Lobster (which was a bad experience and they are sending me a g.c to compensate) as thank yous so if I hadn't paid for them it would be less than that but we're not even halfway through the month..for a single 25 year old! Not to mention that's $163 I could have saved for trips to the holiday parties this year! The sad part of it all..I work at a grocery store thank you for the slap of reality!

 

[timmac]

Though the $250/month may seem kind of shocking, maybe it's not so bad. It's easy to say "that's $1500 that could have covered our airfare", but I don't know that's the best economic comparison. First, you'd have to compare to the actual cost of preparing all of those meals at home. Would home preparation be cheaper? Probably, yes, but the cost wouldn't be zero. Depending on the type of meals we're talking about, home preparation probably would have been at least 25% of the cost, possibly even 50% or more.

There would be other differences as well... namely that home-prepared meals probably wouldn't reflect the variety of ingredients or individual tastes that can be accommodated by eating out at a place like subway, where everyone gets an individually prepared sandwich exactly how they like it. Stocking enough of all the necessary ingredients to duplicate that at home would almost certainly mean that a lot of things weren't used before spoiling and the like.

If eating out is purely a manner of laziness and one is looking to save money by avoiding it, by all means, go ahead. But if one enjoys said meals from time to time, then maybe that's ok too.

 

[Tiger926]

I can't even fathom that number - that is several months of groceries for us!

We don't really eat out at all, besides a few times here or there while at the zoo or museum and a birthday or two during the year.

My hubby is a bank manager, and is constantly cutting up people's cards as they spend more on fast food than on their mortgages, education savings, etc., and then they come to him asking for loans as they can't make ends meet.

Honestly OP, this number is so high for me, especially when you see the grand total, so I would think there is room for major improvements there!

Tiger

 

[momof1princess]

You don't want him to. Mr. Handy, he's not. That's how I got my tag -- he told me that the Home & Garden Network should be a premium pay TV channel, because it costs him money every time I watch something.

LMAO! opposite problem here: mine is VERY handy, built our house, along with his dad, from the ground up. fixes our cars...can do pretty much anything. THAT is why i have to keep him away from home depot!

he keeps saying "when we build our next house we'll..." and i respond "you must be thinking about your SECOND wife, because i'm not doing that again." i love him, but Lord have mercy.

 

[CaptainJacq]

We eat out maybe 3 times a week, one higher end restaurant at the weekend and them something like Beefs or Santa Fe mid week. It soon adds up cash and calories!

 

[niffer5150]

we don't eat out much at all, maybe one meal every 3 or 4 months. it's usually a reward for someone getting a promotion or excellent grades. it's just not something we do because i'm a SAHM and i have the time to cook. my version of "fast food" because i'm either being lazy or too busy is cooking a frozen lasagna or maybe even a frozen pizza and a bag of salad.

 

[taymorel]

We eat out every Wednedsay, Friday and Saturday so we depend about $350 a month. Not too bad considering I am not a good cook and we eat a lot of frozen meals.

 

[BeachLove]

Since March? That's not really much when you think about it over that many months. I'm lucky if I stay under $300-350 month for 1 person.

 

[crisi]

If it makes you feel better, we spent that in a week dining out at Disney. Probably more.

It isn't really what you spend, its what you spend in relation to your other obligations and your income. If you make $500,000 a year, have no mortgage or car payments and no credit card debt, spending $3000 a year dining out isn't a problem. If you are trying to make ends meet on $50k a year, with some debt thrown in there, in a high cost of living area, its too much.

 

[bdcp]

We eat dinner out about once per week and buy lunch a couple of times. We are empty nesters who both work. I'm guessing we spend about $200/month on eating out, more when we take out the parents and our boys. We could easily afford to eat out a lot more, but choose not to. We have neighbors who eat out or order in at least 3 times per week and she's a SAHM. When I was a SAHM, we had great, well planned home cooked meals almost every night. We only ate out occasionally then.

 

[pigletto]

2 adults. total entertainment budget for a month is $100. Entertainment means eating out, takeout, netflix, redbox, any events, etc.
Does not include work lunches however. That is different category.
We each get our own monthly allowance too. If we wish to use that for coffee, fast food while out running errands, buying something, etc, that is up to us.

For 25 yrs I have kept constant track of every expenditure into categories on our budget sheet. I know where the money goes. It just becomes a habit, and you just know how much you are spending.

Its not a rigid budget. It doesn't need to be. It just keeps me on track & alerts me of a major issue BEFORE it gets our of hand. We are pretty flexible, and know to just get back on track & don't let it become a habit.

It has allowed us to become mortgage free & debt free. Down to 1 income. Its just something I learned that was IMPORTANT to do when I was young, and stuck with it.

If you take care of your finances, they will take care of you.

Love this post!!!

Something has just changed in me lately and my priorities are very different than they were even 6 months ago. I have some long term goals I am eyeing, one of them being living completely off of one income. It's doable but it means starting to save every penny we can now.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

We spend about $800 a month on dining out. But we do a lot in the city - opera, plays, concerts, so dinner just is part of the night out.

If I ever calculated this I would probably be shocked.

 

[jsmith]

One of the things i have learned as part of the budgeting exercise is that its not only cheaper to eat at home-its faster. I have to be pretty careful what i eat for health reasons and dont eat fast food at all-the occassional quick causual like Chipolte or Noodles and Co but no arbys, Mcd's or BK type things. I plan my meals-shop by the list and make sure what i need to get dinner going is in one place when i leave in the morning. Use the crock pot on the nights we hit the gym after work. We do eat out once a week at a local sit down place-and have a beer or a couple glassees of wine. Lunch out-we work near one another-once every two weeks. about 250 a month.

 

[ssawka]

Love this post!!!

Something has just changed in me lately and my priorities are very different than they were even 6 months ago. I have some long term goals I am eyeing, one of them being living completely off of one income. It's doable but it means starting to save every penny we can now.

I'm sure that is great if you are not the one earning the one income. DW would absolutely love to live off of one income provided that I am the one going off to work everyday.

 

[bettymae1121]

$200 a month, so $2400 a year, that's for two adults (DD is only 7 months).

But we eat out for "fun" as well as getting a meal in, we don't spend hardly anything on entertainment (movies, books, etc). And we can afford it and enjoy doing it, so why not?

 

[smitch425]

According to my Disney Visa year end summary...

Restaurants-2010-- $8105.19
Restaurants-2011-- $9236.37

Which is why upgrading to the premier card was a no-brainer.

 

[robinb]

Since March 2012 we have spent $1536.28 on eating out!!!

I just want to talk you back from the ledge. Does that amount include March? If so, you have spent $1500 over 6 months for a family of 5. That's really only $250 per month or $62 per week for a family of essentially 4 adults and a child. That's what? $12 per person per week. I must confess that I spend more than that on eating out. I must also confess that I am not a card carrying Budget Boarder .

 

[DianeW]

My monthly budget for eating out is $20. Mint.com lets me know if I'm in danger of exceeding that. It works...I never do.