How Dining Out - in Your Mind - Saves You Money

My hubby and I live in New York City. While we don't live in the swankiest part of town, we do have a handful of menus we can order from any night of the week. When I first moved to Manhattan from Ohio, I lived with a couple who ordered out every single night while I cooked myself dinner - like a normal person. The guy worked in Finance, so I guess had unlimited funds - at the time.

These days, especially as an entrepreneur, I very easily justify ordering out for dinner by saying that it takes more of my time to make and clean up after the dinner, so we had better just order out. This is a very bad habit, and only some of the time truly saves me time which in some cases is money.

In trying to break this habit (while still keeping our local Indian place in business), Hubby and I have decided to deposit the money we would have spent on dinner into our joint savings account. Sunday night, I almost ordered Pizza Hut because of all of the commercials I saw while doing bills. That's an easy $10 to put into the savings account. This night, I was feeling pretty weak, and craved the Chicken Dildar, Pouri, and mango glace from said Indian restaurant, Kurry Cabob. However, we have plans to order from there on Friday for a backgammon tournament with my dear friend who is leaving NYC for greener pastures. Instead of double-indulging, I forced myself to buy vegitables at my local market, and turn a whole chicken I had cooked earlier into soup.

And boy am I glad I did because it's my first chicken soup, and it's really good. Plus, I get to put $20 into the savings account! I think that Collective-E member, Galia Gichon of Down to Earth Finance would be proud. Just one more little game to trick myself into putting money into the savings account for a future house.