A near miss with kissing 60 dollars goodbye!

We, like every other family who can drive, walk or run, went to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. And there it was, no not the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon (although it was there and we DID sit in it) the chance to go out to eat. I know we would have gone out and enjoyed far more than our fair share of fried calamari, Thai pizza and good beer at the Brew House. It was there staring us in the face and we said no.

Saying no saved us some serious calories and money. I always eat more when I've had a beer so I'm sure I would have felt sick and greasy and stuffed to the gills. Instead we ate fruit, granola bars and drank our sweet well water in the truck on the way home.

You know I think part of going out to eat is just satisfying the urge to eat. When I'm hungry, I. AM. HUNGRY. Stand back, bring me food wherever I happen to be is where I will eat. I'm a low blood sugar kinda gal and tend to be a bit snappish. I think, for me, the pull of restaurants is instant gratification. I need to eat, it's there, tastes good, damn ate too much, whoa that's expensive, hey pants don't fit, damn.

I was just as happy to sink a tooth into a granola bar and a tangerine. And our wallet was happy too. I have no doubt that our little family without the teenage inhaler would have spent about 60 bucks on a late lunch/early dinner. Expensive I know, but we would have justified it with well we never get to go to the brew house.

2nd month report

2 months in and I think we are faring rather well. Except for my momentary fleeting thoughts of inhaling falafel last week I have not had any real desire to eat out. Now of course this month we DID have our pre-planned fundraiser dinner that we chose to attend. It was a good time for a great cause so I have no qualms about our choice. I don't plan to go out again for the rest of the year.

My mom has decided that if the kids are with grandparents and grandparents are going out to eat then kids get to eat out too. I wanted to deny her this caveat but in thinking it over I realized that my husband and I made a commando decision without the boys input. And they have been very accepting of our decision, even seeming to enjoy the challenge and saying "yep we can't eat there for a loooooooong time" Also they got really upset when my mom took them out to lunch crying and saying they couldn't go out to eat. Apparently my sister said "well you can stay in the truck while we go eat (guess who doesn't have kids?) or you can come with us". That really got them riled up. My mom smoothed it over by telling them she had talked it over with me first and it was ok. So yeah the kids are into it, which is good.

I'm adding in 10 dollars for not stopping at Falafel King+10 dollars for husbands lunch on Wednesday and 20 for lunch/coffee out over the last weekend. Which brings us to a grand total of money saved:

$396!!

And I got weighed at my doctors appointment the other day and I lost

8 MORE POUNDS!! for a total of 13 in 2 months!!