Strange Motivations to not Eat out?

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RachelElser
RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone else have an odd or different motivation to not eat out? Mine is- wanting to pay off my last freaken student loan and buy a house. Every time I resist BK or McD I think "$6 toward the house, $6 more toward the house" Honestly, for me it's better motivation than just 'eating healthy;.
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  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    I don't enjoy restaurants and I don't like paying a lot for food. Having said that, on the few occasions we do eat out, we get carry out from a restaurant (as opposed to fast food). I don't mind the price so much because it's always enough for me to eat for two or three meals. I love leftovers of any kind.

    Avoiding extra costs to save money for any reason isn't odd.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
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    pinuplove wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Not having to get out of bed is an excellent motivation for me. Also, if I eat at home, I don't have to communicate with people as much. The grocery store has self-checkout, but the fast food places in my town sure don't.

    Edit: Thought of another one. I don't have to put on pants.

    Pants is a big one! Also a bra :tongue:

    I think paying off debt is an admirable goal and not a strange motivation at all.

    Omg yes. I am not one of those women that can venture outside without a bra.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    RelCanonical wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Not having to get out of bed is an excellent motivation for me. Also, if I eat at home, I don't have to communicate with people as much. The grocery store has self-checkout, but the fast food places in my town sure don't.

    Edit: Thought of another one. I don't have to put on pants.

    Pants is a big one! Also a bra :tongue:

    I think paying off debt is an admirable goal and not a strange motivation at all.

    Omg yes. I am not one of those women that can venture outside without a bra.

    I probably could (goodness knows I've seen worse out there!) But I feel like it's painfully obvious. Even going the school line drop-off, I may be in my PJs but I'm definitely wearing a bra.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    apullum wrote: »

    Also @pinuplove I have the shirt that's in your profile photo! It's one of my favorites.

    I really want this shirt. I'd be tempted to wear it to work though :tongue:
  • BeAlwaysBlooming
    BeAlwaysBlooming Posts: 6 Member
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    I am currently in weight loss mode AND saving-to-buy-a-house mode, so we are on a STRICT budget. We only allow ourselves to have $100 per month for date night--that includes ANY going out to eat, movies, pizza nights, etc. When you only have a set amount of cash to go out, you really hesitate when the idea comes up. "Is this worth it? If we go out tonight, how much of our budget do we have left? What are our options?" We have been meal prepping on Sundays, too. This last weekend, I made a big pot of minestrone, a crock pot of pulled pork, and honey mustard soy glazed chicken, and it's been nice to not have to cook all week. Budgeting, planning, and meal prepping has made a big difference for me--and we already have extra money in our account because of it!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,968 Member
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    try2again wrote: »
    RachelElser wrote: »
    Does anyone else have an odd or different motivation to not eat out? Mine is- wanting to pay off my last freaken student loan and buy a house. Every time I resist BK or McD I think "$6 toward the house, $6 more toward the house" Honestly, for me it's better motivation than just 'eating healthy;.

    How is saving money a "strange motivation" for not eating out? I'd say it's pretty high on the list of perfectly reasonable reasons.

    I don't think this is "strange" either, but every time I see someone cough while handling my food or go from handling money to handling food, I'm pretty tempted to leave. Once at McDonalds, my husband saw a woman drop an order of fries on the floor, scoop them up off the floor, and then use the same hands (I think she might have had gloves on) to reach in and grab the new batch. He canceled the order and asked for a refund. Pretty much anytime we eat out, I have to close my eyes and go to my "happy place" :D

    ^^This.

    I worked in a full service restaurant. You don't want to know what goes on out of the view of customers. :noway:
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    edited October 2018
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    try2again wrote: »
    RachelElser wrote: »
    Does anyone else have an odd or different motivation to not eat out? Mine is- wanting to pay off my last freaken student loan and buy a house. Every time I resist BK or McD I think "$6 toward the house, $6 more toward the house" Honestly, for me it's better motivation than just 'eating healthy;.

    How is saving money a "strange motivation" for not eating out? I'd say it's pretty high on the list of perfectly reasonable reasons.

    I don't think this is "strange" either, but every time I see someone cough while handling my food or go from handling money to handling food, I'm pretty tempted to leave. Once at McDonalds, my husband saw a woman drop an order of fries on the floor, scoop them up off the floor, and then use the same hands (I think she might have had gloves on) to reach in and grab the new batch. He canceled the order and asked for a refund. Pretty much anytime we eat out, I have to close my eyes and go to my "happy place" :D

    ^^This.

    I worked in a full service restaurant. You don't want to know what goes on out of the view of customers. :noway:

    No, I do not :'(

    I wasn't sure I'd be able to eat out again after seeing one of the Gordon Ramsay shows this summer where they filmed behind the scenes at restaurants.
  • mds1207
    mds1207 Posts: 42 Member
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    A Hepatitis A outbreak in southern WV and eastern KY has definitely affected how often we eat out. We recently got vaccinated, but now that we're out of the habit of going we just cook at home. Also, since I'm old and grew up in the "clean your plate" generation, I'm just now starting to use strategies like splitting a meal w/ my wife or asking for the "to go" box as my server brings the meal.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    RachelElser wrote: »
    Does anyone else have an odd or different motivation to not eat out? Mine is- wanting to pay off my last freaken student loan and buy a house. Every time I resist BK or McD I think "$6 toward the house, $6 more toward the house" Honestly, for me it's better motivation than just 'eating healthy;.

    I want to buy a house.

    I don't think that $6 is going to make a difference toward that goal. But the attitude that I should usually spend money taking the easy way (I mean vs cooking at home) won't help. Stuff adds up.

    About eating out specifically, Seattle has some really fantastic restaurants. But they're not cheap.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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    pinuplove wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »

    Also @pinuplove I have the shirt that's in your profile photo! It's one of my favorites.

    I really want this shirt. I'd be tempted to wear it to work though :tongue:

    https://shirt.woot.com/offers/double-nope
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited October 2018
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    Well I don't have a specific goal other than just spend less, save more. Ultimate goal is to live on half of our income, retire early. B) Nowhere close to that yet unfortunately. I do eat out but I try to stick to my budget. Before I used a budget, it's insane how much money I spent on crap. It's "only" $6 here, $15 there, $9 over there, etc. It adds up quick...
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Eating out costs a lot more than preparing food at home usually. I don't think it is unusual to stop eating out often to save money.
    I think I cook food that is as tasty or tastier than similar restaurant food. I'd be more excited going out for food that is beyond my skill or resources to prepare. There are not those sorts of places in rural Kansas.
    The time it takes to get ready to go out, go to a place, order, wait for food doesn't seem convenient to me.
    I don't love being around a lot of people while eating. I feel stressed in restaurants.

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