Monday, March 12, 2012

A little unexpected benefit

The first bit of good news is that no one has gone into DT's. Some of you may recall that my family has committed to not eating out in March (and half of last month) to save money for our airfare to D.C. for spring break. I always knew we spent a lot on eating out but it has amazed me how much money we have saved so far. Which is fortunate since the ticket purchases are already on the credit card waiting to be paid off. Lest you think I'm too much of a gambler, we do have some savings but I like to keep those there as savings as opposed to spendings.

Part of me feared I would find my children rocking in the fetal position while whimpering for happy meals. I truly thought this task would be akin to a short tour through hell. And the first couple of weeks felt like it, for me. I had gotten pretty used to swinging by the big arches or a similar venue on the way home from the kids sport practices or drama classes. So my work load has increased in terms of grocery list planning, cooking, and dishes.

The kids haven't been too bad. They have mentioned it a few times but when reminded about the plane trip they move on. But in some ways I have actually saved time. I hadn't realized how long those short detours to the drive through and waiting in line took. Instead, I drive right home and throw some chicken nuggets in the oven and can do stuff while I'm waiting for them to get ready, like comment on a blog. Hey, I didn't say I was serving them all healthy food. Although, I have done a lot more grilling in this process too.

So I stepped on the scale this morning (a bit of self-flagellation that I engage in on a semi-regular basis) and discovered I have lost five pounds.  So what I am trying to figure out is how to keep this going without revolt after we get back from our national capital visit.

14 comments:

  1. Good for you!
    I can't even remember the last time I ate fast food.

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    1. that is awesome Alex, that used to be true for me until I had kids.

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  2. I've been to DC once, but not for nearly as long as I would've liked.

    I gave you a Shout-Out on my blog today! :)

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    1. Thanks for the mention, always appreciated. I am really looking forward to the DC trip. Still have my fingers crossed that we will get to go inside the white house.

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  3. Hi Nancy, I just found your blog through David's shout-out.

    I went to DC four years ago on a school trip with my daughter. It was WONDERFUL. Also, I feel you on that fast-food thing. There are days when I think, "Okay. I know I can make spaghetti faster than the time it'll take to drive to a restaurant and wait in line." And I can. :)

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    1. it's true and who doesn't love spaghetti? Thanks for coming over. He has a great blog.

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  4. I feel I should mention that there have been several studies done recently that seem to say that fast food, due to rising prices in the grocery store, is actually cheaper than eating at home. It's unfortunate. At least, it's more expensive to eat healthy food at home than it is to eat out. Pretty much the only thing we ever get "out" is pizza. It just takes too much work to make it at home very often.

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    1. That might be true for fast food but that wasn't what we usually did. It probably also depends on your views on leftovers. We love them and often make them into new meals so that stretches it more.

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  5. We go out once a week as a family for a treat. Tonight, though, our family talked about cutting one time a month so that we could donate that money to charity. It's nice to think of that other benefit too.

    Good for you!

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    1. How awesome of your family, we are all about us on this cutback. Maybe we will take it to a more philanthropic place next time.

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  6. I think Andrew is right regarding eating out. We eat out a lot, but everytime we decide to spend some time at the grocery store we end up spending way more there than we would have if we'd gone out. It's healthier for us to go to the grocery store, but not cheaper.

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    1. Yeah, it's so relative on what and where you eat.

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  7. Hey, well done on the losing weight thing! You know the way to keep it up is to come up with another incentive to work towards :-)

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    1. Thanks Sarah, I fear it may be a thing of the past. We'll see.

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