Big Surprise when looking at my finances....

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So I am in the market for a new car... I with through our bills the other day and on paper it was going to work out fine. But when I looked at our bank statements every month... I wasn't so convinced. So last night, I went through my statements and was amazed at all the money my wife and I spend going out to eat... I was blown away. In one month, we had spent almost as much as we spent on groceries for the month! I knew that we went out to eat more than we should, but I never knew it was so much. We recently cut our cable and went to streaming, which will save us about $60 a month and I had been looking for other ways to cut our bills, but never thought to look at how much we spent going out to eat.

I am determined to change that, I know a lot of you are probably on top of this already, but if your not, check it out. If we can control how much we go out to eat, I could probably make the new car payment with just that!
 
Pretty much. Going out to eat is getting more expensive every year. We typically cook through most of the week and I take the leftovers etc to work. If you figure $10 a day just for lunch, thats $50 a week for just one person. Plus, the food you cook at home is more than likely a lot healthier than what you get when going out. We still go out to eat but is usually reserved for the weekends/special dates etc.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
So I am in the market for a new car... I with through our bills the other day and on paper it was going to work out fine. But when I looked at our bank statements every month... I wasn't so convinced. So last night, I went through my statements and was amazed at all the money my wife and I spend going out to eat... I was blown away. In one month, we had spent almost as much as we spent on groceries for the month! I knew that we went out to eat more than we should, but I never knew it was so much. We recently cut our cable and went to streaming, which will save us about $60 a month and I had been looking for other ways to cut our bills, but never thought to look at how much we spent going out to eat.

I am determined to change that, I know a lot of you are probably on top of this already, but if your not, check it out. If we can control how much we go out to eat, I could probably make the new car payment with just that!
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If you figure out a way...let me know. I know, discipline...blah blah blah. But for 12 years now, that's always been our Achilles heal. Buy $150-200/wk in groceries...forget/don't want to pack lunches, spend $100/wk on lunches. Long day at the office for the two of us...meh, we'll just grab something on the way home. Spend $150/wk on dinners. Sunday realize most of our groceries are stale/spoiled...and do it all again.
 
I cut my lunch budget and doubled my jeep allowance. Plus I lost 20 pounds in the process!

We struggle with eating out too. But the diner up from the house has spectacular food for cheap. It changed ownership in the fall and we went to just check it out...fell in love. And we can eat there (4 adults) for usually less than cooking. We average $20 a meal there if we all get water
 
Not only is eating out incredibly expensive, it's also pretty unhealthy. This is coming from a family that eats out way too often! We Seriously spend way too much on going out to eat.
 
UTfball68 said:
If you figure out a way...let me know. I know, discipline...blah blah blah. But for 12 years now, that's always been our Achilles heal. Buy $150-200/wk in groceries...forget/don't want to pack lunches, spend $100/wk on lunches. Long day at the office for the two of us...meh, we'll just grab something on the way home. Spend $150/wk on dinners. Sunday realize most of our groceries are stale/spoiled...and do it all again.
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That's a LOT of money for two people! We spend $75-100/week for five of us. Shawn does eat a lot of lunches out at work but his schedule is frequently too crazy to plan it well and we're still trying to figure that out. I pack Sara's school lunch. We do pizza or chinese delivery about once a month and frequently do lunch or dinner out on a Saturday or Sunday because we are out running errands. But it's usually CFA or Moe's or Five Guys or maybe El Senor in Knightdale...
 
trailhugger said:
That's a LOT of money for two people! We spend $75-100/week for five of us. Shawn does eat a lot of lunches out at work but his schedule is frequently too crazy to plan it well and we're still trying to figure that out. I pack Sara's school lunch. We do pizza or chinese delivery about once a month and frequently do one meal out on a Saturday or Sunday because we are out running errands.
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Harris Teeter/Trader Joe's/Whole Foods lyf...convinced myself I'd eat it because it's fresher and the meat is usually better quality...but I don't.

But when we go to the butcher and farmer's markets...we'll usually eat that stuff up pretty quick.
 
We eat out about once a month, and that is usually Subway, LOL. Probably 99.5% of what goes into my body comes from the grocery store. I pack my lunch and my boys lunch every morning. My wife packs her lunch the night before.
 
trailhugger said:
I shop by unit price. I buy a TON of stuff.
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That's because you're a BEAST! That partner of yours is a lucky bastard to have someone so focused and determined taking care of him. Gives him more time to be a know-it-all on the forums :flipoff2:
 
Our biggest problem is the weekend. My wife and I are usually out and about and will start the day off by going to biscuitville or something and then will get something for lunch and then when we do finally get home, we realize we don't have anything in the house to eat, so we go get something for dinner... then we usually repeat the process on Sunday and then make a trip to the grocery store.

I am really going to try and make myself not go out for lunch when I might not feel like eating leftovers for lunch and then making sure we have frozen pizzas and such around the house to eat on the weekends.
 
We noticed the same thing, and it kind of freaked us out, but then we realized that we don't do anything else for entertainment. We don't go to the movies, sports games, bowling, etc. We eat out, that's how we spend our entertainment money. If we want to do something fun, we go to the park and play, take the canoe out, ride bikes, free stuff. Our eating out and entertainment were combined. :lol:
 
Blaze said:
We noticed the same thing, and it kind of freaked us out, but then we realized that we don't do anything else for entertainment.
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That's us. That IS our entertainment. We're people watchers too so we make it sort of a sport
 
trailhugger said:
That's a LOT of money for two people! We spend $75-100/week for five of us. Shawn does eat a lot of lunches out at work but his schedule is frequently too crazy to plan it well and we're still trying to figure that out. I pack Sara's school lunch. We do pizza or chinese delivery about once a month and frequently do lunch or dinner out on a Saturday or Sunday because we are out running errands. But it's usually CFA or Moe's or Five Guys or maybe El Senor in Knightdale...
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That is extremely impressive!
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Our biggest problem is the weekend. My wife and I are usually out and about and will start the day off by going to biscuitville or something and then will get something for lunch and then when we do finally get home, we realize we don't have anything in the house to eat, so we go get something for dinner... then we usually repeat the process on Sunday and then make a trip to the grocery store.

I am really going to try and make myself not go out for lunch when I might not feel like eating leftovers for lunch and then making sure we have frozen pizzas and such around the house to eat on the weekends.
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We do frozen pizza for lunch or dinner on weekends a lot, too, because we're busy on projects, it's easy, and the kids like it. I make easy breakfasts on week days ("roll up sandwiches" made from tortillas toasted w/ sliced ham & cheese) and usually eggs with bacon or sausage or maybe pancakes on weekend days. We've all eaten by 8 or 8:30, so it's not worth the time to go to Bojangles or Biscuitville, and we're either skype-ing with grandparents or starting on the weekend's chores and projects.

Keep in mind what you'd save by actually eating the lunch you pack, versus going out, and then remember that car payment you're considering!

Especially with our three small people, going out to eat (even CFA) is definitely an adventure/easy entertainment. :lol:
 
We usually try to plan stuff out on the weekends so we are back home by lunch, or don't leave until after lunch. Sometimes I will pack lunch if I know we are going to be out running around all day. I try and eat very healthy.
 
We typically spend $100-150 every week and a half. Maybe a little more if we have to pick up dog/cat food. Usually we have a ton of fresh produce and lots of ground turkey/chicken/pork/beef. I need to use our Sams club membership and just go stock up on meat once a month. Cooking at home can be difficult as I have class two nights a week/gym etc but we try and cook at least 4-5 meals a week.

Breakfast is usually a casserole of some kind. Neese' hot sausage with kale, spinach, jalapeno's, green pepper, onion etc. Easy to heat up at work and is pretty filling

Lunch is usually a salad with various toppings/chicken

Dinner is usually ground turkey/veggies cooked in various ways. We try and do tacos at least one night a week
 
drkelly said:
That is extremely impressive!
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I think I stocked up on sodas (which we really don't drink many of any more) the past two weeks, so it was higher by a little, but those are also the days I usually 'save' like 50+% (so really 1/3 off regular price). Can't beat Buy 2, Get 3 Free. :lol:
 
trailhugger said:
We do frozen pizza for lunch or dinner on weekends a lot, too, because we're busy on projects, it's easy, and the kids like it. I make easy breakfasts on week days ("roll up sandwiches" made from tortillas toasted w/ sliced ham & cheese) and usually eggs with bacon or sausage or maybe pancakes on weekend days. We've all eaten by 8 or 8:30, so it's not worth the time to go to Bojangles or Biscuitville, and we're either skype-ing with grandparents or starting on the weekend's chores and projects.

Keep in mind what you'd save by actually eating the lunch you pack, versus going out, and then remember that car payment you're considering!

Especially with our three small people, going out to eat (even CFA) is definitely an adventure/easy entertainment. :lol:
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Wanna be my chef??? Or have a sister??? I'm not really a picky eater...just have zero ambition to cook. I'm perfectly fine with a hot dog in a tortilla or pimento cheese sammich, but cooking food is one thing I'm extremely lazy about.
 
I'd rather cook at the house any day or nightgoing out is overrated too many people too loud too expensive not my idea of a good time I can bartend for myself I'm good.
 
Loganwayne said:
Your solution is to move out into the country. When the nearest gas station that has milk in 20 minutes away and the nearest food joint in over 30 you learn to get groceries and go home and stay at home

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
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Had that in Edenton...just meant we spent more in gas going to Nags Head an hour 15 away...haha.
 
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