double aught said:

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Josepi said:

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Also, I've quit using food delivery services unless I'm just really exhausted. For an Aggie game, if I order 50 wings from Wing Stop using Door Dash, it's about $35 higher than if I go pick them up myself which only takes about 15 minutes.

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Would you like your food to cost much more and be colder? Then Door Dash is for you!

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And potentially half eaten by the time it gets to you

Quote:

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We may spend $500 annually on eating out

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I don't see how this is possible. A sonic drink here, and ice cream there, the burger after the game, etc. There's just no way you are at home THAT much, are you?

I keep a detailed budget daily and through August we were at $430 for the year. I guess that will get us closer to $700 for the year. We're home a lot obviously. I think the biggest tab was $55 at Ninfas on Navigation before a baseball game. That was just for me and my son.

If we wanna do dinner with friends or family we just throw steaks on the grill or something here. It's cheaper and more comfortable for everyone. We also live in a small town so going out to eat would involve driving 45 minutes to Fort Worth. We are going to see Nate Bargatze in October so we may splurge for dinner out then

as the one who does the cooking, sometimes I just don't want to do it and want to go out, sit there, have a drink and be served. Working at home all the time makes me want to get out of the house more too

same here. At the end of a long work day in my home office, I just want to get out, have a cheap margarita and some enchiladas.

I see it as more work having the get the family ready, fight traffic, wait, etc…

But I get it, if that's how you de-stress you do you!

well yeah, 40 mins to civilization makes more sense... for example, tonight, it's just myself and the kiddo.

We're going to Chili's where our tab will be <$20. She loves their chicken cheesy pasta, and I'll get a basic burger for $10. It's 5 mins from my house.

what can I say, she loves that cheesy chicken pasta.

We moved the restaurants and take out food out if the household checking account for budgeting purposes and force that decision upon me or my wife to pay individually.

The answer isn't always yes, that sounds good now

we eat within 10 mins of the house, and typically hop on opentable or resy and make a reservation. We never wait.

Ghost of Bisbee said:

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We started a system where we put up dry erase magnets on the fridge, and we keep track of our food purchases here once we get home

We're finding this much easier than trying to figure out a system with Google sheets or credit card statement exports

It also reminds us how we're tracking very quickly and easily. Constant reminder, which is working for us.

We're spending $250 in groceries from 9/18 - 9/30 and have spent $50 in the last 1.5 weeks on takeout/restaurants

We are already tracking much better

Appreciate the replies

And to the guy who said I shouldn't have to come online to ask about this, sounds like you've learned a thing or two here as well

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Tell me more about the magnet system

I scoffed at ONLY eating basic sandwiches for lunch, every. single. day. and the same chicken, pasta, ramen for dinner, ever. single. night.

Don't feel bad. We spend more than that as DINKs and we've cut back over the last couple of years considerably. We've also cut alot of cost out of other areas so I don't worry too much about our food budget because of it.

One main thing we did that others have already mentioned is because we are both at home all day there was no longer any reason to use our Nespresso (which by the way is now $2 a pod) so we bought a Ninja drip coffee maker and do that every day now. That's a few hundred dollars saved per month right there and the coffee is better.

And it's damn easy to spend a lot in a HCOL area. Example: I spent $200+ tonight just for myself at dinner with a buddy. That isn't normal but one dinner at a decent place in Dallas is going to set you back.

YouBet said:

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And it's damn easy to spend a lot in a HCOL area. Example: I spent $200+ tonight just for myself at dinner with a buddy. That isn't normal but one dinner at a decent place in Dallas is going to set you back.

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to me you have to distinguish beer drinkers from liquor to wine drinkers.

For Beer drinkers it's hard to spend more than about $50 on beers. That's 5 likely high alcohol craft beers.

For liquor it's a bit more. Say 4-5 $15 cocktails.

For wine, there is no real upper limit. A basic steakhouse can have bottles that several hundred dollars, if not 4 figures. A fancy place can hot 5 figures.

So curious what your $200 is. I'd bet it wasn't beer.

I wouldn't consider Dallas a truly HCOL area in the grand scheme of things.

In any type of market you can find places to blow a lot of money for dining out, even low COL areas.

62strat said:

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YouBet said:

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And it's damn easy to spend a lot in a HCOL area. Example: I spent $200+ tonight just for myself at dinner with a buddy. That isn't normal but one dinner at a decent place in Dallas is going to set you back.

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to me you have to distinguish beer drinkers from liquor to wine drinkers.

For Beer drinkers it's hard to spend more than about $50 on beers. That's 5 likely high alcohol craft beers.

For liquor it's a bit more. Say 4-5 $15 cocktails.

For wine, there is no real upper limit. A basic steakhouse can have bottles that several hundred dollars, if not 4 figures. A fancy place can hot 5 figures.

So curious what your $200 is. I'd bet it wasn't beer.

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It wasn't. It was 1 cocktail, 1 glass of white burgundy, and then shared a bottle of Grand Cru Burgundy.

Fancy ass m'fer.

Chipotlemonger said:

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I wouldn't consider Dallas a truly HCOL area in the grand scheme of things.

In any type of market you can find places to blow a lot of money for dining out, even low COL areas.

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I chuckled at this when I got the Dallas part.

I thought he was in Seattle or something.

When did anything but Austin become HCOL? Compared to only states due north of it I suppose.

Food/Eating depends a lot on your situation.

When I was single, I would be happy with going home and eating microwave/frozen stuff. Almost never went out unless with friends. Never understood going to eat out by yourself, I can very well do that at home.

Now with 3 teenagers all in sporting activities, coming home at 8pm many days, it is just easier to go to a restaurant for 5 and eat after events.

I don't cook and really do not like to clean up after wife cooks so I am all in on going to eat out then coming home to put my feet up and save the 30 min of cleaning up.

All this said, I bet our eating out bill is prob 20K/yr if you include vacation eating.

At the end of the day, its about what goes in and what goes out. It is easier for me to make 20K eating what I want than having to budget/cook/clean.

Where are you getting Grand Cru burgundy in a restaurant for $200 a bottle? I have a hard time even seeing Corton go that cheap, and it's a huge Grand Cru appellation.

YouBet doesn't understand what HCOL means.

Burgundy is expensive everywhere. Gas is not. Just one example.

Medaggie said:

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Now with 3 teenagers all in sporting activities, coming home at 8pm many days, it is just easier to go to a restaurant for 5 and eat after events.

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With that mindset it is easier, but with some simple planning and upping of kitchen game you'll find it's much easier to throw a meal together than you think it is.

That's not how HCOL works. Either the place is HCOL or not.

jh0400 said:

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Where are you getting Grand Cru burgundy in a restaurant for $200 a bottle? I have a hard time even seeing Corton go that cheap, and it's a huge Grand Cru appellation.

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I think if most look at their actual eating out spend, it is more than you think. We eat out a good amount but not as much as many of my friends.

We go out to eat as a family about 2x a week. Once during late activities and once after church. We typically do something on the level of cheesecake factory. Family of 5 with a piece of shared cheesecake/calamari, soft drinks x2, and 4 meals (wife & I typically split one) ends up about $140 with tip (80 for meals + 25 appetizer/desert + $7 soft drink). So 52 wks x $280 = $14, 500. We go to 2 big vacations a year. Went to Maui and prob spent 4K eating out. Alot but we tend to go to high end places like Mamas fish house which ran close to $500. Add on the occasional Four seasons Brunch that runs us about $400.

This is not even counting quick fast food pick ups like chick fila which we prob do 3x/wk. I bet we are closer to 30k/yr all in.

Sounds crazy but costs sneaks up on you plus we enjoy the experience/food. Its no different than us paying a housekeeper about 6k/yr to clean the home when we could do it yourself. Time is valuable, and my time is better working alittle extra and having someone clean my home.

My wife is a great cook and do it most days. But sometimes at 8pm, everyone is tired and hungry, and it is just easier to go to a restaurant. We get to sit, talk as a family, and then go home to relax.

If we go home and prepare something, we lose that time where everyone sits down for an hour. Then the dreaded clean up after when everyone is tired.

Its all opportunity and monetary costs. I am a high wage earner. If it takes me 1 hr to pay for a weeks worth of eating out, then its worth it. If someone made $30/hr, and $30 took care of eating out twice a week for a family of 5, then most would jump at it.

wildmen09 said:

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Ghost of Bisbee said:

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We started a system where we put up dry erase magnets on the fridge, and we keep track of our food purchases here once we get home

We're finding this much easier than trying to figure out a system with Google sheets or credit card statement exports

It also reminds us how we're tracking very quickly and easily. Constant reminder, which is working for us.

We're spending $250 in groceries from 9/18 - 9/30 and have spent $50 in the last 1.5 weeks on takeout/restaurants

We are already tracking much better

Appreciate the replies

And to the guy who said I shouldn't have to come online to ask about this, sounds like you've learned a thing or two here as well

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Tell me more about the magnet system

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You can buy a group of dry erase magnets on Amazon cheaply with the markers. The ones we have are formatted like a list with ruled lines. One of these we use to track food expenses, both by groceries and by restaurants. Draw a vertical line down the middle, and spouse and I each write down our food expenses here in a list for the month. Date, place, amount. At the end of the month, we'll keep track of our overage/underage on a spreadsheet, and erase and begin again. It helps hold us accountable because it's something we see multiple times a day without trying.

We have another one that tracks our discretionary spend.
It's an always present reminder of how much we're each spending, without having to intentionally open your PC or Google sheets app on a phone, or scroll through credit card transactions that are never organized the way you want them. All of this takes away the anxiety we were having from passively managing our budget.

Call it micro managing or active budget management, it's working for us, but I do think this method works best when both are transparent with eachother about their spending habits.

It's a mindshift for us.


I see some others are arguing the definition for HCOL
I'm on the west coast in a major metropolitan center.

jh0400 said:

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Where are you getting Grand Cru burgundy in a restaurant for $200 a bottle? I have a hard time even seeing Corton go that cheap, and it's a huge Grand Cru appellation.

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It was $84. Parigis on Oak Lawn. My whole meal was $200+.

Chipotlemonger said:

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YouBet doesn't understand what HCOL means.

Burgundy is expensive everywhere. Gas is not. Just one example.

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lol. Yes, I do. And it's relative to the person anyway at the end of the day.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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62strat said:

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Chipotlemonger said:

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I wouldn't consider Dallas a truly HCOL area in the grand scheme of things.

In any type of market you can find places to blow a lot of money for dining out, even low COL areas.

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I chuckled at this when I got the Dallas part.

I thought he was in Seattle or something.

When did anything but Austin become HCOL? Compared to only states due north of it I suppose.

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Dallas Proper is definitely HCOL when it comes to food. Texas' "low cost" comes from fuel, energy, and housing (until recently).

Is it as expensive eating as Tribeca in NYC? No but Dallas isn't your granddad's dallas anymore.

I travel a good bit for work and a decent meal in Dallas rivals other big metros (California, Seattle, Chicago, NorthEast) in cost.

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having some expensive restaurant options is not what high cost of living is. fuel, taxes, housing, groceries, wages blah blah blah.

I'm sure you know this.

I live 30 minutes outside dallas proper. For example, gas is at least 10% higher. Maybe 15%. Housing way more. Dallas proper is getting way above $350/sqft for modest house.

Property taxes are 2.5% total value.

Just interesting to have people who don't live in dallas definitively say it isn't HCOL.