My husband has always been averse to dining out on the simple fact that it costs money. Growing up, I went out to eat quite a bit, so it didn’t seem like a big deal to me. However, when I started looking at it in Quicken, I was amazed at how much we were spending. One month I recall our amount to be close to $400.

So about 4 months ago, we decided to give ourself a budget of $50 a week on dining out expenses. We used cash at the time and when we were out money, we were done for the week. This gave us the flexibility to spend on one good meal or fast food on the days we didn’t want to cook. When the week ended, we started back at $50 and did not roll over any money that was not previously spent.

We’ve continued to stick to the plan (vacations excluded though) with only a few changes. We felt like we were comfortable in using our banking card again, so we could verify and track the expenses. Before, we would just spend and spend and not really keep track of it.

We’ve also just started putting any money left over for the week into our savings. It seemed silly at first to transfer $12 bucks out of one account to another, but it’s free, so there’s really no reason we shouldn’t. By doing this, I’ve found myself saying, “If we don’t use all the money for the week it can go into savings,” a comment I wouldn’t really be known for before starting this.

So we’re still spending $200 a month. That looks like a lot, but it’s a reasonable and manageable way for us to start curbing our eating out expenses.