I am currently half way through a two month spending challenge I set for myself. My boyfriend, Charlie, and I decided that we wanted to challenge ourselves to not eat out for two months.
This idea came up because we are going on a month-long trip in October and we know we are going to be eating out a lot. Personally, I have a hard time eating out often and wanted to make sure that I felt comfortable spending extra money on eating out while we were there. So I suggested we both try and limit our eating out until our trip to let us spend extra guilt free when we are abroad. That led to this challenge.
I started the challenge with a week left in July and planned to go all the way through September. Charlie waited until August 1st to start to make it a clean two months (you could say I am more of a go-getter when it comes to being cheap). Now… When I first started I gave myself a few opportunities to “rule break”, and I am happy to say I haven’t used them.
- I said I could eat out if we had a guest from out of town.
- I could eat out if it’s for a friend’s birthday or celebration.
- I could eat out if we took a trip.
So far I have had two guests from out of town, one we went out to eat with but I didn’t order anything and our guest happily picked up the tab for an appetizer for us all to share while he and Charlie shared a $5 happy hour pitcher of beer. (If he didn’t insist on picking up the tab I would have happily paid my $7 portion of the bill.) The second guest I had in town I did share a meal with, but we met at a park and had a picnic. Everyone brought something and it was a really lovely meal.
Rule break opportunity number 2 I was so close to using last week when I met my friends at a brewery for a birthday celebration. I ate dinner beforehand and knew I was gonna have some snacks at my friend’s house after but thought I would allow myself to get an appetizer. I didn’t end up ordering it though because not everyone at the table was eating and I was able to hold out just for the sake of my own stubbornness.
The third rule break has been easy to avoid because I haven’t planned any trips for these two months. The trip I thought I was going to take got postponed for a few months.
So… I am happy, or embarrassed, idk, to say I have not broken my eating out streak for the first of two full months. At this point I think I can keep it up. I just want to make sure I am not saying no to important moments with loved ones to do so.
Oh wait… One more fine print detail. I did allow myself to eat out if I was able to use a coupon or gift card and do it for under $5.
With that small detail I have eaten out 5 times this month which is honestly more than I usually do.
I order lunches for my office once a week and get to earn points on rewards apps for doing this. So my first meal was a Qdoba burrito bowl that Charlie and I shared. We doubled the meat to get two full meals out of it so it came to about $5. The second meal I got was at a bar/restaurant in Boulder. Charlie signed up for their emails and got a free Bruschetta board so we shared that for a light dinner one night. The third meal I got out was lunch during my work break at Panera Bread. I got a salad and sandwich for free using a certificate I was given when they messed up my order a few months ago. The fourth and fifth time I ate out was at the same bar/restaurant that gave me a free board for signing up for their emails. (Oh and the bartender gave me a free drink!) Each time we did that I left a $5 tip.
So for the last 40 days I have spent $20 on eating out 5 separate times.
Usually I spend $75-100 eating out in a given month which is not a lot to start with, but now I have $80 I didn’t spend that I can put toward my trip in October. Honestly, it feels good.
Here is the thing though. I do not NEED to be on a tight budget. I didn’t challenge myself to not eat out because of credit card debt or a lack of an emergency fund or bills I can’t meet. I did it to challenge my financial mindset, to work my savings muscles and to simply know I can. You do not have to be strapped for cash to benefit from a savings challenge like this. I find that doing a no spend weekend every few months is a great exercise to keep you in financial shape. I encourage you to give something like this a try, no matter what stage of your financial journey you are in.
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