EATING YOUR PAYCHECK
We all need to eat to nourish our bodies, but one of the quickest ways to exhaust your discretionary income is eating out. In fact, the National Restaurant Association predicts the restaurant industry’s share of your food dollar for 2010 will be 49 percent. That’s HALF of your food dollar going to out-of-the-home dining.
Dining out has become a part of the daily routine for too many people. With easy access to home delivery, 24-hour drive-thru windows, and restaurants on every corner, it is easy to convince yourself a quick run to a neighborhood fast-food joint would be much easier than going to the grocery store, cooking the food, and then cleaning up the dirty dishes.
Another consideration to review in eating out is the difficulty in selecting a nutritionally balanced menu. Plus, ever-growing portion sizes result in a high-calorie daily intake. When consumers are at a loss on how to make ends meet, their food bill is probably the best place to recoup discretionary income.
When eating out becomes a way of life, some people feel powerless. They don’t have much spare time on their hands to prepare meals than require the use of more than a microwave because they lack the basic skills to cook from scratch. With just a small amount of self-control and planning, families will realize just how costly their expensive habit has become and how simple it is to fix the problem.
Spend a week documenting your eating habits. You’ll be surprised how many times you eat out, visit the candy machine at work, or hit the drive-thru on the way home. Then, choose one day a week at a time and do all your eating at home or bring food from home. You’ll have more time and money in no time!
