Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • Melissa Recommends
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Genesis

Evaluate the True Price of Dining Out to Save Money

August 31, 2011 By MelissaB 14 Comments

Our culture seems to be one that is centered around dining out.  When you are younger, you meet friends at a restaurant for a night out and to chat.  As you get older and have a family, you may go out to eat because time is short between working, raising a family, helping with homework, and doing housework, among other things.  Some people are extreme and eat out for every meal because they do not like to cook or have not learned to cook.  This is so commonplace in the American culture, that we don’t often question these expenses.  Instead of just assuming that going out to eat or grabbing take out is a necessity, evaluate the cost of your restaurant purchase.

It has been a stressful day, and you would like nothing more than a night off from the kitchen.  You decide to buy take out for your family of 4 and spend $25.  True, you did buy yourself a night out of the kitchen by avoiding cooking and washing the dishes that you would use.  Yet, ask yourself, would you have paid $25 to hire someone to come to your kitchen for an hour that night, make a meal and do the few dishes that you used?  No?  Well, that is essentially what you did by picking up take out.

Riced out.

I use this way of thinking frequently now to save myself from spending money eating out.  My family ate out by habit until I started evaluating the true cost.  I recently quit my job and have been doing freelance work from home.  Several of my smaller jobs each pay $20 a month.  Recently, I wanted to go out for sushi, which is a weakness not only of mine, but of my husband and kids.  When our family of 5 goes out for sushi, it typically runs us $55 to $60.  I asked myself if one meal of sushi was worth doing 3 additional small jobs to recoup the $60?  Although the jobs do not take much time weekly, I would have to do the three jobs for a month to recoup the money spent on sushi.  Was it worth it?  No.  We did not go out that night.

The idea of evaluating life energy for consumption is not new.  It was the subject of the book, Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robins.  The overall principal is to look at the amount of time and money it would take to recoup an expense.  I try to use this in my life normally, but I find it especially effective when considering the often inflated price of dining out.  Take the sushi dinner for $60—my family’s weekly grocery budget is $100.  Is that one meal worth half a week’s groceries?  Definitely not.

I am not saying we shouldn’t go out.  My family still enjoys going out, but I am suggesting we should stop thinking of dining out as something routine and to be done daily or several times a week.  Instead, think of dining out as a treat and something to be planned and enjoyed.

photo credit: dslrninja

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Consumerism, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: cooking, dining out, eating out, family, food, frugal, frugaler, Saving

Comments

  1. krantcents says

    August 31, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Although we routinely go out for dinner every week, I never take it for granted. We pick from our favorite list of inexpensive restaurants and generally spend no more than $20-25 for two.

  2. Dana says

    August 31, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    With our family of 6 dining out can be quite expensive. We go out very rarely and when we do, it’s a real treat since we don’t do it often!

  3. Financial Excellence says

    August 31, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    Growing up, eating out was a rare occurrence for our family. Looking back, I think part of it was because of what you just wrote in your post. The opportunity cost is certainly one of the reasons we don’t eat out very often.

  4. Marie at Family Money Values says

    August 31, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    We really have never eaten out with any regularity. We couldn’t afford it and now we don’t like to take the time.

    However, judging by the number of restaurents around that seem to be flourishing, I agree with your conclusion that a lot of people default to eating out!

  5. cashflowmantra says

    September 1, 2011 at 8:41 am

    We have been eating out too much for convenience sake. We will have to work on cutting back and will be doing that in the upcoming months.

  6. Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter says

    September 1, 2011 at 10:29 am

    We hardly ever eat out. In fact we have the opposite problem. We try to make it a point to go out 1-2 times a month to give ourselves a break from cooking and have some fun.

  7. Emily says

    September 1, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Homemade food is always cheaper and healthier. Restaurant food actually makes me sick, I am so un-used to the toxins in conventional food.

  8. Andrea @MoneyMastered says

    September 1, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    I’ve spent a lot of years battling an addiction to dining out – not the food, necessarily, but the convenience. I’m not a good cook, and I despise cooking/cleaning up afterward. It’s so nice to get a meal that I didn’t have to make. AND I can just throw the bag away when I’m done, or leave it for the restaurant staff to clean up.

    That said, I’ve really tried to cut down on restaurant spending because I could use that money for so many other things. Last month I managed to spend only $53 (down from around $200 most months). I also lost 10 pounds! There really are benefits to giving up the restaurant addiction; I just hope I can keep it up.

  9. Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think says

    September 4, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    Often, it doesn’t take that long to cook. By the time I get dressed, go to the restaurant, pick up my food, and come back home, I could’ve cooked myself a meal.

  10. Barb Friedberg says

    September 9, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    Good way to look at things. We usually eat out once per week on Friday nights. Rarely go to a pricey restaurant.

  11. Michelle says

    April 7, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    We are going to have to adjust our spending when the new baby comes. We have already started, but the eating out is probably going to be the first to go.

Trackbacks

  1. Financial Link Love: 9/1/11 says:
    September 1, 2011 at 7:31 am

    […] Friedberg took the 7 Links Challenge,then nominated me to do the same!Melissa wrote about the true cost of eating out at Beating Broke.Shawanda shared tips for saving money on movie tickets.Andy shared his first […]

  2. What Other Bloggers Are Saying #15 | | My University MoneyMy University Money says:
    September 2, 2011 at 8:42 am

    […] Beating Broke presents Evaluate The True Cost Of Dining Out To Save Money […]

  3. What Other Bloggers Are Saying #15 - My University Money says:
    May 6, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    […] Wealthy Artisian asks, “What Is Your Take Home Hourly Wage?“Beating Broke presents Evaluate The True Cost Of Dining Out To Save MoneySmart On Money presents Education Tax Credits Can Help Pay For College CostsKNS Financial […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter



Follow Beating Broke on…

Follow @BeatingBroke

Improve Your Credit Score

Money Blogs

  • Bible Money Matters
  • Celebrating Financial Freedom
  • Christian PF
  • Consumerism Commentary
  • Dual Income No Kids
  • Gajizmo.com
  • Lazy Man and Money
  • Make Money Your Way
  • Money Talks News
  • My Personal Finance Journey
  • Personal Profitability
  • Reach Financial Independence
  • So Over Debt
  • The Savvy Scot
  • Yakezie Group
  • Yes, I am Cheap

Categories

Disclaimer

Please note that Beating Broke has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned here. Beating Broke may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and generate sales for the said merchant.