I Tried and Failed to Cut Spending on Dining Out. Here's What I'm Doing Instead

Dining out is one of my biggest expenses, outside of fixed costs like my mortgage. I like to try out different restaurants, and because I'm pretty busy with work and kids, I also order a lot of takeout. And I'm not alone in doing this. According to data collected by US Foods, the average American dines out three times monthly and orders delivery more than four times a month.

In the past, I've become frustrated by the fact that a good amount of money comes out of my bank account each month to cover restaurant bills and food delivery. And when that's happened, I've tried to make budget cuts and limit the amount of eating out I do.

This has never worked for long, though -- I always revert back to my old habits. So, rather than continuing to try to cut my spending on food away from home, I took a different approach instead. Here's what I did.

I accepted that dining out is one of my money priorities

Rather than continuing to fight against my nature and try to cut spending on dining out, I decided that I was going to accept that this spending was important to me. Since I'd tried in the past to cut back and not been able to sustain my spending reductions, it seemed that eating out is a habit that would be really hard to break. And perhaps, it is a habit I don't want to break.

So, since this is something that I realized matters to me, I made it one of my money priorities. Dining out doesn't take precedence over saving in a brokerage account for retirement, and it is also not more important than having a fully funded emergency fund or avoiding credit card debt. But it is still an important money goal for me to have enough to eat out whenever I want, since it brings joy to my life and makes things easier in a lot of ways.

The reality is, it is absolutely OK to accept that some frivolous or unnecessary spending can be a money goal. Whether that's saving up for a vacation or a fancy car, or nice shoes or season tickets to a sporting event, you can and should have money priorities that you work toward, and sacrifice for. It's fine to have money goals that exist for the sole purpose of helping you enjoy life, rather than increasing your net worth.

I set up my spending to accommodate this priority

Since I accepted dining out was something I wanted to prioritize, I opted to make cuts to other expenses, so I could have plenty of money available to spend on restaurants and food delivery.

For example, I don't really care about clothing, so I slashed my clothing budget drastically and now I devote almost no money to buying new clothes or shoes. I'll only buy what I must when my current stuff wears out. I also decided not to spend money on entertainment like going to movies or concerts, since I end up never enjoying those things anyway. One little-used streaming service ended up going on the chopping block, too.

By taking these steps, I freed up enough money that I feel much more comfortable eating out whenever I want (within reason, of course). I've been better able to keep my spending within my means using this approach, and I also don't feel like I'm really sacrificing. I'm happy to spend less on items I don't care as much about, in order to splurge on some great meals.

If you have something fun in your life that you love to do, finding a way to afford it without jeopardizing your really important goals is absolutely worth it -- and often doable. So, consider what type of spending makes you the happiest and see what you can cut in your budget to devote more of your money to it, so you can spend on it guilt free.

This could make a huge difference in your happiness and actually make it easier to accomplish all your financial goals over time. You'll no longer find yourself fighting your nature, failing, and going over budget.