Dining Out - How To Spend Less?
Our Dining Out Expenses Are Too High
My friend NCN, from No Credit Needed, recently posted this question:
“What One Area Of Your Personal Finance Management Would You Like To Improve?“
For me, that would be being able to better control our dining out expenses. It’s the one category in our budget that I consistently have trouble controlling. It’s always way too high. Mrs. PT and I spend on average $400 a month on dining out or take home meals. Plus, we spend another $300 on groceries for eating at home. Ridiculous, I know.
Why We Dine Out So Much (my petty excuses)
It’s just the two of us right now (no kids), and we both work full-time. It’s easier, after a long day at work, to just pick something up on our way home or to meet somewhere for a nice meal versus cooking something and cleaning up. After all, no one has been at home all day preparing something. We do this once or twice a week during the week and another two or three times on the weekend. Another reason we dine out a lot is because of our friends. Having a meal together is probably the #1 way we socialize with the friends we have. Lastly, I’m lazy and don’t usually bag a lunch for every day of the week. While these lunches are usually around $7, it adds up to a considerable amount over a month.
Ways We Try and Control Our Dining Out Spending
- Budget and Withdraw Cash - I do have a budget in place. I am using a modified budget system which actually targets this expense. I shared this new method earlier this month. To attempt to stay within our budget we withdraw cash every two weeks and tell ourselves this is the only amount we can spend. We always seem to need more though.
- Use Coupons- We use an awful lot of coupons when dining out. We usually find these in the mail, online, or coupon books. This past weekend we had a free pizza from a local restaurant. It was a nice meal for the price of the tip, and I had enough left over for a lunch this week.
- Split Meals- With the exception of a few restaurants, when Mrs. PT and I are dining out we usually split a main course. This is becoming easier and easier as portion sizes get bigger at restaurants. Here in Texas we also eat a lot of Tex Mex so the free chips and salsa allow us to fill up quicker on one meal.
- Maximize the Free Lunch - No less than once a week, my boss likes to head out for a business lunch with our team. This meal is usually picked up by my boss, so I never miss one of these.
What More Could We Do?
Even though we do use some controlling measures, it still seems like we spend too much dining out. Do you think we spend too much? Do you know of something else we could be doing to motivate us to spend less, or will this always be an area we could improve? Leave your comment below.
Other Thoughts
My Open Wallet
Get Rich Slowly
Gather Little By Little
Forbes
Photo: by moriza
5 Responses to “Dining Out - How To Spend Less?”
By Damsel on Mar 18, 2008 | Reply
Get a slow-cooker and start reading recipes. I work full-time outside the home. I am the main dinner-cooker in our house, and I absolutely would not survive without my beloved crock pot. I love that I can dump stuff in before I leave (even some things that are still frozen) and walk in the house at the end of the day to a meal that is 90% finished. I’m not joking when I say that I use it 3-4 nights a week!
Best of all, the cuts of meat that do best in the slow-cooker are the cheap ones! It’s difficult to cook in small portions, but most leftovers freeze well. I freeze them into individual portions and take them for lunch.
By PT on Mar 18, 2008 | Reply
I’ve heard a lot about this “all day” method. We need to try it. Thanks for the tip.