A resolution?
I had a wild idea yesterday.
What if we stopped going out to eat?
A meal in a restaurant usually costs about $30 for the three of us, on average. I did some math, and eating at home costs around $9 for the three of us (or less). So each meal out effectively takes $21 out of our budget.
Since we go to a restaurant at least 6-8 times per week (counting breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner on the weekends), that means we're blowing $126 to $168 dollars a week...or over $504 to $672 a month...or $6,552.00 to $8,736.00 per YEAR!
HOLY SHIT!
I'd mis-crunched the numbers, before!
Currently the only reason we're able to eat at all is that we're using up the money I'd set aside for a new computer (yes, once again we're broke). It hurts...it hurts a LOT to see it all go again. The computer wasn't my biggest dream, but I've had to give it up over and over and over.
And I have to worry: if we can't make it on our income now, how will we manage when (if) there are four of us? How can we ever hope to move out of this shithole of a city into a decent school district?
So I suggested to Teri that we try not going out to eat for one month, just to see what would happen. I don't want to pressure her, and neither one of us would want to give up dining out permanently...but the pleasure of dining out is more than overmatched by the pain, fear, and desperation we face for weeks every month when we're out of money.
This has to stop. But I honestly don't know if we can do it. To be honest, I'm pretty damned worried...and scared.
What if we stopped going out to eat?
A meal in a restaurant usually costs about $30 for the three of us, on average. I did some math, and eating at home costs around $9 for the three of us (or less). So each meal out effectively takes $21 out of our budget.
Since we go to a restaurant at least 6-8 times per week (counting breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner on the weekends), that means we're blowing $126 to $168 dollars a week...or over $504 to $672 a month...or $6,552.00 to $8,736.00 per YEAR!
HOLY SHIT!
I'd mis-crunched the numbers, before!
Currently the only reason we're able to eat at all is that we're using up the money I'd set aside for a new computer (yes, once again we're broke). It hurts...it hurts a LOT to see it all go again. The computer wasn't my biggest dream, but I've had to give it up over and over and over.
And I have to worry: if we can't make it on our income now, how will we manage when (if) there are four of us? How can we ever hope to move out of this shithole of a city into a decent school district?
So I suggested to Teri that we try not going out to eat for one month, just to see what would happen. I don't want to pressure her, and neither one of us would want to give up dining out permanently...but the pleasure of dining out is more than overmatched by the pain, fear, and desperation we face for weeks every month when we're out of money.
This has to stop. But I honestly don't know if we can do it. To be honest, I'm pretty damned worried...and scared.