Comments on: Hanging out on restaurant row

By: Megan

Megan — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:46:55 +0000

I spend way too much money on dining out and on groceries. I’m slowly trying to whittle down my food budget. I’m going to see how long I can go without buying groceries (save for fresh fruits and veggies). I’ve got a ton of food stocked up, so I should be ok.

By: Emily Starbuck Gerson

Emily Starbuck Gerson — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:29:31 +0000

Food is my major weakness when it comes to spending, too. I live alone and I feel like every time I go to the grocery store and get fresh food, it all goes bad before I can use most of it. So I prefer getting food to-go, which is no problem when I stop by a sub shop and spend $4 or $5. But I often give in to temptation and go to Pei Wei or another place where entrees are $7-$9…and sometimes I’ll add a drink…and before I know it, $11 is gone for one meal. My boyfriend and I are talking about moving in together soon, which would be a huge financial relief — food would actually get eaten before going bad!

By: gradgirl

gradgirl — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:52:45 +0000

I feel like we would get along well in real life.

I’m obsessed with eating good food. I’ll skimp here and there–the occasional frozen pizza, the it’s-there-so-i’ll-eat-it moments. But overall, I love, love, love new restaurants with killer food and will not think twice about a $4 brownie.

Right there with ya….

By: MakingitinDC

MakingitinDC — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:11:25 +0000

This is a great area to cut costs. My first few years out of college I hardly ever ate out and I always brought my breakfast, tea and lunch to work. It saved me a lot of money and because I planned my meals I was less likely to make unhealthy choices on a whim.

By: English Major

English Major — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:44:06 +0000

Have you been tracking your grocery spending? Because if you’re cutting down on your eating out, that means you’re going to be spending more on groceries, and $75 is really, really low as a monthly grocery budget. I budget $90 for two weeks’ worth of groceries. Yeah, sometimes there’s a little slack there, but not more-than-half worth of slack. So I think you might want to put some flex in that number. Or maybe a lot of flex.

By: SavingDiva

SavingDiva — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:58:41 +0000

I’m trying to cut down on eating out…I don’t usually get cravings for the healthiest food…so it’s better if I just stick with grocery stores!

By: feministfinance

feministfinance — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:58:24 +0000

A couple of monts back sweetie and I scaled back to eating out whenever we wanted (him everyday at work for lunch and the two of us whenever we felt like, usually three or four times a week) to only eating out once a week. Sometimes we cheat a bit and go out for brunch on the weekend in addition to a dinner out. At first I thought I’d feel deprived but it’s actually been really nice, at least from my perspective. Eating out is more of an experience for me now, rather than just eating food to refuel.

By: Vixen

Vixen — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:35:26 +0000

I’ve spent WAY too much this month already. As in, no more eating out. Period.

By: meg77

meg77 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:58:33 +0000

I feel your pain. I can fly through half my eating out budget for the month in one weekend if I’m not careful (sushi and cosmos Friday night, enchiladas and margaritas Sat afternoon, Sunday brunch complete with mimosas…).

I’d rather two fabulous weekend/weeks a month, though, and then tough it out for the rest of the time. Actually I’d rather do that any time I want, but the budget isn’t quite there yet.

Seriously though, I’ll take good food and drinks and fine dining over a pair of shoes…assuming it hasn’t been too long since I got new shoes…:-)

By: jonsquared

jonsquared — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:40:09 +0000

i, too, love to eat out, and, you’re right, the costs tend to add up to frightening sums. but a great gastronomic experience, as you put it, is well worth the dollars. i wish you all the best. cheers!