Long Road To Wealth

This is the First in my Survival Series, where I will be discussing tips and tricks to stick to your budget while still living your life. It’s easy to end up spending $40 on dinner, and an extra $40 bucks at the grocery store, but I want to help you enjoy your life while paying off debt, building wealth, and creating the life you want most (not just the one you want now).

In my post on the 20 Ways I Blow My Budget I talked briefly about how easy it is to waste money when eating out. Since I’ve bought my house, my wife and I have been eating at home much more and are very focused on living frugally. So now, it is even nicer to get to go out to eat. I still want to save money when I do decide to eat out, so I have put together this list of ways of Surviving Dining Out.

Drink Water or Bring Your Own

I’m from Atlanta so I was raised on Coca-Cola Classic, and as much as I love it, I have a hard time paying $2.50 for a glass at Olive Garden when I can get a 44 oz. from QT for $.59. We have made a habit of ordering water when we go out to eat, but if you MUST have your coke, I suggest bringing your own. A can or bottle can easily be brought in a purse and your waiter won’t make a fuss…especially if you let them know that part of your savings goes to their tip!

Take Advantage of The Freebies!

There are a lot of restaurants out there that offer free chips, bread, rolls, etc. I say you take full advantage of these handouts and ask for seconds! This will allow you to comfortable use my next tip.

Share Your Meal

There is no reason that any single human being should eat as much as restaurant serve you. The amount of calories I used to consume at Chili’s is astounding! We would get an appetizer of which I would eat at least half which accounts for about 500 calories right there. Then, the meal, Chicken Crispers, was 1800 calories, not to mention the 3 ramekins of Honey Mustard at 100 calories each. All this followed by the Molten Chocolate cake at nearly 2200 calories ( I would eat at least half). Add in my 6-8 refills on coke and I’d throw down close to 4500 calories on a single meal.

Now, my wife and I will split one dinner item, skip appetizer and dessert, drink water, and save about 60-75% every time we eat out. While one meal could be $15 including tip, what we used to spend was closer to $50 (two drinks at $2.50 each, $8 appetizer, two $10 meals, $8 dessert, plus tip). This will keep both you and your wallet a lot healthier.

Conclusion

It sounds like I’ve taken all the fun out of going out to eat, but what I have found is that when you do it this way, it gives a greater fulfillment than they food along would have. When we see that bill for $12.82 we’re proud of ourselves and know that we are saving for our future.

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Losing Weight = Saving Money

There I was. 22 years old, married and living in the city, making over $100,000 per year. Life was good. Ya know what I decided to do? Work For Myself. That was simultaneously the best and worst decision of my life. For starters, I found out that my wife was pregnant the day after I quit my job! Luckily my wife is fantastic and she supports me 100%

I had decided to start a manufacturer’s rep company with my father and I knew that I would have a a few months of less money, but I didn’t quite know all the trouble I had just bargained for. I went from over $8K per month to under $2K immediately. I went from zero debt and $1000’s in savings to overdraft fees and $15K in debt in a matter of months. On top of that, we bought a house out of necessity because I was working from home, and with a baby on the way, we would need something bigger than our 1 bedroom apartment.

We moved out into the suburbs to start our family, grow out business, and learn from our mistakes. I have been motivated to start this site by many others online and I want to give them the appropriate credit.

1. MyMoneyBlog.com has been a great resource with the Free $100 Bonuses For Credit Cards and the Rough Guide To Money And Investing, not to mention the daily post about the one thing everyone thinks about…Money.

2. JohnChow is a great writer and he covers everything from dinners out on the town to trade show antics. My favorite of his posts would most certainly be How To Incorporate Your Blog and Income Tax Tips.

3. TheSimpleDollar.com has been very encouraging and reassuring as Trent Hamm went through what he calls a “complete financial meltdown” about a year and a half before I did. His site has been a great influence, especially with his 31 Days to Fix Your Finances.

This blog will cover many of the lessons I’ve learned and and troubles we’ve faced as a result of our poor financial decisions and lack of preparation. You can watch us go from debt to wealth and failure to success. Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes!

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