Money confessions – I’m addicted to eating out
Money messes, meet real talk — straight-up advice on your biggest financial dilemmas
This week's money confession:
I'm addicted to eating out. Seriously, I eat out probably at least 8-10 times per week. I buy my lunch every single day, which is often $15 to $20. Then my wife and I go out to a restaurant most weekends, and we order takeaways at least 2 or 3 times a week.
We spend more money on eating out and at cafes and restaurants than we do on our mortgage!
The problem? My wife doesn't know how much I spend on lunches. She's a nurse, working shifts, and she takes a packed lunch. I think she assumes I do the same. I love my lunch routine, it breaks up an otherwise drab and monotonous day at the office so it's not a habit I'm really looking to give up. But, we're trying to save money to start a family. My wife is doing a detailed budget to see where all our money is going and I know my lunches are about 5 grand a year right there.
Do I need to fess up to the wife? Or can I somehow keep my lunches and my marriage intact?!
Sarah Megginson, Head of Editorial at Finder, says:
When I was a baby journalist in my 20s, and I worked in St Leonards in Sydney, and I would schlep myself through a 45-minute commute (2 trains) each morning across the city to get to the office, there was one thing that put a pep in my step: Christie's Cafe morning special.
Hot chocolate, medium. Two pieces of brown bread, toast. And the most generous slathering of butter and peanut butter you could imagine. All for the princely sum of $4.50! Inflation…
She wrapped it up in baking paper and by the time I made my way back to my desk for my mid-morning snack, the butter and peanut butter had melted into every toasty crevice and it became a taste sensation I haven't been able to replicate since.
All of which is to say: I completely understand your dilemma. And I don't regret a single toastie morning.
Yet, life is all about balance. You're trying to save money, and you're dining with the lunch Gods every single day. So it's time to wean. It's fairly easy to wind it back to 3 days a week, then 2, while also limiting eating out and takeaways to one time (1) each per week. You'll be AMAZED at the savings you'll make. Just be sure to stash them in a high interest savings account.
