Saving Money One Week at a Time

Part One: Restaurants

You never know how much money you actually spend on things until you pick apart a month's bank statement. My husband and I are trying to save money for a down-payment on a house. Getting out of this small apartment and into a nice house is my biggest money-saving motivation to pinch my pennies.

One way we decided to save money is to allocate $50 for eatting out each month. At first, we just said we would spend $50 a month eating out, but never kept a total of what we were really spending at restaurants. Even though we thought we were staying pretty close to our $50 goal - we were wrong! I added up February's "out-to-eat" expenses and they were slightly over $150! And we honestly thought we were pretty close to $50 for the month! Needless to say, we knew we needed to take further steps to stick with our budget. That's why we started pulling out cash for our restaurant budget.

The best way to stick to an eating out budget is to set a goal for your family, and pull out that money at the beginning of the month. When it's gone - it's gone. Keep it seperate in your wallet with a rubber band or paper clip. You will be amazed at the money you will save!

I'm proud to say that we are on our way to keeping our $50 goal for March (even though March just started).