The Weeknight Food Failure
By Melissa Tosetti
It’s a common scenario.
You make a decision to cook at home Monday – Friday.
It may be because you want to spend less on dining and takeout to save money for something special. Or perhaps you’re trying to eat a little healthier by avoiding restaurant meals.
Frustratingly, it seems like every single week something comes up that doesn’t allow you to hit your goal.
Monday and Tuesday go well, but:
Perhaps Wednesday you had a last-minute meeting, making you arrive home too late to cook what you had planned.
Or maybe Thursday’s brutal commute added to an exhausting day leaving you no energy to work in the kitchen for even 15 minutes.
Another common scenario occurs on Fridays as you’re desperate to have some kind of treat after the long work week.
The failure to reach your goal happens week after week, month after month. It’s not just your financial goals you’re missing. You’re taking an emotional hit as well.
Instead of continuously beating yourself up, take that failure into account and plan around it.
Look at the nights you’re most often falling down. Can you decide on that night of the week to go out or get takeout? Could you build a treat night into your work week and dine out less one time on the weekend to make up for it?
Or could you keep a stash of your favorite healthy meals in the freezer to pull out for just such an occasion?
Those that are close to my family know that Wednesday night is Pizza Night. It has been for 18 years. What most don’t know is that Pizza Night used to be on Friday. It was a treat we’d look forward to all week.
Unfortunately, due to so many of the circumstances I described above, we’d often end up getting takeout during the week in addition to Friday night’s pizza. Those paid-for meals were on top of the weekend’s other dining out engagements. We’d get frustrated with ourselves, but continue the negative routine.
We accidentally came upon a solution a few months away from a much-anticipated trip to Scotland. As is our habit when a vacation is approaching, we looked for additional areas to save money so we can spend more on our trip.
We noticed a coupon on our pizza box for half off on Wednesday nights. It was tempting to save that money, but we were resistant to change our routine. We really looked forward to Pizza Night being the reward for a week of hard work. However, we also realized we’d rather have more money to spend on our trip, even if it was just $100 we would accumulate in that time.
We made the adjustment, planning on it being for the short term. In that first week that planned takeout meal gave us a mid-week perk that has become a much-loved part of our week. It feels like a mini break pulling us out of the work-focused routine of the week.
Because of that break from cooking on a Wednesday night, we’re able to stick to our Friday night cook-at-home plans 90% of the time.
Coincidentally, one of our favorite meals enjoyed in Scotland was deep fried pizza discovered in a chip shop. Who knew deep fried pizza was a thing?
Often, we’ll beat our heads against the same rock without even realizing we’re doing it. Instead, give yourself an opportunity move around the rock and reach your goals using a different path.
Melissa Tosetti is a cash flow planning expert, founder of The Savvy Life and author of the international bestseller Living The Savvy Life.
For the past eight years, she’s worked with over 625 individuals and families to create Spending Plans.
To learn about the Spending Plan process, visit The Savvy Life’s Home Page. If you’d like to learn about how The Savvy Life works with financial advisors and their clients visit: The Savvy Life Advisor’s Page.
