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

[robinb]

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.

And this is why I'm not a card carrying member of the Budget Board because I cannot think of a single instance where a meal out would cost less than $20 for a family of 5. Maybe ... if you shared 3 $5 Subway footlongs with no chips or soda .

 

[allison443]

And this is why I'm not a card carrying member of the Budget Board because I cannot think of a single instance where a meal out would cost less than $20 for a family of 5. Maybe ... if you shared 3 $5 Subway footlongs with no chips or soda .

I agree with you! And I have a family of 5. Maybe that poster says 20/month but they don't use it every month? Use a few months' worth at a time?

I think OP spent about $300 a month? We probably spend that, but not on fast food. It's going to a local restaurant, 4-5 entrees at about $15-20 each, sodas, maybe one or two shared appetizers, and we do that maybe twice a month. Plus order pizza a couple times a month. I don't think that's a lot when I look at it that way. That's time we spend together as a family now that our kids are older. But if I was spending $300 a month on McDonalds or other fast food, I'd have to reassess that-it wouldn't be worth it to me.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

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.

Finally a post that doesn't make me feel quite as awful about what we spend dining out! Heck, our kids spent close to $1,500 on lunches at the pool this summer with the nanny and we spent well over that on dinners on the nights we met them there after work.

Our monthly dining out bill is about $1,600, a bit more during the summers and slightly less during the winters. We eat out 4-5 times a week as a family and I have lunch brought in to the office 5 days a week when I'm in town (as does my wife). We love to eat meals together and find it less stressful than trying to wrangle a meal onto the table when we get home. If my wife is traveling, or if I am traveling, or when we're running late from meetings and racing to get home, we can just throw the kids in the car and be at our club in five minutes, be seated immediately, and just like home, they know how my son likes his milk, that my daughter doesn't want her banana sliced or caramel on her apples, that I'll take the corn chowder whenever it's on the menu, that my wife will not touch a plate with a mushroom on it, etc. Kind of expensive, but it's our version of a family dinner and it allows us to eat dinner with our kids nearly every night so we consider it money well spent.

 

[dizluvah]

So this thread got me curious and I logged into our bank account and calculated all food purchased out - from morning coffee to full sit down meals. The total for 8/1 - 9/12 (43 days) was a whopping 667.80. I am so shocked- all those coffee's, breakfasts, whatever I had no idea how much we had been spending lately! YIKES - I am going to bring this my husbands attention tomorrow - we need to do better! That averages over $15 per DAY - I'm sick about it.

 

[milwaukeemommy]

I will have to go back & read everyone's replies, as I'm curious. I've said I'm cheap -- we RARELY eat out -- & when we do it's usually just my 2 kids & me, hubby was on 2nd shift for YEARS until a month ago so he was never home for dinner. But he's on a liquid diet right now (another story) so I guess that's saving us money LOL.

My kids know I'm cheap. The only place we really ever go is Culver's, & that's only if I have coupons. I was so excited when they opened a Sonic here -- 2 years ago -- & we finally went for the first time a few weeks ago LOL. And I didn't have a coupon!!

So I would say we spend about $20 a month -- but like I said, that's just 3 of us, & we only do it once a month IF that -- something about eating something at a restaurant that I can easily make at home for much less -- not to mention I'm a germaphobe -- all those PEOPLE touching any part of my food makes me sick. And spending money makes me sick. So there ya go LOL

Michelle

 

[SaraJayne]

And this is why I'm not a card carrying member of the Budget Board because I cannot think of a single instance where a meal out would cost less than $20 for a family of 5. Maybe ... if you shared 3 $5 Subway footlongs with no chips or soda .

Same here. We're usually up to at least $15, just for two people at one meal.

 

[Happyjen27]

We aim for $125 - $150 per month.

2 years ago, we were up in the 500-600 range per month. We both work, and had 3 year old twins, it was so easy to just go to a restaurant rather than figure out dinner after working all day.

So, here is what I did. I set a goal. At first I weaned down to $200 per month. I wrote "200" on the white board in our kitchen where we write down appointments and stuff.

Whenever we went out to eat, we would subtract it from that 200, and when we were at zero, we didn't go out to eat for that month. As an incentive to not spend every penny, each month there was a surplus, we wrote it down on the bottom of the board and used that toward our vacation fund.

I slowly weaned down from 200 to 125. I don't think DH noticed yet. *giggle*

I'm not terribly strict on this when it comes to dining out with friends. I'll happily bust the budget for a fun night out that occurs spontaneously. If I know in advance we've got plans later in the month, I will save my monthly allowance for that night though.

Now we do that for groceries now too, because the out to eat budget worked so well, and it's also been a good success. Toward the end of the month we will cook out of the pantry rather than buying something.

 

[mombrontrent]

I will have to go back & read everyone's replies, as I'm curious. I've said I'm cheap -- we RARELY eat out -- & when we do it's usually just my 2 kids & me, hubby was on 2nd shift for YEARS until a month ago so he was never home for dinner. But he's on a liquid diet right now (another story) so I guess that's saving us money LOL.

My kids know I'm cheap. The only place we really ever go is Culver's, & that's only if I have coupons. I was so excited when they opened a Sonic here -- 2 years ago -- & we finally went for the first time a few weeks ago LOL. And I didn't have a coupon!!

So I would say we spend about $20 a month -- but like I said, that's just 3 of us, & we only do it once a month IF that -- something about eating something at a restaurant that I can easily make at home for much less -- not to mention I'm a germaphobe -- all those PEOPLE touching any part of my food makes me sick. And spending money makes me sick. So there ya go LOL

Michelle

Oh my! This is me!

I do buy coffee once or twice a week at $1.60 a pop and maybe a muffin once in a blue moon. Other than that I rarley eat out. If we are on vacation I like to get a condo with a kitchen so I can do alot of quick cooking. If I am forced to eat out when travelling or something I have to push my irrrational thoughts to the back of my mind. My DH thinks I am crazy and I know it's irrational but I have worked in kitchens and I know exactly what goes on. Sure you probably won't get sick but I still KNOW

I let my DH take me out for dinner once or twice a year to celebrate a birthday or anniversary but that's it, he knows I would just rather cook at home. He does buy coffee and food on the road (truck driver) but also packs his own food. Once in a great while I will buy my kids a fastfood meal or icecream or something but I am talking once every few months. Me and my daughters are vegetarian so options are somewhat limited anyways.

I do love cooking and baking though so even though I don't spend alot eating out I buy expensive food at the grocery store. It wouldn't surprise me if we spent over $1000/mth on groceries.

 

[AmericangirlinFrance]

We have done SO much better with eating out! A larger percentage of the reason is because since moving, I am still job hunting so right now I'm a stay at home spouse (no kids) - hopefully will be working soon. My DH makes enough for us to both live on, but not enough for us to be eating out all the time. But me being at home means that I coupon extensively and plan meals at home.

We used to go out every Friday night (a group of our friends always goes to a place together) for dinner and drinks. Now, we will go and have 1 drink each, but wait and eat dinner at home. We might go out for an actual meal (which might be take out) maybe once every 2 weeks. We live in a pretty high cost of living area.

I try to stay home as much as possible to save $$ (gas is expensive!), so I eat lunch at home. DH has gotten much better about bringing lunch to work, but he probably still buys it out 1 or 2 times a week.

 

[ChiCat]

So this thread got me curious and I logged into our bank account and calculated all food purchased out - from morning coffee to full sit down meals. The total for 8/1 - 9/12 (43 days) was a whopping 667.80. I am so shocked- all those coffee's, breakfasts, whatever I had no idea how much we had been spending lately! YIKES - I am going to bring this my husbands attention tomorrow - we need to do better! That averages over $15 per DAY - I'm sick about it.

I really need to do this, we've been soooo bad with eating out lately. I just haven't felt like cooking at all.

 

[milwaukeemommy]

ChiCat -- Mind if I PM you?? I want to pick your brain a bit about Chicago --

Michelle

 

[ellone]

We get a pizza about once a month so $20. We cut back on eating out since having our first. And when when she got old enough to eat solids, I cut out artificial colors, flavors and GMOs from our diiet. If you avoid GMOs there really aren't any eat out places to go to.

 

[maggs1035]

Wow! I guess im not alone, but im still going to try and change this bad habit we are in. My hubby is a diabetic and has had a heart attack (is good now) and I am over weight with high blood pressure, so we don't need to eat out for health reasons as well!

We ate out tonight.....our goal is to not eat out again until his next pay check in two weeks? Hope we make it

Thanks for all the input, its good to know im not alone!

 

[bellaally]

We use to eat out all the time. Bad habits I calculated it to about 500 dollars a month and that was two ppl. I was pregnant and high risk and hubby was lazy. It was bad not only did we spent so much money, it went on crappy food and we gained weight dear hubby gained about 60lbs with this pregnancy, now we eat out once a week and spend 100 dollars on eating out. I have also lost 48 lbs so far

 

[Jedana]

Well, DH stops at the gas station or at McD's in the morning and gets a tea and something to eat. He rarely goes to lunch, but if he does, he goes out. (He usually snacks during the day, fruit/veggies or granola/nut bars or popcorn cakes.)

We usually go out to eat on Tuesdays. We have Scouts (yes, we--DS is in Cub Scouts, DH is his den leader and I'm the committee chair) and need to be there by 6:30. We live about an hour away, and DH gets home between 4:30 and 5. So, he changes, we leave and go eat somewhere near the meeting.

We usually order pizza every other week. And do Chinese take out maybe once a month.

So, for the family meals, $150 a month? Unless we go somewhere nicer than Chipotle or Moe's for dinner on Tuesdays... If we go to Bonefish Grill, we can easily spend $60 for the three of us, plus tip. If we do that, then we eat at home the next Tuesday (something simple, like dirty rice or hot dogs and mac n cheese).

DH spends about $5 a day, unless he does lunch. So, another $100-125 a month for him. He was yelled at by the doc because his bad choloestrol (sp?) is high and he's not supposed to eat at fast food. I can buy breakfast stuff and lunch stuff all day long---he forgets to take it.

When we were both working, we ate out a lot. But, I was running a restaurant, so most times, the family would come up to see me, and they ate for free. (Yes, my boss knew, and yes, he was ok with it, as long as I accounted for the food--perk of being the general manager...working 50-80 hours a week has to have some good things come of it...)

 

[MinnieForMe]

Hi:

That is $1500 over a 6 month period, right? I don't think that's a bad amount if it's not all fast food. With two adult children and only one on a child's menu, you can easily spend that amount if you are going out to eat at a decent restaurant once per week. Although, we do eat out once per week - it's about half that amount because we do take-out instead. I love to eat out and it would be a punishment to me to have to cook 7 nights a week!

 

[MinnieForMe]

Finally a post that doesn't make me feel quite as awful about what we spend dining out! Heck, our kids spent close to $1,500 on lunches at the pool this summer with the nanny and we spent well over that on dinners on the nights we met them there after work.

Our monthly dining out bill is about $1,600, a bit more during the summers and slightly less during the winters. We eat out 4-5 times a week as a family and I have lunch brought in to the office 5 days a week when I'm in town (as does my wife). We love to eat meals together and find it less stressful than trying to wrangle a meal onto the table when we get home. If my wife is traveling, or if I am traveling, or when we're running late from meetings and racing to get home, we can just throw the kids in the car and be at our club in five minutes, be seated immediately, and just like home, they know how my son likes his milk, that my daughter doesn't want her banana sliced or caramel on her apples, that I'll take the corn chowder whenever it's on the menu, that my wife will not touch a plate with a mushroom on it, etc. Kind of expensive, but it's our version of a family dinner and it allows us to eat dinner with our kids nearly every night so we consider it money well spent.

Adopt me! I hate to cook!

 

[marie1203]

I really don't think that is bad as long as it wasn't all in fast food . I would be more worried about the nutritional value that the money. We spend around $300 a month eating out between DH and I, but we don't eat fast food.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I will have to go back & read everyone's replies, as I'm curious. I've said I'm cheap -- we RARELY eat out -- & when we do it's usually just my 2 kids & me, hubby was on 2nd shift for YEARS until a month ago so he was never home for dinner. But he's on a liquid diet right now (another story) so I guess that's saving us money LOL.

My kids know I'm cheap. The only place we really ever go is Culver's, & that's only if I have coupons. I was so excited when they opened a Sonic here -- 2 years ago -- & we finally went for the first time a few weeks ago LOL. And I didn't have a coupon!!

So I would say we spend about $20 a month -- but like I said, that's just 3 of us, & we only do it once a month IF that -- something about eating something at a restaurant that I can easily make at home for much less -- not to mention I'm a germaphobe -- all those PEOPLE touching any part of my food makes me sick. And spending money makes me sick. So there ya go LOL

Michelle

FYI- sonic has $1.99 wacky pack Wednesday's. That may be helpful if you don't have a coupon.

 

[milwaukeemommy]

FYI- sonic has $1.99 wacky pack Wednesday's. That may be helpful if you don't have a coupon.

THAT is good to know! Thank you! I just purchased a $10-worth-of-food-for-$5 Groupon coupon, but Groupon gave me $10 to spend so it was FREE! Yep, I'm THAT cheap

Michelle