I ate out for lunch every day most of my career up until two years ago. It was an ongoing issue for us as well. Frankly, it makes me cringe today thinking of how wasteful it was. What pushed me over the edge towards bringing my own lunch was a commitment to minimizing expenses for the early retirement goal, but other benefits have sustained it. Here's how I've made it work:lilacorchid wrote: The husband has decided to try and curb the lunches out. It's a running theme so I'm not holding my breath that things will be a lot different next year. Trying to cut down on eating out has been our major issue since before we got married.
1) I never pack lunch the day before. I simply keep enough sandwich supplies in the work fridge where I can make a meal any moment I think of it with no pre-planning required.
2) I realized one day that I ate out every day not because I really loved the food, but because I just needed to get away. So I don't deprive myself of that. Sometimes I drive home for lunch. Sometimes I go to a nearby park. Sometimes I just eat in my car. With that routine, I don't mind my homemade food at all.
3) I allow myself to eat out once a week. Interestingly, over time my tolerance for certain restaurant food dropped after I stopped eating it so often, so my tastes have changed and sometimes I don't even go that one time. I've definitely lost a few pounds in the process, which is a good reminder that the benefit is more than financial.
4) When others invite me out, I always say "yes". This is fine at my current company, as that request is mostly rare. If coworkers went out every day, I'd probably limit it to the once a week rule. But I make it a point to not be completely anti-social even if it costs a few dollars.
Today, I'm a reformed lunch eater who wouldn't go back.