Eat Out LESS

We have been living off one income now for two years since I left a very good paying job. It’s been two years this month that I quit to stay home with my kids. Now, I am staying home with my grandchildren and helping watch them while my daughter works and saves money for a place of their own.
It has been different living on a budget with only one income and not two. I was bringing home excellent money each week. But you know what? The more we made, the more we spent. We were always broke before the end of the week. It’s been a bit different, but I think we’re doing well so far. I’m not saying that it has been easy, for it has been challenging at times.
We have cut back on eating out to stretch my husband’s paycheck. You’d be surprised at how much money you’ll save by doing this one thing. There are many other benefits for us by eating at home than if we ate out all the time.
We usually ate out on the weekends. There would also be times during the week I would not feel like cooking so we would go grab something. We would easily drop $25-$40 bucks a pop or more for the four of us each time on the weekends. We have quit eating out during the week and weekends. We used to eat out every Sunday after church. Now, instead of eating out, I’ll cook something in the crock pot or in the oven and it’s ready by time we get home. There are occasions that we will go out on Sunday evenings, but not too many.
• Eating out less has made our family better by having more family time together by eating at the dinner table together. We have more time for conversation to talk about our days. A family that eats together stays together.

• We are eating healthier. Most of the time when we ate out, it would be a fast food restaurant and not very healthy. The food that we eat now is prepared by us and we are preparing it healthier.

• We’re setting a better example for our children by eating at home. Our kids don’t have to eat out every meal and they can learn how food is prepared. This helps them to take care of themselves as they get older.

• We’re saving money. We have more money to pay our bills and mortgage with. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have that second income coming in.

• We’re being more efficient. We make a menu for the week and go shopping once. We know from day to day what we are going to prepare and know that we have it and don’t have to run to the store at the last minute to pick something up.

Imagine what we could have been saving when we had two incomes! Or how much healthier we would have been eating? We haven’t completely given up eating out. But eating out less has definitely benefited our family in more ways than we would have thought!