Yup. We spent $16.5k on dining last year and $13.3k on groceries.

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Apr 25, 2024
9:47:58am

justAnotherCoug All-American

Yup. We spent $16.5k on dining last year and $13.3k on groceries.

I love eating out. My wife and I both work full time. Our kids have a lot of activities. So life feels pretty pedal to the metal all the time. Sitting down to eat at a restaurant is a valuable time (For me anyway) to sit down and relax with my wife.

Not that we should neglect the rest of our financial lives. We still save more than 20% of gross income for retirement.

This message has been modified

Originally posted on Apr 25, 2024 at 9:47:58am

Message modified by justAnotherCoug on Apr 25, 2024 at 9:51:24am

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justAnotherCoug

Previous username: annapcoug
Bio page: justAnotherCoug
Joined: Sep 8, 2010
Last login: May 4, 2024
Total posts: 5,430 (10 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

People mention overspending on autos and houses, but I think most people, if

Acorn

Apr 25, 9:32am

Tracking my spending on eating out further justified eating out.

Apr 25, 9:35am

Sorry you are at bad at cooking

chilawcoug

Apr 25, 9:38am

I'm really bad at cooking... but I'm really good at ordering.

HarlemCoug

Apr 25, 11:50am

Grocery shopping is not much cheaper

WJCougar

Apr 25, 9:40am

It's more than it used to be but still significantly cheaper than eating out

Schultz is back

Apr 25, 9:41am

Actually there are arguments that grocery shopping and making lunches is more expensive. That's because you get no

ChinaFan

Apr 25, 11:45am

I’d still love to see those numbers.

chilawcoug

Apr 25, 11:58am

mine came from a channel about budgeting in retirement, and the fact that about 30% of what you buy ends up in the

ChinaFan

Apr 26, 11:16am

I take leftover homemade dinner or just have a protein drink for lunch every day

Schultz is back

Apr 25, 12:49pm

and that's the discipline many people do not have in this generation.

ChinaFan

Apr 26, 11:17am

It definitely is more expensive to be stupid than smart with your purchases

Acorn

Apr 25, 1:09pm

For just those meals? Much, much cheaper. And cheaper for every person you are

chilawcoug

Apr 25, 9:42am

Whole foods is expensive but they have a great sample bar.

Malathion

Apr 25, 9:46am

ALDI

Lifer

Apr 25, 10:17am

It is amazing to me how much we spend on "needs" compared to our parents.

Ycrazy

Apr 25, 9:41am

Exactly this. Throw in vacations as well. Our family "vacation" was a road trip

O Gaucho

Apr 25, 10:11am

Yet a lot of folks think they're "poor"....

NorCal_Coug

Apr 25, 10:34am

There is an opportunity cost to money spent, and also an opportunity cost to

garyfan

Apr 25, 9:44am

One of my favorite soap boxes. Time... There are 168 hours every week. No one

Acorn

Apr 25, 10:36am

And the time savings (not the money) is one of the reasons people eat out.

garyfan

Apr 25, 12:07pm

I would guess the majority of it is just laziness. Not all, but probably most.

Acorn

Apr 25, 12:22pm

It’s both. But I think you underestimate how busy many families are, even if

garyfan

Apr 25, 12:25pm

Yup. We spent $16.5k on dining last year and $13.3k on groceries.

justAnotherCoug

Apr 25, 9:47am

Just as curiosity if you don’t mind sharing, about how many meals do you eat

chilawcoug

Apr 25, 9:49am

Last year we probably ate out, on average, 2-3 times a week

justAnotherCoug

Apr 25, 9:54am

Thanks. Sorry on the snacks point. I didn’t mean divvying up grocery bill.

chilawcoug

Apr 25, 9:57am

Anything we ate out including going for ice cream, or movie popcorn is in dining

justAnotherCoug

Apr 25, 9:58am

We are about the same, eating out is our one financial vice

compcoug

Apr 25, 11:19am

No issue with that as long as someone has a plan and isn't shortchanging other

Acorn

Apr 25, 11:40am

One could argue as well the the eat out is likely less healthy than a home...

ordinary tri guy

Apr 25, 9:56am

I loved eating out before 2020. Now I hate it. Everything changed. Not just cost

chismoso

Apr 25, 9:58am

Yes, the quality has gone way down.

lilpenny

Apr 25, 10:15am

Is the backlash hitting restaurants?

JoMax

Apr 25, 10:31am

Not in NYC. Try finding a reservation for an elite restaurant. People are actually making reservations and then selling

HarlemCoug

Apr 25, 12:01pm

And to add to that, eating out isn’t healthy at all for the most part.

brazilcoug

Apr 25, 10:31am

$3000 in today's money, but let's go back and figure 1/2 that over the last 40 years I worked... so $1500 x 40 = $60K...

ChinaFan

Apr 25, 11:44am

A couple of things:

Acorn

Apr 25, 12:55pm

get a smoker and a blackstone and you cure yourself of the desire to eat out

lukeskywalker

Apr 25, 11:59am

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