Budget question: How often do you eat out???

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Posted by Dee0522

Going out to eat is one of our favorite things to do! That being said, we usually go out 2x a week... on the weekends. I don't think that's bad. DH doesn't get home from work until 8-8:30 every night so I always cook during the week. Friday nights we normally go out, and then we'll eat either lunch or dinner out on Saturday. If I added up the total amount for the year I'm sure I'd pass out ... but I try not to think about it that way. We look at it as a reward to ourselves for a hard week at work... and it's quality time to spend with each other. We always have really good conversations when we go out.

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that is dh's philosophy lol, he always says that you cant put a price on a good time.

SInce we've been married we havent gone out like we used to, now i mostly cook. But i want to start going out more, at least on the weekend. We just love the whole aspect of it. Hanging out, talking, spending quality time together, enjoying a nice dinner and eachothers company. We enjoy the whole profess of it, maybe we enjoy it too much lol. WE always love trying new places, trying new and unique foods too, going to places we hear about that have a great atmosphere or different look, well not everytime we go to eat is it something very different. I also like when we go to places where we both get dressed up

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by Dee0522

Going out to eat is one of our favorite things to do! That being said, we usually go out 2x a week... on the weekends. I don't think that's bad. DH doesn't get home from work until 8-8:30 every night so I always cook during the week. Friday nights we normally go out, and then we'll eat either lunch or dinner out on Saturday. If I added up the total amount for the year I'm sure I'd pass out ... but I try not to think about it that way. We look at it as a reward to ourselves for a hard week at work... and it's quality time to spend with each other. We always have really good conversations when we go out.

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that is dh's philosophy lol, he always says that you cant put a price on a good time.

SInce we've been married we havent gone out like we used to, now i mostly cook. But i want to start going out more, at least on the weekend. We just love the whole aspect of it. Hanging out, talking, spending quality time together, enjoying a nice dinner and eachothers company. We enjoy the whole profess of it, maybe we enjoy it too much lol. WE always love trying new places, trying new and unique foods too, going to places we hear about that have a great atmosphere or different look, well not everytime we go to eat is it something very different. I also like when we go to places where we both get dressed up

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Yes - that is our thing too - we love going out and treating ourselves to a nice dinner. Plus we have yet to have a bad dinner since we moved back 2 yrs ago. We won't live here forever due to dh's job so we try to take advantage of the good food - which in my opinion is the best in the country....and the biggest variety and not all chain-like restaurants u know. BUT I still think we should try and limit to 2 fancy dinners a month instead of like 4-6. Plus I work late and dh travels a lot and we work out every night so we can't always cook but we really need to just buy lettuce and soups and easy things to have instead of ordering in so much! Definitely an eye opener and glad I am not alone here!

UGH!!!! This question has been lurking in my head since the honeymoon!!! I feel like we eat out way to often out of laziness.,. not wanting to cook or not wanting to clean the dishes. But now, it is part of my New Years goals to make more food at home and Bag Lunch it for both of us.
I think I rather Bag lunch it and then let us go out to dinner as we like. I agree about the good times and conversation when we are out. I wouldn't want that to be missed. However I am going to be cooking more and maintaining a gocery list!

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Posted by Jenn04

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by Dee0522

Going out to eat is one of our favorite things to do! That being said, we usually go out 2x a week... on the weekends. I don't think that's bad. DH doesn't get home from work until 8-8:30 every night so I always cook during the week. Friday nights we normally go out, and then we'll eat either lunch or dinner out on Saturday. If I added up the total amount for the year I'm sure I'd pass out ... but I try not to think about it that way. We look at it as a reward to ourselves for a hard week at work... and it's quality time to spend with each other. We always have really good conversations when we go out.

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that is dh's philosophy lol, he always says that you cant put a price on a good time.

SInce we've been married we havent gone out like we used to, now i mostly cook. But i want to start going out more, at least on the weekend. We just love the whole aspect of it. Hanging out, talking, spending quality time together, enjoying a nice dinner and eachothers company. We enjoy the whole profess of it, maybe we enjoy it too much lol. WE always love trying new places, trying new and unique foods too, going to places we hear about that have a great atmosphere or different look, well not everytime we go to eat is it something very different. I also like when we go to places where we both get dressed up

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Yes - that is our thing too - we love going out and treating ourselves to a nice dinner. Plus we have yet to have a bad dinner since we moved back 2 yrs ago. We won't live here forever due to dh's job so we try to take advantage of the good food - which in my opinion is the best in the country....and the biggest variety and not all chain-like restaurants u know. BUT I still think we should try and limit to 2 fancy dinners a month instead of like 4-6. Plus I work late and dh travels a lot and we work out every night so we can't always cook but we really need to just buy lettuce and soups and easy things to have instead of ordering in so much! Definitely an eye opener and glad I am not alone here!

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yea the thing that is nice about going out to dinner is that its a date night - thats how we look at it too -actually i want to go out more often just because i know that pretty soon that is all going to come to an end - we also aren't going to live in NYC forever and once the house and babies come we can kiss romantic dinners goodbye for awhile hahahahahaha....i just think the next year or two we should really just do what we want when it comes to treating ourselves - of course we are still going to save and still get a house, but i really want to make sure we do as much as we can while we can - for some reason now that we are married the reality of starting a family within the next few years is starting to sink in so i want to make sure i enjoy this time together while we are still alone like someone said - its quality time together - and once we get a house a lot of our extra money is going to be towards furnishing it - i just figure once we move party time is over for awhile so i want to squeeze in as much fun as possible its kind of exciting - DH and i were talking about it last night and now that the wedding is over we can breathe and really do things - since before we got engaged we were saving our money for one thing or another and with the wedding we paid all cash so it was penny pinching to say the least but now its like ok, instead of paying a mortgage every month to jericho terrace we can save at least half of that money a month easily since its like found money now and then we can use the rest to spend on us, plus all the other vendors we were paying in between - instead of having to save to pay off vendors now i put that money into our savings - and that is a lot of money that we get to pay ourselves now we figure if we were able to pay for the wedding then that means in the same time frame we should be able to put close to the same amount into our savings - even if its 2/3 of what the wedding cost that we can save that is still A LOT of money to save in a year and a half....oye, i still cant believe the small fortune weddings cost - and now mine is all over! money spent and gone! makes me want to but all worth it

We used to go out to eat 2-3 times a week but since we got the house that has all changed. I try to cook as much as I can and save the date nights for the weekend. DH works overnight some nights so I usually go to eat at my mom's or grandma's when he works so that saves us money. Once in a while I will go out to eat with friends but with that being said it saves us a lot of money this way. All our extra money has been put into our house---either the mortgage or just finishing it up. I try to bring lunch with me as much as I can but DH has to spend on lunch. He is a fireman and everytime he works they all chip in for the meal, its not too much so I dont worry about it. We are almost to the point now where there isnt much more to be done so we have started to treat ourselves here and there. We both worked so hard this past year saving to pay for the wedding and then buying the house but it was all worth it. Now that we can breathe a little we decided to keep doing things like we were and instead of putting the money away for the wedding we are now saving for our next vacation for our 1 year anniversary and the rest will be used as a savings for when we decide to start a family. If I keep saving from now like I was I think we should be ok come the time when we are ready for babies

I think we def go overboard with eating out, if we were to add it up I'd too lol... Sometimes it's because of necessity due to our schedules, but sometimes it's just laziness. All the starbucks and DD coffee adds up too! lol

Plus, I never know what to pack for lunch, leftovers just never taste as good to me :(

We went out to eat together ONCE since our honeymoon (July) and that was my office holiday dinner 2 weeks ago..

We are really trying to save and I cook a lot.

When DH and I moved in together we decided that once a week would be date night no matter what--dinner out so we could relax and spend some special time with each other. However, we bought an entertainment guide, go on restaurants.com and look through the paper for coupons, whenever possible.

In reality, we probably either get take out or go out to eat together 4-6x a month.

In my mind, our date night is 100% worth it to spend time together.

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Posted by Future Mulligan

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Posted by Jenn04

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by Dee0522

Going out to eat is one of our favorite things to do! That being said, we usually go out 2x a week... on the weekends. I don't think that's bad. DH doesn't get home from work until 8-8:30 every night so I always cook during the week. Friday nights we normally go out, and then we'll eat either lunch or dinner out on Saturday. If I added up the total amount for the year I'm sure I'd pass out ... but I try not to think about it that way. We look at it as a reward to ourselves for a hard week at work... and it's quality time to spend with each other. We always have really good conversations when we go out.

---

that is dh's philosophy lol, he always says that you cant put a price on a good time.

SInce we've been married we havent gone out like we used to, now i mostly cook. But i want to start going out more, at least on the weekend. We just love the whole aspect of it. Hanging out, talking, spending quality time together, enjoying a nice dinner and eachothers company. We enjoy the whole profess of it, maybe we enjoy it too much lol. WE always love trying new places, trying new and unique foods too, going to places we hear about that have a great atmosphere or different look, well not everytime we go to eat is it something very different. I also like when we go to places where we both get dressed up

---

Yes - that is our thing too - we love going out and treating ourselves to a nice dinner. Plus we have yet to have a bad dinner since we moved back 2 yrs ago. We won't live here forever due to dh's job so we try to take advantage of the good food - which in my opinion is the best in the country....and the biggest variety and not all chain-like restaurants u know. BUT I still think we should try and limit to 2 fancy dinners a month instead of like 4-6. Plus I work late and dh travels a lot and we work out every night so we can't always cook but we really need to just buy lettuce and soups and easy things to have instead of ordering in so much! Definitely an eye opener and glad I am not alone here!

---

yea the thing that is nice about going out to dinner is that its a date night - thats how we look at it too -actually i want to go out more often just because i know that pretty soon that is all going to come to an end - we also aren't going to live in NYC forever and once the house and babies come we can kiss romantic dinners goodbye for awhile hahahahahaha....i just think the next year or two we should really just do what we want when it comes to treating ourselves - of course we are still going to save and still get a house, but i really want to make sure we do as much as we can while we can - for some reason now that we are married the reality of starting a family within the next few years is starting to sink in so i want to make sure i enjoy this time together while we are still alone like someone said - its quality time together - and once we get a house a lot of our extra money is going to be towards furnishing it - i just figure once we move party time is over for awhile so i want to squeeze in as much fun as possible its kind of exciting - DH and i were talking about it last night and now that the wedding is over we can breathe and really do things - since before we got engaged we were saving our money for one thing or another and with the wedding we paid all cash so it was penny pinching to say the least but now its like ok, instead of paying a mortgage every month to jericho terrace we can save at least half of that money a month easily since its like found money now and then we can use the rest to spend on us, plus all the other vendors we were paying in between - instead of having to save to pay off vendors now i put that money into our savings - and that is a lot of money that we get to pay ourselves now we figure if we were able to pay for the wedding then that means in the same time frame we should be able to put close to the same amount into our savings - even if its 2/3 of what the wedding cost that we can save that is still A LOT of money to save in a year and a half....oye, i still cant believe the small fortune weddings cost - and now mine is all over! money spent and gone! makes me want to but all worth it

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EXACTLY!!!! we have cut down but starting in 09 i want to go out to restaurants like we used to, well maybe not that many times a week, but go at least on the weekend. Its our newlywed time so why not, i want to enjoy it. Like you said too, when we have kids we wont be able to do this as much.

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Posted by Autumn08

It does add up. I started to cook more. I'll search online for a really good recipe. I also entertain more. I had my family over for my parents anniversary this last summer and the food was great and we all had a blast. Plus we could be our loud rambucious selves with no judgement! It's still nice to eat out a little but it's better to enjoy our home... plus it saves money.

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You made a good point about being yourselves at home too. I think I just need to get into the swing of cooking more often

i used to cook A LOT especially in our old apartment - our new apartment doesnt have much counter space - not much of a kitchen for cooking....i can't wait to have a nice big kitchen to cook in - i really think that it makes a difference in your attitude about cooking - i NEVER want to cook in this apartment anymore b/c the area is small, no counter space to chop anything up, my oven is TINY and i have no dishwasher - so i think that once we get a house i'll get into it again - right now i make the same meals over and over b/c i know how to prepare them in the small area that i have - trying new recipes is hard when you don't have space - when i make the usuals i have a system already on how to manage the space and make room for the ingredients and what i have to do - when i try new stuff i dont know where to put anything b/c i really only have 1 area of counter that i can use

but in 2009 i HAVE to cook more....i have to learn my MILS recipes for the foods that DH and i like - she is an awesome cook and she makes a lot of her own little things that we both enjoy...that way we can still have 'her specialties' when we move to florida - so i DEF have to start practicing - especially her focaccia bread from scratch

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Posted by Future Mulligan

i used to cook A LOT especially in our old apartment - our new apartment doesnt have much counter space - not much of a kitchen for cooking....i can't wait to have a nice big kitchen to cook in - i really think that it makes a difference in your attitude about cooking - i NEVER want to cook in this apartment anymore b/c the area is small, no counter space to chop anything up, my oven is TINY and i have no dishwasher - so i think that once we get a house i'll get into it again - right now i make the same meals over and over b/c i know how to prepare them in the small area that i have - trying new recipes is hard when you don't have space - when i make the usuals i have a system already on how to manage the space and make room for the ingredients and what i have to do - when i try new stuff i dont know where to put anything b/c i really only have 1 area of counter that i can use

but in 2009 i HAVE to cook more....i have to learn my MILS recipes for the foods that DH and i like - she is an awesome cook and she makes a lot of her own little things that we both enjoy...that way we can still have 'her specialties' when we move to florida - so i DEF have to start practicing - especially her focaccia bread from scratch

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once you do cook more you wont go out as much. Ive been cooking about 5-6x a week since weve been married and i guess thats what stops us from going out as much, if i didnt then obviously we'd go out more. Dh will always ask me to make certain things, and we make a nice night out of it. So its not that bad

We probably go out to a restaurant about 2x/ week (usually fri and sat). We'll usually get take out 1 night and then i usually cook the other 4 nights. I bring lunch 3x/week and DH brings 3-4x / week. So I think we're doing the best we can to save and live a little too. It's true though what another poster said.. sometimes all the ingredients add up and it could be cheaper just going to boston market or something! I also look at it though that its healthier to cook yourself since you know how it is prepared.

Bringing a bag lunch though really saves a lot... i think i probably spend about $15 - 20 / week on our breakfast/lunch for the work week between the cold cuts and rolls/bread. Buying lunch is around $10/day for each person so that definitely saves A LOT just there.