Clawing our way to financial independence

My weak points when it comes to eating out/grabbing take out are at lunch and dinner on weekends. During the week I seem to be able to stick to eating at home no problem. Occasionally I get too busy to make dinner, and then rely on take out, but mostly it is the temptation for a treat on the weekend.

My goals thus are to eat out for lunch and dinner no more than once each. We have relatives visiting this month for a weekend, and I KNOW that we will probably eat out. I am going to make every effort not to, but I also know that when they are here it may not be possible.

My incentive is going to be monetary: for every day in which I do not eat out I am going to deposit $3 into my Christmas Savings Account. This will be almost $100 if I can stick to the plan, and $3 really is not much on a daily basis.

It is funny how you need to rethink social events though when you plan NOT to eat out. This morning I had been planning on contacting friends on the weekend to see if they wanted to go out for lunch. Ooops. This doesn't mean I can't suggest another activity, I just need to get creative, and I need to pack a lunch. My friend's son is 6 and there should be lots of activities for us to do without spending $$ and I know they need to save the pennies too. If the weather is nice, as it has been, there is nothing better than a picnic on the beach, or trek on forest trails!

I am having trouble planning my meals so far. Tonight I will go for easy and make a yam quesadilla and salad. Because of health reasons I have to eat fairly bland foods (not my usual) and I am uninspired. My first full week meal plan will go up Sunday or Monday to coincide with my grocery shopping patterns.