Mint.com and The Baudendistels

So far, this no restaurant food thing has been great. I've made some delicious home cooked meals for myself and I've had a few great meals with friends as well. Food at home with friends or family is just magical sometimes. The conversations are always better at home, too. 

Mint.com - I've used mint.com for 3 years now. They have a great app and I use it multiple times a day. I highly recommend using it to track expenses, see trends, and make budgets. It's great. It is not for the denial-struck. It tells the truth and keeps up with how much money you spend on what. Below is a screen shot of my last three months expenses. There are many dollars in "uncategorized" - these are generally checks, and a few cash withdrawals. It is accurate when it shows that I swiped my card 54 times for food purchases, and I can tell you that maybe 8 of those were for groceries. Ouch. The thing I swiped my card the most for was food. Set up a mint.com account and see what your trends are. 

This evening I had dinner with Pete and Margaret Baudendistel. We had crockpot BBQ chicken, asparagus, sautéed onions, and rice. It was amazing. Our conversation was great. We laughed and caught up on life. Have some friends over for dinner sometime soon! 

Back Fat - It Really Is As Gross As It Sounds

Of all the things that could keep me awake at night, back fat is often the culprit. Everyone has a certain position in which they sleep. Mine is like this: on my stomach, with my left leg drawn up to about level with my hip. Usually this is a great way to get comfortable, except when I've gain too much weight and the skin on my back crinkles up into pretty much an extra pair of butt cheeks. Ew? Yeah, ew. I've tried to make it hilarious when describing this to others because back fat really is as gross as it sounds. I've compared myself trying to fit into my clothes (as heard from comedians) to a can of biscuits busting out, toothpaste being squeezed out... It's all funny until I don't want to hug people because I don't want them to feel just how much extra body weight I'm carrying around. I don't like to be touched that much, and this is one reason why.

Food - the food front is going really, really well. I've had mostly healthy food going down the hatch and I can honestly attest that the types of foods you eat, and the frequency by which you eat has a tremendous impact on all areas of your life. We were created to eat a certain way. Food can mess with your moods. This is why skinny, energetic runners get under my skin. They're generally happy because of how well they feed their bodies, and just by eating healthy foods, they have a better attitude, it seems. I'm kind of joining the healthy living club, though. Eating better will likely add years to my life, and that's a very encouraging thought to have.

I'm genuinely enjoying eating at home. It's made me more social. It's made me more mindful of what I'm eating instead of just mindlessly grazing on whatever is in front of me. I am going grocery shopping tomorrow for the first time since I moved into my new place and I have to say that I'm excited! Let there be grapefruit and lots of protein.

I can't really think of much that I'm missing right now by not eating at restaurants. It's been a lot of fun so far... We'll see how well this is going a few weeks from now.

Loneliness and Food... Cry Me A Chocolate River

Truth be told, many single people frequent restaurants because they seek companionship. They are lonely. You'll even find people who are married or in relationships at the bar at Calhoun's or whichever bar/restaurant you choose, and I'd bet that many of them feel alone.. I've been the lonely one there, too. The first person to ever point it out to me that I was frequenting restaurants out of loneliness was Dave Ramsey in one of his Financial Peace University lessons. At first I thought, "what? No. How silly is that? I don't go out to eat because I'm lonely..." And then I would find myself trying to get friends to meet me anywhere to eat. If I couldn't get plans made with anyone, I'd go by myself just to at least be near other people. I didn't care that they were strangers.

Food does offer some comfort. I don't know why. Being with other people while eating is a whole other kind of comfort to me. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But I would avoid solitude even if that meant that my utility bill wasn't going to get paid that month. Ridiculous, I know.

I had a lovely salad for lunch today. I'd like to have some recipes to share with friends who are becoming part of this experiment of Operation Restaurant Deprivation. It occurred to me today that it's going to be super awkward to sit out on company lunch meetings, although I have considered asking if we can do a pot luck lunch instead.

The Smoke Stack

This may be news to some, but I smoked on and off for about 13 years. I started smoking cigarettes when I was 12. My mom's a smoker and it was easy to sneak some here and there. Of course most of my friends at school were hoodlums so we all shared the wealth when we were wealthy with our parents "coffin nails", as my dad calls them.

During times of not smoking, I began frequently eating large amounts of food, not unlike Garfield when he would effortlessly consume stacks of lasagna. I've heard people say that they are afraid to quit smoking because the last time they tried, they gained weight because they ate significantly more food than they did while smoking regularly. The last time I quit smoking, I used m&m's, peanuts, dum dums, reeces pieces, twizzlers, pop corn, potato chips, etc. to ease cravings. Clearly as a result of eating basically nothing but candy and junk food, I packed on big pounds.

Essentially I'm saying that nature really does hate a vacuum and that you can't put down one bad habit without expecting another to develop. I originally heard this idiom from Prof. Ron Wheeler. For my bad habit of excessive restaurant food consumption and purchase, I plan to spend significantly more time in meaningful conversation, playing guitar and writing songs, and reading. I've been eating too much. That's all there is to it. Fortunately, I no longer have cravings to smoke, but I do have constant cravings for BBQ, chicken salad, steak, fried chicken...you get the picture. Nature hates a vacuum.

Today for lunch, I had a turkey sandwich, some pretzel chips, a serving of greek yogurt, and some carrots. It was a lovely lunch. I will say that I noticed every single restaurant in existence between Knoxville and Spring City - that's 150 miles round trip of greasy convenience all around. A Facebook friend told me that he thinks the first 40 odd days will be the most difficult, and I think he's right.

This Sunday I plan to have a few friends over for home food and a game of cards. I'm looking forward to strengthening my friendships this way. Later this week, I will post some more information I gathered from using Mint.com to see the big bucks I've spent at restaurants over the past year or two. Until then, happy home cooking.

Operation Restaurant Deprivation

Introduction to the craziest idea I've ever had...

After running the idea by my good friend Ashley, I have decided to move forward. She suggested I start a blog about it - and this is the beginning. I am abstaining from restaurant food for 365 days. A year of no Aubrey's, no Calhoun's, no Panera, no nothing. This is going to be difficult for me to do. I'm a foodie. I'm an unhealthy foodie. Stay tuned for more delicious details. I plan to report my experience here on this blog.

According to Mint.com, in February of 2011, I spent $400 on restaurant food. I often stupidly wonder where my money goes. Clue #1, it's going to FOOD.  Honestly, not much has changed over the past 2 years since I made that discovery.

Over the next year, I plan to write about money saved, health gained, and anything else that happens as a result of cooking at home, and taking my lunch to work.

The only caveat is that if a friend invites me to have a cup of tea at Starbucks, I will oblige. So to all my friends who I normally meet over a lovely plate of chicken fingers, fries, and a tall cold one, support me on my journey to enlightenment. It should be fun and frustrating. I hope to cook meals for people and play a lot of rummy - that doesn't sound so bad.