DH has been using YNAB since Feb & we are really trying to get a good budget. The only category that seems to be a little unpredictable each month is eating out. How much do you budget for eating out each month?
Obviously this can be different for each family depending on where you live or what kind of restaurants you like, but I am just curious!
52 votes
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
We budget less than $100 for eating out. Maybe once a week, if even. And we go somewhere that will be less than $30 for the three of us (a local pizzeria, local diner style family restaurant, chipotle, chinese etc)...
We budget $500 for groceries a month.
coconut / 8079 posts
@Mrs. Pen good point about grocery budget! That is definitely another thing to consider.
pomegranate / 3809 posts
Not including buying breakfast/lunch at work sometimes, $0-$30. We nearly never eat out. Including having to buy breakfast/lunch on average of 2-3 times a week.... 200?
nectarine / 2765 posts
Ugh. I'm scared to know. We desperately need to tighten up, especially in this area. We use one cc for everything for the points & pay it off every month so all I see is the grand total, I'm sure if I went and totaled eating out it would not be pretty.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@jhd: yup. It would be higher if we didn't intentionally budget that much for groceries and meal plan! It's easier to resist going out when I have a specific meal set for each evening. The nights I cave are usually if I'm exhausted. Otherwise going out is planned.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Definitely less than $100. We only go out/order in maybe 1-2 times a month, though, and it's usually pizza or Chinese.
coconut / 8475 posts
Probably $100.
We go out twice and get a bill of $50 each time?
If we include DH's lunch (which he orders to his office every.single.day) then were talkin more...
pomegranate / 3521 posts
DH and I both eat out for lunch daily....and go out for dinner/order in at least once a week... I would say $400+
Eek.
coconut / 8681 posts
Less than $100. I pack DH's lunch and E and I eat at home most of the time. I also meal plan and get breaks when we have dinner at my parents' house or the in laws.
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
It varies, but I voted $200 and less, but now that I'm thinking about it, that's a lie. Too much! On the other hand we don't buy that many groceries on months we eat out a lot. (out, then leftovers, out, leftovers...and dh only really eats one regular meal and a small meal of leftovers on his work days because he's on nights and doesn't get hungry at night..and sleeps during the day!)
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
We use YNAB, and we budget $200 a month, but only spend about $100 on average. Whatever is left over we let roll over so that we have more than enough racked up on our "special occasion" months. I love that roll over feature!
Our expenditures for eating out really started to decrease when I started meal planning.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
Too much!! It was way more before R was born. We use to go to nice dinners every weekend.
pomelo / 5321 posts
Definitely less than $100 for us. We usually go out to eat once a month and it ends up being between $30-50 for the three of us depending on where we go. Occassionally, we'll go out twice a month but I'd still say we stay under $100 for both outings.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
A lot, because my husband and I eat two meals out of the home every day during the week. We haven't been out to dinner in months!
kiwi / 742 posts
Now that we've cut out all processed foods, and I'm keeping track of what is in things, soy, gluten, we only eat out maybe twice a month. It used to be too much.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@jhd: um. I tallied it up for the first time this week. I'm too ashamed to admit the number bc I thought we did not eat take out that much. We're def knuckling down!
grapefruit / 4823 posts
way more than we should be! with my not going back to work after LO #2 is born, it's where we need to make the biggest cut....
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Too much!! Its more hubby than me, so I got onto him about it recently.
honeydew / 7667 posts
A bunch, we eat out a lot. On the other hand we haven't grocery shopped in two weeks so I think that has to even out somehow?
bananas / 9628 posts
Too much! Honestly, I have no idea. We eat out a lot though & I often buy lunch or breakfast on work days. I'd guess over $300/month though.
eggplant / 11824 posts
Maybe about $300/month. We go to lunch or brunch a couple times a month which is $40-$60 each time. Dinner out is rarely less than $100 with tip, "nice" dinner out is about $200+.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@regberadaisy: haha I wanna know!!! Haha. I was under the impression you don't eat out much?
coconut / 8079 posts
Thanks for the input ladies!
@Mrs. High Heels I like the idea of budgeting extra in YNAB so you have rollover. We only ever plan to eat out on Sunday at lunch so we've budgeted only $100 per month. Seems like every month there is something like a birthday, anniversary or in-laws wanting to meet up for dinner. (They don't like my cooking!)
cantaloupe / 6397 posts
DH tracks all of our spending (nerdy accountant alert!!!! Lol) and last year we spent $1300. So about $100/month!
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