Not eating out: the experiment

So this week, it was all homemade eating Chez Potter.  I've blogged about this before, but somehow this month, realizing that it had been a year since we paid off our mortgage and calculating that, despite this, we were no further ahead financially (i.e., we'd managed to save nothing during the past 12 months), I felt strongly that something needed changing. 

Now, there are a number of perhaps mitigating circumstances.  This year we've had:

• car repairs
• at least 5 fillings replaced
• 2 very expensive pet surgeries and follow ups
• a couple of pricey home improvement projects

Additionally, the cost of gas, natural gas, and groceries has gone up significantly.  Still, I feel like I've got my neck out in this economy - esp. in Michigan's economy - without more in savings to help buffer us from financial difficulty. 

So.

This week I didn't go out to lunch.  I made lunch for all of us, and I gave J. his every day to take.  I made coffee for J., actually dragged up the coffee maker, unearthed the coffee from the cupboard, figured the thing out, and handed J. his mug.  I made dinner, including side dishes.  I got a fair amount of play from one pot of soup and one container of crab macaroni salad.  I cooked crescent rolls in big batches (Max loved these).   I made corn bread and linguine with garlic butter sauce.   It was a fair amount of work, esp. the clean-up, but not as much as I'd expected, strangely enough.  Also strange - I expected to miss eating out more.  But the one time we did eat out, for our standing Wednesday night meal, I couldn't help calculating how much it was costing us vs. how much I could have made it for at home.  

J. misses eating out, I know.  He really likes it, and it's a nice break for him to take lunch in the middle of his work day.   But I've already cut out most of the rest of the fat out of our budget, and if we don't want me to go back to work right now, this is what can be done.  Personally, I think it's worth it.  When I did the math on how much we spent last month (just credit card purchases), it's amazing how eating out, even "cheaply" can add up.  I started late this month, but will be interested in seeing what the final total on our credit card bill is.  

Anyway, I am doing something.  Wish me luck and cross your fingers for me that I won't get discouraged and give up.

tags: thrift  home cooking