latenightleader:

It's always expensive, over $100 with the 9 of us, even drinking only water, but worth it!

I remember when I once shared our budget that had a listing for dining out, a poster suggested we could cut back on the amount if we choose to eat out only twice a month at a cheaper place. I laughed because while my amount was higher than her budget for dining out, my amount only covered dining out once a month at a cheap place. If we do more than that, it has to come from having extra savings from the grocery spending. She had a family of three with a small child. I have a family of five with two teens.

As I am sure you know, teens eat more than a couple of people together, LOL! Mine both eat double meat burgers and large fries if we are doing burgers out. That's expensive! And no, they are not overeating, both are underweight. They burn the food before it touches their lips.

 Brandy , you are so right about family size. WE have 19 if everyone comes. Last time, we took them all out for Chinese, there were only 16 eating. "The bill was $180. I almost fainted. Used to be around $100. Babs

Babs,

We likely would have spent less money over the years if we had less children but they are worth the expense.  

babs:

 Brandy , you are so right about family size. WE have 19 if everyone comes. Last time, we took them all out for Chinese, there were only 16 eating. "The bill was $180. I almost fainted. Used to be around $100. Babs

Is having a back yard cookout an option? Our family used to do that a lot, and I miss it. Now most seem to feel entitled to go out to a restaurant, which I think is a huge waste of money. For $180 you can buy a LOT of hot dogs, hamburgers, fixin's for potato salad, etc. Or have everyone bring potluck? It's a lot cheaper and being in the company of the people is the point.

One family member in particular likes to go to a hotel at the beach and seems miffed when we don't go. This is the one who can least afford to do that - I'm sure there is a connection there somewhere....

 Eating out is our biggest challenge.  While I was working outside the home I would not get home from work until 7 at night and it was so much easier to pick up food on the way home, especially on days that had been stressful (DH would get home about 30 min. earlier but he is forbidden to cook, someday I will tell you how he burnt the kitchen floor).  Since I quit to work at home six months ago, the habit has been reduced, but still happens two or three times a week.  The problem is we like to eat out on our date night, which is budgeted so thats fine.  Then on our errand days we get hungry and decide to stop especially if we are far from home.  I just need to be better about taking at least snacks with us!  Our goal that we set for ourselves for march is to cut back on eating out so we will see!  At least we never use the cc for them!  However, when I looked on quicken at last years monthly averages, I was shocked.  I want to lower that number by at least $150 in 2008!

 We live in Vermont so it would be a cold picnic for now. lol We do that a lot in the summer. We dont go out often with all of them....a few birthdays. Also DH is a pastor and Sundays are the worst day. WE are out of the house by 8:15 and not out of church until 1:00. He is starving by then. Even if I have good cooked, he will want to go out and just sit, talk and eat. Part of how he gets wound  down. So I do budget money for this and try to keep it to a few times. The other issue in cold weather, no one has a house big enough for 19 people to sit down and eat together and talk. WE are blessed that they all live close so I guess I cant complian too much. The prices have gone up in the last 6 months. Soon, the snow will melt and we will be back to cookouts in the yard. Babs

Walt- my nine are my husband, kids, and me!  No sense potlucking, the kids don't do their part!  

We have Christmas and usually another holiday at my house, it is 40 or 50 people with family and friends- that is potluck!

 Tracy,

This is what we get for having multiple kids, heh.

And you know...I so wish we could have another. I love little kids and mine are just not so little anymore.   

Brandy,

Then wait for the Grandchildren to come...  

 There's always foster care...which provides a small income too......