I have been very lazy lately. 
 
No, I’m serious.  In August?
 
1.  I’ve hardly run at all – this is a drastic change from running 20 – 30 miles a week while training for my half-marathon in June.
2.  I didn’t send my good friend a birthday card earlier this month.
3.  My house is a wreck, and the only reason I did laundry last weekend was a desperate need for a clean pair of jeans.  
4.  I hadn’t planned a weekly menu all month, until yesterday.
5.  Since I didn’t have a menu, I didn’t go grocery shopping.
6.  No grocery shopping = no ingredients
7.  No ingredients % 2 weeks = a LOT of eating out
 
As I watched my bank account dwindle and the number on the scale rise, it occurred to me how much eating out actually costs. 
 
First of all, you’re paying a highly marked-up price for the raw materials of the food.  And you’re paying someone to cook it.  Then for someone to serve it to you, and fill your water glass too.  All of that, just during the dining experience.  But we all know that, and we know that before, during, and after going out to eat. 
 
But we’re actually paying a lot more than that.
 
Monetarily?  Topping the actual cost of the meal, we have lost opportunity costs.  I have posted before about brown-bagging my lunches.  Often, after eating out, I won’t have anything to bring the next day.  This may be because R and I split a dish, or perhaps the meal won’t keep well.  In either case, I am left without a lunch to bring to work. 
 
I realize that many people who brown-bag it stock their pantries with various items that will make a nice, healthy lunch.  We don’t.  I tend to plan our weekly menus, and we will grocery shop, weekly, for only those items needed for the menu.  Everything we cook, it is assumed we will double, to provide us with a lunch the next day.  My menu tactic is typically very effective - and if I buy a loaf of bread for work-lunch backup, it will mold.
 
Since I don’t have leftovers to bring, and also have no backup plan, that means I have to go out and buy something.  This costs more money.
 
And on top of the money I’m spending, how about the weight that I’m gaining?  Restaurant meals are almost always less healthy for you than cooking at home.  At home, you choose how much butter and oil to use.  The chef just wants to make it taste good; he’s not counting the calories as he dumps the cheese on.  Then, eating out the next day!  Instead of an occasional diet-splurge, it just turned into a double-header. 
 
One more – the post-workday workout.  When I run, it’s usually after work.  If I eat a cheeseburger for lunch, guess what?  I don’t feel like exercising when I get home.  My stomach feels heavy, and my energy feels low.  So eating out is also costing me in the exercise department.
 
Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy eating out.  It’s just a little shameful for me when eating out becomes more routine that special occasion.  When poor planning forces me to sacrifice my budget, my diet, and my exercise.