Personal Finance Advice

One of my favorite restaurants in town isn’t the swanky chain restaurant, the fine dining establishment, or the fast food place. It’s the simple cafeteria. You know the drill: You push your tray down the line past the steam tables laden with everything from salad to dessert. Many people think that the cafeteria isn’t good, [...]

If you live in a small town, you probably know all of the good places to eat. Indeed, you might know all of the places to eat. The McDonald’s just off the highway. Maybe a locally owned restaurant or two. In small towns, there just are not a lot of options and that makes choosing [...]

Eating out is often an indulgence, sometimes a necessity, and usually costly. It can also be a lot of fun. Where we choose to dine out is a personal decision but most of us can be helped in our decision making if we can find good food in a good venue that offers good value. [...]

Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint.com, thinks that for 20 and 30 year olds, the major savings problem is the cost of socially going out — dinners at restaurants, drinks with friends and the daily coffee at the local coffee shop. As we get older, the savings problem becomes one of trying to impress others [...]

Earlier this week a friend asked me out for dinner at a pretty pricey restaurant. Having been there once before for a special occasion I knew that the food and service wasn’t that great and definitely not worth the price tag (at least to me). I declined my friend’s invitation. When she asked why, I [...]

I just enjoyed a delightful lunch with an old friend. I drove to her office and we walked to a nearby seafood restaurant where we were able to relax and catch up. It was quite a pleasure and I had a completely and thoroughly entertaining meal with her. After we had finished our lunch, the [...]

Eating out used to be one of my favorite things to do. I loved to relax and be served great food with a minimum of effort on my part. This was before my husband and I implemented a budget, tracked our spending and were shocked at what we spent on restaurants. We didn’t even remember [...]