today for cleo's birthday, my dad treated us to a lovely brunch. other than the aforementioned del taco experience , we have not eaten out since the project began. i cannot tell you how much we enjoyed ourselves! we all but licked our plates and we laughed watching cleo eat every single piece of fresh fruit in her cup, including the normally dreaded honeydew. the "treat" of the meal out was not even lost on my little miss picky!
i have thought a lot about this today, how we appreciated the act of eating out so much more because it wasn't commonplace. it felt special again, more like an event and less like just what we do any old sunday. statistics say that the average american eats out 4-5 times a week. i think before this project began we probably averaged 2 times a week. at most family type restaurants, i've found it to be basically impossible not to drop between $30-$50 for a meal for our family. it is crazy to add this up and realize that by not eating out this month we will save somewhere between $240-$400. that's substantial dough to have in our coffers instead of someone else's!
all of this makes me question the whole financial term "disposable" income. what a lousy thing to call our hard-earned money. who made that up? people work hard, they make sacrifices, put their families and their fun on hold while they work to earn the money needed to survive and enjoy life. so why should we think of it as something we can throw away so easily? this month's experience has definitely started to morph my view of what is and is not disposable in my life. and today, right now, i'd have to answer not much.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment