Again - if you dont like eating at home alone then pack a dinner and go somewhere and eat it (park, lake, the nature trail you speak of or find a new place to go).
As I understand it, you have your girls one week on and one week off. If you are eating out just three days a week on your "off weeks" and *only* spending 5.00 per meal that is 15.00 wasted. Add 15.00 per week over the course of a year and you have a nice little chunk of change. Save it for a rainy day, save it for the house you claim you must have, save it for C'ing for your kids, education, a down payment on a car or something more rational than eating out because you are bored.
You want a better future. You worried to the point of no return about not having a house, having to start over at the ripe old age of 34 and having no retirement yet spending 15.00 (+) every other week on eating out could make some small dent in one of those areas.
This is part of your need for instant gratification. Dont like to eat home alone so go out and spend money. You can still go out to eat with your OWN food made at home, purchased on sale and with coupons.
Find a farmers market in your area for fresh produce - I go each Sat. morning and can fill two bags of local and fresh produce for under 10.00. Granted its just me and I dont have 2 kids to feed but the savings is still substantial and you are supporting the local farmers.
Or, like I said, volunteer at a soup kitchen, shelter or old folks home for meal time - you will get a free meal and be helping others and you wont be eating alone or spending money.
I had to go to three stores and spend an hour or so matching coupons and sales flyers but for a grand total of 10.49 I got 4 pkg's of BIC pens, 2 bottles of dishsoap, 2 bottles of handsoap, 4 cans of soup, a pkg. of highlighters, 2 Healthy Choice meals, 2 boxes of panty liners, 2 tubes of toothpaste, a half gallon of fat free milk, 3 rolls of paper towels, 2 boxes of bandaids and a roll of tape. On top of all that I will be getting a 2.49 rebate check in the mail. All stuff I needed and yes, it took a bit of time to match up all the ads/coupons and go from store to store but it was worth it. I am now set on office supplies and other necessities for some time and the money I saved was put aside for my co-pay (25.00) for my next psych appt.
Two years ago I thought nothing of going to Sephora and dropping several hundred bucks. I thought nothing of spending 400.00 on a pair of shoes or a handbag. My life is different now. So I taught myself how to get as much as possible with as little as possible with a bit of time and research. Its actually kind of fun to see how much I can save.
I started a spreadsheet to log my savings and its amazing the amount of money you can save if you try.
