Billy gets paid every two weeks and as I have mentioned before, we have been living cash only for 2 years this September. That means that we have a cash envelope for eating out that gets filled on payday. As a family of five now, this money goes fast. Once it is gone, it is a long 14 days til we get it back. And that is only eating out two times in that 2 week period. So as of late I have been on the prowl for ways that we can eat out for our whole family for $15 or less. This of course means our days of going to places where we tip are limited to special occasions. I sign up for every coupon program at all of our favorite places (mostly done online), and always take them up on the offers. Since our last pay day, I have been able to make our eating out money work at 3 places for all 5 of us and I still have $7 left!! Woohoo! Do I hear icecream, anyone?Here is a list of where we have gone and how:
Cici's Pizza (with 2 boys we are a fan of the buffet establishments!) They let me use two coupons together and 3 and under are free. So we all eat there for $10 and some change.
Chick-Fil-A You all know how expensive this can be! Well...we go on Family Nights (Tuesdays), which vary in theme and promotions. Last night it was movie night w/free popcorn. So we bought two 12 pack adult nugget meals, which allowed us to divvy up plenty of nuggets to the kids. They didn't need the fries because popcorn was their side dish, and we got them waters to drink which is healthier anyways. So that put our total at $13 for all 5 of us, which would have been about what 3 kids meals would have cost me alone!
Souper Salad They sent me a free meal coupon for my b-day, we printed one off for Isaac to eat free, and the 3 and unders were free automatically. This works because we pay cash so Billy and I do two seperate transactions which allows us to use more than one coupon. At times where the cashier makes me feel a little embarrassed or cheap, I ease the tension with "3 mouths to feed ain't easy in this economy!" and they almost always smile and say how much they get it. I mean we aren't pulling these tactics at steak houses...so it works! With water to drink again, that put our total at $7 and some change. Awesome for a buffet!
At other places, we all order off the dollar menu and skip the expensive kids meals, which I swear keep increasing in price every year. And we save money by always drinking water, or Billy and I share a drink. And in the past we have gone to Denny's and used coupons for the adult meals while kids eat free, up to two kids per one paying adult. Denny's has great healthy side dish options for kids.
There are lots of websites where you can find what places in your area have free kids meals. But sometimes by the time you buy two adult meals and tip...you are still out a lot of money and would have been better off eating at home and saving the cash for a date night. I prefer coupons and buy one get one deals on adult meals. So many times the portions are plenty big enough to share with the little ones anyway. Have fun eating out on a budget!
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5 friends commented!:
now that our kids (3,2,1) are starting to require their own meal - we have been eating out WWWAAYYY less. i wish we had ONE of those affordable restaurants here!!
I'm intrigued by your living cash only/the envelop system. Could you write more about that? How you got there...how it works...etc? We have a mortgage and car payment, but other than those, we'd like to live cash free but there always seem to be things that "come up", for instance, I just needed $7000 worth of dental work and we don't have insurance...that had to go on a credit card.
Love this!! We due pretty much the same thing! We eat breakfast out once a weekend and dinner out once a week. We always use coupons and other promtions! :)
Sure, Annie! I may be able to post about that sometime this weekend. Until then you can look up Crown Ministries or Dave Ramsey. They both have plans on how to live cash only and debt free.
I love this method Laurie!
We use it as well, for what we can.
We took the crown financial course several years ago as well at our church here and my parents have been instructors at their church for a few years after they took the course.
The envelope method is a great way to control expenses such as eating out, entertainment and other look nick nacks that can add up.
We knew about the method prior to getting married, however, we were encouraged to use the method for those things when we were taking premarital counseling courses with the minister who married us. It is an excellent way to control splurges and weekly incidentals. I also use the method for weekly hair salon visits as well, even though my salon visits are built into my budget, I pay cash.
We also pay for our vacations through this method as well. If we dont take the cash, I have it saved up prior to the vacation and pay for it in full via cash or check card upon arrival. I've also encouraged other family members to get a visa gift card to put vacation money away on so that everything can be paid for in cash when we take big vacations yearly.
I also use the method to save for Christmas gifts by either putting the saved holiday money on a gift card to use for holiday spending, so that when it is gone, it is gone and we have only used what we have allocated towards gift giving.
Other than that, I use on line banking with everything else to transfer from checking. The envelope method is a great method. It teaches discipline. It is truly a great method. I wish that I could use it in other ways, however with mortgages and other household expenses that must be accounted for and having my own business as well, it is easier for me to use a check card to track my business expenses.
We knew that eating out was a major expense for our household with just two people when we did it often and that is one of the things that we cut back on after taking the course. That money could go to other places!
Coupons are great! I am a big coupon girl too. I love to shop, so therefore I love using department store and regular store coupons to reduce my bill!
You are very savvy! Keep up the great work. It is so easy to spend out of control even when you have it in a budget, which can be wasteful.
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