A Year Without Eating Out

Okay, I've been mulling over something this past week. I've been gathering information about cheap and easy (yet nutritious and relatively acceptable to the wee folk) meal ideas since we've really been pinching pennies around here. If ever I had a weakness in the budget it was, and is, dining out. It's so easy. It's so good. Everyone can get what they want and I don't have to listen to the whining. I just like it.

But.

It's very expensive. I slacked off of my Quicken tracking towards the end of the year, but with what data I do have I know that my family spent an average of $276 per month eating out. That's a lot of money. And one of our family members is employed at an organic/healthy grocery store.

And.

It's really costly on the caloric expenditure front as well. You can always tell when I get busy because I start expanding.

It's no secret that many people are having economic challenges these days. Additionally, I have several big-ticket expenses coming up: orthodontia for Liam, electrical work, and...I'm planning a service/learning trip overseas. On top of all this, I am hoping that by the time I take my trip, in August or September, I have my budget under control to the point that I can stop indexing, which has been a big source of income for my family for the past five years. And I like a challenge.

So.

I propose to you: A Year Without Eating Out. Or maybe I should make it more optimistic and call it Dining In This Year. I dunno. I know it's a tall order. It's so easy to grab something between kids' activities. I have lunch with colleagues on a regular basis. I am a tired, overextended mama if ever there was one. But is it worth that kind of money? Is it worth putting aside our needs and dreams for? Is it worth *it*? I don't think so.

I started off with a zillion caveats about special treats, date nights, etc., but decided that just makes it hard to be real. I do think it should be acceptable for someone to take you out to eat since, at least in my family, that's how others often celebrate, but if others think they want to participate with me and disagree, I will go with the flow.

I propose that anyone who wants to join the challenge let me know by January 1st that they're in and we'll start a group blog where we can share challenges, successes, tips, and recipes. Who's in?