EAT OUT LESS, SAVE MORE

How often do you eat out? Chances are - too much. In fact, Research and Markets published a study, “Attitude towards Dining Out in the United States”, showing Americans eat out one out of every four meals and snacks. Adding insult to injury, the study respondents indicated this behavior costs nearly half of their food budget; a potentially serious financial drain on anyone’s wallet.

At one point in our marriage, my husband and I were eating out over six times a week. We both worked full time, sometimes eating out with our co-workers at lunch. For dinner we would make a quick stop to a fast food restaurant because we went from work to some after work activity, having no time to prepare dinner. On weekends we allowed ourselves to splurge, sometimes eating out all three meals.

We were young, and lucky to have high metabolisms, and because of this it took our indifference and boredom with the same fast food restaurants to realize we had a problem. Neither Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, nor Rocky Rococo could entice us. Then, one day, I decided to use an extra calendar, we received free in the mail, to track our eating habits including the cost. What we discovered was eye-opening. We spent way too much on caloric, nutrient deficient food. We decided to take immediate action and tracked our food habit for four months. Many diet gurus recommend tracking your eating habits anyway, so we felt we were killing two birds with one stone.

As soon as we began tracking our last minute fast food purchases, we began to make changes. Instead of hamburgers and fries from Wendy’s, we found ways to make healthy meals quickly. Sometimes, they were ready made meals from Trader Joe’s; other times they were things that could be thrown together in twenty minutes. Obviously, buying food in bulk at the grocery store, and planning ahead for the week, helped both time wise and savings wise. In addition, we didn’t get to that “I’m so hungry I’m going to faint” stage where anything and everything sounded good.

Each day, I marked B, L, and D for our meals along with our initials. If they were blank, it meant we ate at home or brought our lunch in to work. Initially, my costs went down first. This was due to the fact that it was easier for me to bring my lunch to work than it was for my husband. We both worked in an office; however, he saw clients or had work lunches that were sometimes hard to get out of. In addition, there seemed to be a stigma attached to males bringing in their lunch. Soon, though, he seemed to convince even his office mates to do the same.

Not only were we saving money, we were eating better – a double benefit.

To this day, we continually monitor our spending habits when we choose to eat out. We have found that not only do we limit our fast food expenses, but we enjoy eating out at finer restaurants.

There is no better time to begin to track your eat out habits than the start of a new year. Why not do so beginning January 1, 2009. What will you do with your savings?