30 Days of No Eating Out. An Experiment

Most of my monthly budget goes to food. It is a fact. I love food and think that if one is hungry, one should eat. It is unhealthy and unpleasant to have an empty stomach. Therefore, if there is one thing in my life that I don’t want to save on, it is food.

However, I began to notice that money goes way too quickly and by the middle of the month my monthly budget looks more like it should at the end of the month. Having decided to look at what magical hole the money is disappearing into, I began tracking my spending. And surprise, surprise that hole is my stomach. Close to half of my monthly budget goes to food (oh). That is a problem. Of course I couldn’t stop eating altogether, so I had to come up with some other strategy. So I looked a bit closer on my spending and realised that I do eat out a lot. Even something as simple as a coffee a day ends up being $100 a month.

There are a 100 reasons I can tell you why I love eating out. Here are some of them:

1. I don’t need to cook! (duh)
2. I don’t need to clean after myself and wash dishes.
3. It’s delicious and I love trying different foods.
4. The presentation is always so pretty.
5. I love the experience of eating out: the ambience, the service, the chats.

Besides all the lovely reasons up there, it can and it does get too expensive. And I simply cannot afford eating out too much, at least at this point in my life.

To get a fresh start in regulating my outside food intake I’m going to do a 30 days of no eating out challenge for myself. Here are some ground rules:

• “Eating out” is defined as any food/drink that is purchased outside of my home and eaten outside of my home. This includes restaurants, cafes, drinks, sandwiches from Safeway, desserts, ice-cream, Starbucks and Tim Hortons.
• As I don’t want these 30 days to turn into a nightmare for my friends I will go and eat out if I’m invited to a special occasion such as a birthday dinner or something of the sort. But that is it.
• I will eat out if my boyfriend/friend/brother/colleague is treating me. (thank you)

Oh my god! – you’re thinking. Yes, I’m thinking that too. I do realise that this is going to be the most challenging experiment that I’ve done so far. But I need it and it will be worth it. The thing I anticipate the most is seeing my money still in my account by the end of the month.

Now, how am I going to manage my constant hunger? Well, I will have to step up my housewife game and prepare food at home. This includes the three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) plus a 1000 healthy! snacks I need for the day, which I will be taking outside with me.

Wish me luck! (please do)

Xoxo,

Sasha