It’s hard to save money, period. But, I find it especially hard to keep true to our budget when it comes to eating out in Charleston. Let’s face it, the food is delicious and there are tons of awesome restaurants to choose from. With Restaurant Week fast approaching (January 12-22) this may be the perfect opportunity to try that new, hot restaurant or your favorite oldie, but a goodie! However, be mindful, that it’s just one week! Therefore the other 51 weeks a year, let’s try saving money. 
You may have seen David Slade’s column in Sunday’s Post & Courier about the inflation at Starbucks. He’s so right, it is just 15 cents, but 15 cents five days a week for a year is $39. That $1.65 cup of coffee at Starbucks runs you $429 a year. Yes, we could go crazy and add up each item you purchase on a regular basis and leave us all feeling terrible, but that’s not my point. Looking at my budget over the last six months, we’ve spent 9% on dining out and groceries. In 2011, we spent 4% of our income just on dining out. I didn’t even have to calculate these numbers, I just logged in to my Online Banking account and clicked on Finance Works (my only plug in today’s post!). I will be going over these numbers to find a more reasonable percentage or dollar amount for 2012.
Our Young & Free Spokester Darryl blogged about this very topic last week: Thrifty Thursday-Food & Drink. As he put it: Even if you cut your spending down to $400 a month, there’s 200 more dollars to put towards your rent or your car payment. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
In my case, that could be $200 put away to cover the new roof we’ll need this spring. The best part is it’s never too late to save money. Resist the urge to grab a burger after work. Pack your lunch tomorrow and make a pact with yourself that you’ll skip that Starbucks run two days this week. You don’t have to starve or be unrealistic–you can still spend money, let’s just be aware of what we’re spending our money on and how much it adds up to. In other words, enjoy that special meal during Restaurant Week, and only during Restaurant Week (or until your parents come to visit!).
