YW Blogcast 6 - Eating in is the new eating out

Are you dining out as much as you used to? New workers still in the process of trudging up the pay scale may find there’s simply not enough money in the paycheck to grab a sit down meal at their favorite restaurant as often as they used to.

It’s no crime. Just reality. Cheap comfort foods are in (Spam, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese) and expensive restaurants are out. The driving forces behind this new deal in American society are higher food prices and the recession. According to the Chicago Tribune, white flour and dried beans are hot sellers as more people cook at home.

Recession or not, scaling back your “eating out” fund is a great way to save money for investing. Do you seriously need to eat out twice a day every single day? Have you ever sat down and done the math about how much it costs? Try trimming yourself back to a single daily convenience store Mega Gulp. Even better, buy drinks from the grocery store and pack them with you to work.

Here’s a simple example. Two drinks per day at $1.50 each add up to nearly $100 a month or $1,200 a year. By cutting your consumption in half, you can add $600 every year to your investment fund and improve your health at the same time.

What a deal!

Now stop thinking about it and do it.