I see a lot of comments about eating out here. Conflating eating out and actual food costs muddies the water and, IMHO, is not the way to budget. Food consumed while dining out is a discretionary expense. Groceries eaten at home are a mandatory expense. A baseline budget is mandatory expenses only. Only after establishing that baseline can the discretionary budget be calculated.
I break my expenses up in this area as follows:
Groceries (mandatory)
Dining out (discretionary)
Alcohol at home (discretionary)
Alcohol out (discretionary)
When viewed from a ‘bare bones survival’ perspective, a lot of budget items are discretionary. One the mandatory budget is in place, one can weigh mandatory expenses in a different way.
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