How many 2-income couples out there?

**Kris10Leigh** · 03-09-2007, 07:59 AM

I work full time as does my husband. My best advice is to love your crockpot and freezer cook! My new favorite thing is make some crockpot meals up ahead of time and store them in a freezer bag. Crockpot recipes are usually just a matter of throwing some ingredients toether. When you need them, just thaw them the day before and dump them into the crockpot in the morning. An added benefit is that my crockpot recipes usually feed us for at least two nights.

**gackle** · 03-09-2007, 08:10 AM

We are a two income family and we too used to spend too much eating out. The problem we had was we wouldn't plan anything for dinner, then when it got to be 4pm there was no meat thawed or we were too tired to decide on what to make so we'd go out. DW got smart and started planning meals for the month. I made a list in MS Word of everything that we eat for easy reference. She will write on a calender what we're having each night, then go grocery shopping once/week based upon what's on the calender for the week.

I also see people eating out at work every day. I don't understand how they can afford it. I helped a co-worker understand just how much she was spending each month on eating out by totaling her bills from each day. She was astounded how fast it added up. I'll go out to eat at work maybe once every two months.

**Ima saver** · 03-09-2007, 08:14 AM

I use to work, but I don't anymore. We go out to eat almost every night. I guess after about 40 years of planning meals and cooking, I am just tired of it.
I consider our meals our as our entertainment. We go out on a date, almost every night.
We spend at least 2 hours in the restaurant, just talking and relaxing. We are allowed to brown bag it, so no money spend on drinks.
We go for the cheaper meals, so our dinner is usually about $16.
I know that is not what you want to hear, but since we are current on all our bills and have no real debt, it is our entertainment money.

**Ima saver** · 03-09-2007, 08:15 AM

However, we never eat lunch out. My husband brown bags his lunch everyday and that saves a ton of money. His workers all go out to eat lunch every day.

**disneysteve** · 03-09-2007, 08:29 AM

We noticed the same thing when DW when back to work a couple of years ago. More dining out, more convenience items at home. Though in the grand scheme of things, the added income far exceeded the added spending so it really wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe we spent an extra $100-$150/month on food, but she earned an extra $1,500/month. And some things got cheaper with her working, like our gas, electric and water bills.

**rduell** · 03-09-2007, 08:43 AM

We're a 2 income family, after struggling for 17 years on one income.

We do eat out a bit more, but not a lot. We have a date night once a week and go out to eat then. We might also order in one night a week, but not always.

We both chip in on fixing meals and that helps.

**krayziebone33** · 03-09-2007, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by gackle View Post

We are a two income family and we too used to spend too much eating out. The problem we had was we wouldn't plan anything for dinner, then when it got to be 4pm there was no meat thawed or we were too tired to decide on what to make so we'd go out. DW got smart and started planning meals for the month. I made a list in MS Word of everything that we eat for easy reference. She will write on a calender what we're having each night, then go grocery shopping once/week based upon what's on the calender for the week.

I also see people eating out at work every day. I don't understand how they can afford it. I helped a co-worker understand just how much she was spending each month on eating out by totaling her bills from each day. She was astounded how fast it added up. I'll go out to eat at work maybe once every two months.

Although I was not eating out for lunch everyday at work, I decided to track how much I was spending on Subway and Moe's, the two places I eat out. I was astounded. The first month that I totaled all of the receipts, I found that I had spent $71.67 on just "junk" food. From that moment on I decided that I was only going to go to those places once each pay period. That has worked out well for me. I am also a nutrition nut and I plan all of my meals because it gives me a better control over what I put into my body according to the protein/carbs/fat ratio. I am saving money and living a healthier lifestyle . . . that's a win/win.

By the way, I am single so I hope I'm not out-of-bounds by replying to this topic.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 03-09-2007, 09:38 AM

We're a two income family, one of whom works full time/school part time and I'm in school full time. I do more around the house because of it.

We don't eat out as much we used to when we lived apart for 2 years. At that point I was driving to see him every weekend and then some so it added up fast.

We now try to plan the menu for the week. That means we eat out a lot less about 2x week usually Friday and Saturday. It's not because we can't cook, we totally can, it's because we just want to go out to eat.

Eating at home saves us not only money but we keep in better shape because of it. Plan and shop the weekly menu and it'll be a lot easier.

**jIM_Ohio** · 03-09-2007, 09:48 AM

Two income family, I am blessed that my wife

a) loves to cook
b) does not eat out for lunch very much
c) tolerates my busy schedule (I often work my day job, then coach soccer for another 3 hours until after dark)

I live close enough to home that I go home for lunch quite often. I keep PB&J at my cube if I need to work thru lunch.

My mother in law is also an excellent cook and we go over to her place each Sunday. leftovers become lunches.

If we get lax on the budget, we tend to eat out too much. Takes discipline by both spouses.

**pearlieq** · 03-09-2007, 09:59 AM

DH and I are a two income couple and did tons of eating out when we were both commuting. We were always tired and just wanted to enjoy the evening, not cook and clean up.

I thought we would eat in more when I started working from home. WRONG! If anything it's worse. I spend all day in the house, and then when 5:00pm rolls around I want OUT!

I don't sweat it too much because we budget eating out into our finances. We can afford it and I make sure we stay within in the budget.

Sometimes I think people get the idea that any discretionary spending is somehow "wrong". Going out to eat when you're deep into CC debt, sure--that's not a great idea. Going out to eat when you're solvent--why not, if you've got the money.

I will say there has been a couple of things that have helped us eat in more when we tried to.

1.) Buy convenience foods. Sure they're more expensive than preparing everything from scratch, but I can make a great stir fry dinner from packaged chicken, bagged cut vegetables, bottled sauce, and rice for about $6. That sounds steep for a meal, but it's still much less than the $20-30 we'd spend going out for stir-fry. Cooked chicken breast strips, bagged pre-cut veggies, frozen pizza and the like can make it easier to get a meal together at the end of a long day.

2.) Make a list of possible meals. DH and I could never quite adopt weekly or monthly meal planning. How was I to know whether I wanted spaghetti next Tuesday? What we'd do instead is keep a stock of staples on hand (meat, grains, sauces) and then each Sunday I would make a list of all the meals we could make out of what we had. We would look at the list together an decide on a meal the night before we had it. DH liked this because he felt like he got a choice and because he could look forward to what he picked all day.

**Lonewolf** · 03-09-2007, 10:10 AM

With two little ones under two, I envy your ability to go out anytime! I think the most important thing to us is the freezer. During the pregnancy's, my wife would make several large meals that she would put into "meal" size containers that would just be required to be thawed and microwaved. Anything from potato soup, corn chowder, Ziti, and chili. We had other larger dishes that just needed a few fresh ingrediants put on top to throw into the oven.

It does take some pre-planning, but we usually spent time on the weekend together, and had fun doing it together. I know during the first few weeks of having two little ones to deal with it was nice to know that food was 10 minutes thawing in the sink and 5 minutes in the microwave away.

Just my two cents.

Lonewolf

**krayziebone33** · 03-09-2007, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by pearlieq View Post

DH and I are a two income couple and did tons of eating out when we were both commuting. We were always tired and just wanted to enjoy the evening, not cook and clean up.

I thought we would eat in more when I started working from home. WRONG! If anything it's worse. I spend all day in the house, and then when 5:00pm rolls around I want OUT!

I don't sweat it too much because we budget eating out into our finances. We can afford it and I make sure we stay within in the budget.

Sometimes I think people get the idea that any discretionary spending is somehow "wrong". Going out to eat when you're deep into CC debt, sure--that's not a great idea. Going out to eat when you're solvent--why not, if you've got the money.

I will say there has been a couple of things that have helped us eat in more when we tried to.

1.) Buy convenience foods. Sure they're more expensive than preparing everything from scratch, but I can make a great stir fry dinner from packaged chicken, bagged cut vegetables, bottled sauce, and rice for about $6. That sounds steep for a meal, but it's still much less than the $20-30 we'd spend going out for stir-fry. Cooked chicken breast strips, bagged pre-cut veggies, frozen pizza and the like can make it easier to get a meal together at the end of a long day.

2.) Make a list of possible meals. DH and I could never quite adopt weekly or monthly meal planning. How was I to know whether I wanted spaghetti next Tuesday? What we'd do instead is keep a stock of staples on hand (meat, grains, sauces) and then each Sunday I would make a list of all the meals we could make out of what we had. We would look at the list together an decide on a meal the night before we had it. DH liked this because he felt like he got a choice and because he could look forward to what he picked all day.

I like number 2 in your post. The idea of looking at a few staples and deciding between two or three meals from your supplies is a good idea. I try to do the same thing whenever possible. Usually, however, I eat the same things every week (boring, I know) because I know exactly what I am getting from those meals, in regards to nutritional value and how my body will burn those foods. I also plan my meals in accordance to what type of exercise program I have going on at the time. I try to change my routine every few weeks so my body does not adapt too much.

I shop bi-weekly, unlike many people on the board. I buy pretty much the same things every time (boring, I know). I also do it this way because it saves me too many trips to the grocery store and I have a Sam's Club membership. I buy in bulk and make things last. Most of the money that I spend bi-weekly on groceries goes toward meat and dairy. Canned goods, cereal, rice, spices, etc. usually last me a whole month so I don't have to spend much money on those things. This routine works pretty well for me and I usually can get by with spending about $200-$300/month on food. I don't mind this because I love to cook and eat and stay in shape with diet.

**shelbylovesmelby** · 03-10-2007, 10:35 AM

When we were a two income family. I got home before my DH so I usually made dinner for him every night except friday when we went out for fish fry. Granted that was when we both worked a day shift. When we worked opposite shifts one would cook & leave the spouses portion in the fridge or just make something simple like a PBJ if you didn't feel up to the extra effort.

**Aleta** · 03-10-2007, 10:48 AM

We are a 2 income family but I will probably be working soon. There is a book by Elizabeth Warren and her daughter named THE TWO INCOME TRAP. I have never read it but, I'm told that it has alot of information in it. Might want to look at it.

How many 2-income couples out there?