Back in October, I came up with two realistic goals to help me meet my savings/debt goals as well as flexibility with unexpected holiday purchases. The goals were: 1) don’t eat out for lunch and 2) don’t buy any clothes until 2010. Well my no-buying clothes goal was sadly broken a few weeks later, but I have done very well with my no-eating-out-for-lunch goal and had my first 2010 meal yesterday.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I paid for my first 2010 meal yesterday. I have eaten out at least once a week this month at Subway, but I don’t count it because I was using a gift card I got from the family I babysit. Yesterday was the first day I actually spent my own money on lunch at the delicioso Chipotle.
It got me thinking though: what if I buy myself gift cards to my favorite restaurants as my “eat-out” budget for the month or the next few months? I rarely eat at fast food places for dinner, but it’s convenient for weekday lunches since we only get a 30-minute break. I could even do this with my clothing budget or buy gift cards for when I go to the movies.
Has anyone bought gift cards for yourself to help keep your budget under control?
I too have considered this but never actually went through with it. It makes sense. I did it a couple of times with a Starbucks card. I have a friend who has tons of gift cards that she uses all of the time.
I’ve done that before! It’s too easy for me to step across the street to the Wendy’s/Tim Horton’s that we have so the gift cards help keep that in check! By keeping track of what’s left on the card each time, I can plan ahead for when I need to bring lunches, or just use it as an backup for when I do *forget* my brown bag.
I’ve never considered that as an option, but that makes so much sense. Which also reminds me, I have a $5 gift card to Starbucks. WOO-HOO!
I thought about this with Starbucks, since thats really my only weakness when I remember my lunc most of the time. I recieved a giftcard also from the family I babysit and since it’s almost done being used up, I’ve been considering it. Like a set amount, like 20 a mth and if it’s gone I must brew my own. :)
I do that every month with Starbucks for my coffee budget. With coffee shops on every corner downtown, I am able to resist impluses since I have to make the card last. Love it! Plus I don’t get all of those receipts clogging up my wallet.
Hmm I’ve never done that before! I think it would only work for places I KNEW I’d visit (like a regular coffee shop, etc.) because my food tastes vary all the time!
In case anybody really wants to use this idea. Visa has reloadable gift cards that can even be reloaded through a direct deposit system. It might be a good thing to look into if you want to automate your spending in any area.
Here’s the link:
http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/reloadable_prepaid_card.html
I did that once to control my clothes spending. I bought the gift cards at a discount (off ebay, for roughly 80% of the actual value of the cards), and then that was what I could spend on clothes for the next few months.
I got them at a discount, so that helped me stretch the budget even further. The only bad thing is you limit yourself to just one store, or in you case, just a handful of restaurants.
I just started using jars for keep my budget in line (from Gail VazOxlades blog & show idea) so we now have a seperate jar just for clothing/gifts… what’s in there has to last, the rest of the money is accounted for, so it should keep me on the straight & narrow! lol!
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1/2 hr breaks are a real pain in the ass! I actually think the gift card idea is a good one, that could work really well for your budget.
I do it with Starbucks. I know I can go crazy there, but I don’t go that often. I put $25 on it for a busy month, less for quieter months. It allows me to buy what I want without feeling guilty, which is nice.