Restaurant Expenses and a Giveaway
Typically, Steve and I only go out to eat once a month for date night. Other than that, all of the food we eat must be purchased in a grocery store and prepared at home. Don’t get me wrong, we love going out to eat; it’s just not in the budget right now. Going out to eat (even fast food) gets really expensive really quickly. You’re literally eating your money – money that could be gong to more than a hundred other things.
For us, the money we used to use on eating out and picking up pizza and fast food on the way home now goes to paying down debt. Paying down debt is a top priority right now. It’s so infuriating that a big portion of our hard earned money goes to paying for our past. Ironically, a lot of the debt I incurred in college was due to going out to eat and inhaling fast food on the way to class. College was a low time for me, and I medicated my loneliness and depression by eating deliouscly bad for your body and bad for your wallet food.
Because Steve and I have both been traveling for work this month, our restaurant bill is going to be much higher than we usually allow. Thankfully a good portion of it will be refunded to us in one shape or another – expense checks, tax deductions. When that money ultimately comes back to us it is going straight to debt. By that I mean, as soon as that money is placed in our hands, we are going to immedeatly make a payment for that exact amount to CC PURPLE (that is the credit card that we are currently attacking) so we don’t get distracted and think that money should go to cheeseburgers and new shoes.
OK enough out of me, it’s your turn. Time to face the reality of your restaurant expenses.
How often do you eat out?
How much money do you spend each month eating out? (This includes take out, fast food and delivery)
Why do you eat out as often or as little as you do?
What is your eating out weakness? Fast food? Pizza? Fine dining? Wings? Pizza? The family friendly chain restaurant?
GIVEAWAY TIME
Because we all deserve a break and to splurge once in awhile,I want to give one of you the opportunity to have a nice meal out on me. I am giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to Bonefish Grill to one lucky reader. All I ask in return is that you tip your server well.
Back in January, Steve and I went out to eat at Bonefish Grill in Charlotte, NC. We were there on a business trip for Steve and decided to have our date for the month while we were out of town. Steve and I didn’t notice because we were so busy talking and enjoying the time out, but apparently it took 45 minutes for our food to cook. The manager felt that it was unacceptable for us to wait that long, and paid for our dinner. We told him that it wasn’t necessary and that we didn’t even notice the wait, but he refused to let us pay. We even had to talk him into charging us a penny so that we could leave a tip for the excellent server on the credit card because we don’t carry cash. As if paying for our dinner wasn’t enough, on the way out the door, the manager gave us an envelope with a $25.00 gift certificate in it for our next visit.
Since Steve and I already had our dinner paid for, we felt that we should pass our good fortune onto someone else.
Rules of giveaway.
1. To enter, answer one of the questions above in the comments section below.
2. Mom, Grandma, Auntie Jill, Husband, Brothers, Jai, Moanna… all family… you are welcome to share your stories, but will not be selected to win.
3. If your comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t panic, it will show up shortly.
4. On March 29, 2010 (Monday) at 10:00AM, I will close the comments and randomly select a winner.
5. The winner of the $25.00 gift certificate to Bonefish Grill will be announced on March 30, 2010 with another Me, Myself and Money post.
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It is just my husband and myself and we really don’t eat out that often. We went out just this past weekend but it was because we went to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday with other family members.
it is just more economical to stay at home and make our own meals.
We will go out together and celebrate events such as our anniversary or one of our birthdays or a family members birthday but rarely other times.
Wow, honestly we don’t usually eat out hardly ever. We go maybe every couple months, although we did got to Donny T’s this past Saturday night b/c we both had to work all Saturday, yuck. But I would much rather make dinner then spend the money to go out to eat.
Wow that was great customer service!! We eat out once a week, but only somewhere we have a gift card or a coupon. I’d love to try Bonefish Grill!
We’ll split a $5 sub from subway about every other month or so, but we take it home to eat it. I don’t like the feeling of flushing money down the toidy either, or the time it takes to go out.
I think it’s awesome you’re doing the give away, what fun! If I get selected, though, go ahead and pick someone else. I think someone else would enjoy it more!
We do not eat out often for financial reasons (hubbies in school), but we save to go out once a month. It’s important to do things like this even if it means cutting in other areas.
I am very impressed with the service (not the 45 minutes, but the manager’s efforts to keep customers happy. Customer service is a dying art. Unfortunately!
I eat out WAY TO MUCH. I grab fast food on my way to work rather than waking up early to eat at home. With only 5-6 hrs to sleep between shifts its awful to get up early to cook and eat. (>90 minute commute between 12 hr shifts). At work its down to the grill at about 2 AM. Then on the way home in the AM its Mac-driving again. I can doze off doing anything except eating. This really does kkep me safely awake and alert for the drive home; unfortunately, it puts a very big dent in my wallet and and unwanted inches on my waistline.
I could eat like a queen and look like one too if I just had a personal chef…..I’ve tried packing but I lack the consistancy in shopping, planning and follow through it takes to really make a difference.
I wanted to answer, but being abroad, I should get knocked out of the drawing for folks who will be able to use the gift card {Yay, 16 more weeks and that could be us!}
1) We eat out for dinner maybe once or twice a week, excluding lunches. I pack mine, but Phil eats out 5x a week.
2) Wow. How much a month? We don’t do take out, but will often grab convenience foods for lunch. I have to ballpark it, because I don’t know how much Phil spends on lunch, but I would say on average we spend between $200 – $400 a month. With me working we spend A LOT more than when I was SAH.
3) We eat out as much as we do for a few reasons. Our kitchen is much closer to a camp ground set up than an American kitchen and we often don’t want to deal with the prep, cooking and clean up. Also, with me working we eat out more regularly than we did before I went back to work.
4) Our weaknesses: McDonalds {It took us 9 months in Japan to eat it and now it is a guilty pleasure that we indulge in about once a month} Kaiten Sushi {conveyor belt sushi – every plate is $1.00 – SO MUCH FUN! and a good bargin} and a Chinese/Japanese fusion restaurant that uses push button dining – there is nothing like fine dining with a computer screen at your table to really make it fun.
Great topic Renee! Good luck to the contestants!
My husband and I eat dinner out once or twice a week and lunch out at least one day of the weekend. We know it’s too much but it’s something we really enjoy doing so I don’t feel too guilty about it. Every two months or so, we’ll take a hiatus from our normal restaurants for a little while (to save, I guess) and do a big, fancy, romantic dinner. We always appreciate those.
Our family eats out once a month. It is always our a local family owned pizza joint, where they also have a buffet. Since we are a family of 5 we just can’t afford to eat out more than that. My hubby and I haven’t been “out” on a date since our anniversary, last July!! How sad is that!
[...] Direct Link to Giveaway: http://memyselfandmommy.com/2010/03/22/restaurant-expenses-and-a-giveaway/ [...]
I eat out way too much. This week, I had at least one meal out every day–sometimes twice a day! It’s not necessarily always restaurants. Sometimes it’s takeout or delivery. Mostly lunches are my weakness because I never think to make lunch! I really need to change that.
Btw, Bonefish is one of my dad’s favorite restaurants. This would be wonderful!
I’m unmarried and in college, so unfortunately, I eat out a LOT. Especially because I work at a fast food joint. On campus. So yeah, I’m just around it all the time, and it’s easier to throw something on the grill at work and take it to go than it is to dirty up the kitchen at home cooking just for me. I hate cooking and it seems like such a waste to cook just for myself, even if I save leftovers. Bleh.
We do way too much fast food with the kids – probably once or twice a week depending on how busy the week is, but the hubby and I only get out to dinner together once every month or two. We would love to win this and promise to tip generously
We eat out maybe 3-4 times a month. It’s been hard with the economy but its a nice change of pace to go out when we do!
That was one great CS you guys experienced. I’d definitely support great restaurant with great CS.
We travel a lot so dine out is inevitable, good CS is the one and only thing I look for the place to eat.
How often do you eat out? normally only once or twice a month.
How much money do you spend each month eating out? (This includes take out, fast food and delivery) on average about 40$ per month
Why do you eat out as often or as little as you do? we don’t eat out more often because we just dont have the money, we mainly eat in.
What is your eating out weakness? Fast food? Pizza? Fine dining? Wings? Pizza? The family friendly chain restaurant? my weakness would be places like olive garden (italian ) and outback (steak)
thanks for this awesome contest (fingers crossed)
Between my husband and myself, we probably eat out almost every day of the week. With work, my husband usually grabs Subway. Because it’s just the two of us, it almost seems cheaper to eat out – there are lots of health-conscious, inexpensive restaurants near us.
My husband and I usually eat out once or twice a week, usually on the weekends. He does like to go buy lunch at work but I always try to remind him to bring a lunch because I bring my lunch to work. Thanks for the great giveaway! I love this restaurant.
We eat out at least once a week, but sometimes its just Taco Bell on a really busy/lazy day.
My takeout weakness is Mexican food. I love burritos!!!
My weakness is Panera. I drive past it every morning.. and stop at least 3-4 days a week. Terrible.
I love eating out! I wish that I could do it far more often than I do. My husband and I probably eat out once a month at a nicer restaurant, and once a month at chick-fil-a. I work 2nd shift, and eating out is tricky when you work 1-11pm. I guess I save money that way! Thank you for the chance to win such a generous giveaway : )
oheeyore at hotmail dot com
Please don’t enter me into the drawing as I am not local. My family of five usually goes out to eat once a week. The locations vary. Sometimes pizza, Vietnamese, Thai, burgers…. It’s usually the kids who want to go and we go with the flow due to a hard day at work.
Tonight I made chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy and a salad. I asked my kids how much the meal would have cost if we had gone out. About $50-60. I then asked them to guess how much it cost for me to make. Maybe $5-6. They were shocked!
It was a big eye opener for them. We too are on a budget and sometimes all have to sacrifice a little. I can’t wait to see if tonight’s example has any impact.
(They are teen and tweens).