Dining Out Spending Last Week
Now that I’m keeping track of what I’m spending again, the lunch spending has gotten better. I’m definitely feeling lucky because work has provided some great free meals for me, but the caloric intake is kind of high. We’re having an end of summer BBQ next week, which is pretty cool.
Unfortunately, I still spent $45.75 last week. I ate dinner out last week with one of my girlfriends who is a former co-worker. She’s a big fan of beer and so am I. I was good because I only drank one, but we were at a popular Irish bar and the fish and chip dinner was beckoning me. If I had skipped out on seeing her, I would have spent a lot less for dinner that night, but I hadn’t seen her in a while and there was a lot to dish about in a career-impacting positive way. Can I consider it an investment in my job and networking instead of ‘Dining’ as a line item?
Let’s not even include what I ate for dinner on the weekend. I spent $30 on dinner for two, bringing the total for the week to $75.75. Times four, that’s over $300.00 for a month. Is that still too much for one+ persons? (Frequently I pick up the tab for me and boyfriend when we are out and he will pick up mine. It sort of evens out. And I tend to treat some of my younger colleagues and friends to lunch or beer because they are still struggling with student loans.)
Mind you, I don’t spend a lot on groceries either. At most, maybe $200 a month, but I doubt it’s that high. Quicken’s told me in the past that I’ve spent as little as $125 a month on groceries. Let’s say it’s $150 a month currently.
Consider these points:
1. I dine out in a lot of fast food, delis and fast casual places where there’s no need to tip.
2. I live in a high cost of living area. Tipping is best done at 17-20% vs the 15% norm.
3. I spend about 2 evenings a week at my own home for dinner. Either I am out with my friends or out with my boyfriend (meaning at his house for dinner or out out.)
So is $450 a month on groceries and dining out too much for a single person? Where do you live and how much do you estimate you spend monthly? Are you single and social, or do you stay home most nights?
Page wrote:
I live in Annapolis, MD and spend about $450 a month on food. I’m single, but my roommate and I split food in the house and we (well, she) cook at home a lot. However, I spend about $200 for dining out a month and about $250 on groceries. I’ve tried to cut back on the eating out, but it’s just become part of my lifestyle
Posted on 26-Sep-08 at 11:08 am | Permalink
JanePlain wrote:
I live in the Bay area, where the cost of living is very high too. I spend about $160 a month on groceries, but over $300 in dining out - this includes lunches and dinners. I am single, and go out often. It’s become the norm to eat out most nights. The bad thing is, even the nights I am free, I am often tempted to just pick up something on the way home, since I get too lazy to cook for just one.
Posted on 26-Sep-08 at 1:08 pm | Permalink
Marie wrote:
Our family of five (small children under 4) spends $500 a month on food + toiletries. Then I have $83 set aside for dining out. Before budgeting for two adults in college we spent $600 on groceries + toiletries + dining out but that was 4 years ago. We live in the midwest.
Posted on 26-Sep-08 at 1:42 pm | Permalink
GC wrote:
I’m single and I spend about $350/month on those things but I have a fiancee and he pays for a lot of our dining out. Also I often eat at his house or take my groceries and cook over there. I live just outside New York City.
Posted on 26-Sep-08 at 3:32 pm | Permalink
bethh wrote:
Single, Bay Area, pretty social, but I’ve been consciously trying to cut back on eating out. I belong to a lunch group at work (five of us, one person brings lunch for everyone else one day/week, so I only have to deal with cooking for lunch for five one day a week). I almost never eat lunch or breakfast out during the week.
The first 6 months of the year, I averaged 200/month groceries, 168/month eating out, and 22/month coffee expenses: $390. July was a lot higher (534) but August was a lot lower (334.. but that’s b/c I was on vacation and vacation food goes in a travel line item in my spending notebook).
Posted on 26-Sep-08 at 6:17 pm | Permalink
H wrote:
Not single, NY. The two of us spend $400 on groceries, $150 each on lunch and around another couple of hundred each on eating out, sometimes more. That’s already $1100. Wait, do we really spend this much on food? Uh oh.
Posted on 26-Sep-08 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
Megan wrote:
Philly girl here. My boyfriend and I live together and we spend $400/month on groceries and both us of take our lunch to work four days a week. I have to have one day to buy lunch/venture outside or I’d go nuts. I cook dinner every night at home, and we reserve the weekends for going out to eat. Usually dinner or lunch, but not three meals each weekend day or that would get too expensive
I find myself getting into trouble budget wise when my friends and I agree to meet for happy hour — usually once a week or twice a month. Either way, we start out on the right foot — $2 beers and sharing 1/2 price apps, but then we almost always stay past the two hour happy hour timeframe and we pay full prices to keep drinking. hee hee!
Posted on 29-Sep-08 at 12:45 pm | Permalink