Holy Moly! June's dining out total$$$

emmyloustu

After watching Oprah today - Debt diet episode, I decided to do a budget reality check. We spent $502.29 on eating out/take out in June!!!!!! YIKES! I am disgusted with myself. We are paying out the wazoo for convenience and to get fat! (or fatter in my case, no wonder I am gaining weight while BFing!)

We have next to no debt, but our savings has dwindled and we really need to be contributing to a house and IVF fund. I need to get back to my menu planning and limiting eating out to once per week.

So, ladies, have I inspired you to crunch the numbers? What is the damage?

JGirl2005

I watched part of this episode and the other two regarding debt.  I am not a big oprah fan, but didn't have much else to do.

We eat out a lot, but mainly on the weekends. 

I really hope a lot of oprah fans start looking at what they are spending.  I spend a lot on shopping online, but we don't have debt.  Still, your priorities are right to save for IVF...

marcuej

We have a going out to eat budget each pay period.  Sadly, we started going over it because we couldn't find the time after work to fit dinner in with our routine with Stella.  We also lost all creativity when it came to menu planning, which is sad cause DH and I both love to cook.  I decided to try out Dream Dinners with a friend of mine and it's awesome.  You pre-select meals and then go put them together all at once.  I walked out with 12 different meals that basically just require me to throw them in the oven when we get home.  We're saving money and eating more rounded meals now.  I figure this will also come in handy is #2 will be here just around the corner.  I already booked another session for August so we'll be stocked up when the baby comes.

sweetpea18

We added ours up and it was disgusting.  So, we made a budget and we've actually been sticking to it for the last year or so.  (Well, it was pretty easy to stick to an eating out budget with a colicy baby-we just never ate out!) 

If we want to do lunches or happy hour with friends/coworkers, it has to come out of our monthly 'allowance' or fun money or whatever you want to call it. 

schmoodle

Dude, I'm not even going there. I'm guessing ours would be at least that, probably way more! We just don't have time to cook (and I don't cook period). We were getting personal chef meals from my secretary but are cutting back and now doing frozen meals from Whole Foods/Trader Joe's, but we still eat out at least 1-2 nights during the week and every day on weekends. I don't really care what Oprah says though, we have plenty in savings, no debt except our house and student loans and I'm ok with spending a lot on food rather than wasting the 20 minutes a day I get with my baby after work cooking.

emmyloustu

Great idea, Marcu! I love to cook too, it's definitely become a time/convenience issue.

Schmoodle, I hear you. I miss TJs & Whole Foods, but we do have Wegmans which has lots of grab & go meal options. I don't really care about Oprah either, it just piqued my curiosity & I was a little shocked. I added it up once last yr when DH was working like 70 hours a week, eating out 3 meals a day some days & one month we spent $1000!