[img]958|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img]Dateline Boston — The year is almost over, a year when S.O. and I stopped eating out. No restaurants, coffee shops or chain eateries. We’ve saved hundreds of dollars. As I’ve stated previously, the biggest thing I’ve taken away from our experiment is that we no longer think about going out to eat as an option.
In the beginning of our no-eating-out trial,last January, we were very strict. S.O. once forgot his lunch and didn’t eat till he got home. I packed snacks like a squirrel preparing for winter. As the months went on, we relaxed the rules a bit. I stopped writing down how much we were spending in June. The thing I am proudest of is the fact we spent $17 dining out in the month of March.
Yikes, the Bill
This month we caved. In a span of a week, we went out to eat 3 times. We spent $190. In one week! Nowadays, when we get a bill at a restaurant, it’s much easier to imagine having people over to our house and playing board games than shelling out fifty bucks for a meal. Cave we did, however. When my cousin came to visit me from California, I think we ate out twice, maybe 3 times. I have plans to go out this weekend. On two separate occasions. How quickly an experiment can go horribly wrong! Let’s just say the month of November won’t be our proudest month.
I’d like to publicly thank all of the friends who gave us gift certificates to restaurants over the past year because they felt sorry for us. We ate well, thanks to you.
I think we’ll keep it up, this no dining in restaurants thing, starting next month. We just ran into some friends who were eating at that new place around the corner I’ve been curious about. November, we’ll go hog wild, and December will be a new year. Well, actually, January will be the new year. Let’s see if we can get back down to $17. Or maybe we’ll give up something else, like buying CDs. No buying CDs in 2012. I think I can do it.
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
