Reading the menu

Normally when I go to a restaurant, I read the menu from right to left. I have always done this and selected my dinner not based on taste but instead on price.  Which is why I instantly go to the sandwiches rather than the main dinner entrees anytime we go out to eat.

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Except this Saturday.  Mr. M and I went out for our first meal after our No Dining Out Month had ended to a cute restaurant in the mountains.  It's a favorite spot of ours as it gives us a chance to get away from everyone and enjoy a dinner of just the two of us out.  Of course, the first thing I do is try to find the cheapest thing until Mr.M took my menu away and told me to tell him what I wanted.

That's the first time {in a long time} that I read menu from left to right and to be honest - I liked it.  It was a sense of freedom I can't explain not to have money {or lack there of} determine your meal.  The experience was a sense of renewal for me. We can tackle this debt snowball, we will be debt free and one day soon I'll get to read all of my menus from left to right.

No Dining Out...Week 4

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Coming in on the home stretch {thank you Jesus} of the No Dining Out Month.  We're officially done tomorrow and we only screwed up twice.  With some creative thinking, we were able to not completely kill our social life, did not go over too much on our weekly food budget and have a nice chunk of change to put towards our debt snowball.

We may try this again in December since we're surrounded by free meals due to the holidays.

No Dining Out ...Week 3

I’m not going to lie - this past week was a test. As school quickly approaches {Mr. M works at a local college}, our schedule has gone from evenings in to long evenings out with dinner at 8 pm rather than 6 pm. The tired side of me would just like to go out to dinner and forget the dishes but the responsible side of me is determined not to eat out at all no matter the inconvenience.

Who knew that this would be a struggle?

I will say it has gotten easier and we have discussed continuing this trend for another month especially since we’re using the money towards the debt snowball.

No Dinning Out...Week 2

So this week we had a few hiccups and ate out two times during the week breaking our No Dining Out pledge. The first was after church when a couple {who had a baby in early June} came back and wanted to grab lunch together. Had Mr. M and I not just cleared out our guest bed room and turned our dinning room into a sorting room, we would have had them over but we didn't.

The second time was during the power outage. Mr. M had a business dinner {paid by work - yeah} so I was stuck at home, hungry and dry ceral was going to cut it. So I ended up at Chick-fil-A and only paid for my fries since I had a coupon for a free sandwich and a free drink. This is why I heart Chick-fi-A.

Even on our trip to the beach, Mr. M and I were to have our meals covered by parents or gift certificates so not a dime was spent on eating out.

No Dinning Out...Week 1

I read about the "No Dining Out" plan earlier this month and threw it out to Mr. M as a possible idea for the month of August. Shockingly, he agreed and we are now in the beginning phrases of avoiding the inside of a restaurant for 30 days unless someone else pays for it.

Our month runs from the 25th to the 25th since Mr. M is paid only once a month and right now we're in day five. It should be an interesting next 25 days.