Reply to Help us cut our food/dining expenses

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here and I am so grateful for the suggestions and reality check.

Yes, I agree that meal planning and discipline regarding restaurants and carryout would make all the difference. Our grocery bills are reasonable, mostly from Trader Joes and Safeway. We make coffee and drink wine and beer at home, mostly. We could certainly drink less, but I don't think that's the problem. For us, eating out is entertainment (we don't take fancy vacations, go to movies, etc.) Carryout is the result of poor planning - it seems every mealtime is a surprise. Lunches out at work is escape for my DH and laziness for me. Beers out once a week is social for DH.

But I am ready to change, and I think DH is ready too. Our HHI is around $200K. We are on track for retirement and college savings. We own a rental property that is cash positive. DC is in public school with tutoring and lots of extracurricular expenses. We have no school debt and drive very old cars. We don't spend much on clothes or toys. We do like to spend money fixing up our old house.

But our greatest need right now is to build an emergency fund so we are not living at our edge month to month. I know we have the power to change our behavior, but have struggled with willpower. I guess it's time to grow up and become responsible adults.[/quote]

If you are getting carryout for dinner almost every night because every meal is a surprise, what are you buying at the grocery store?

It sounds like your main issue is that you are not particularly inclined toward planning. You need to get more comfortable with that. I understand the laziness issue with lunch at work and have been there before, but with a small amount of planning, leftovers from dinner can be tomorrow's lunch. It just doesn't work if dinner is carryout and it's all gone. [/quote]

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