Eat Home...How Much Do You Save?

While waiting for the Stimulus Package to unwrap, it's money and how to hold on to it that's in the forefront. Let me point to a good cause for self-discipline...

...best money-saver is eating home and passing up the frequent, quickie, no-time-to-cook-tonight $20. a person dinners. Whatever happened to a $3. not-McDonald's sandwich or a $6.50 neighborhood restaurant "blue plate special?" They're gone.

Then too, dinner-out-celebrations are planned for and usually expensive - $35. to $50. a person - some go higher. If you're not on a company expense account...and, they're going south fast - it's cheaper to create a table centerpiece for the dining room or kitchen and live it up on steak, prime rib or lobster...fancy food is a lot cheaper cooked at home and we kiss the cook - no 20% tip involved.

Eat at home and have leftovers to freeze for another day...Times are tough and getting tougher...so, here's the it-pays-to-cook-at-home story in dollars. If you save $10. a day...you save $70. a week. In a year, you've saved, $3650. Plan out the savings for the five years it will take to get out of this financial mess and you've saved $18,250.

Hang on to it and that's a down payment on a nifty foreclosure.