Breakfast – $.80 cents total:  Sourdough muffin ($.19) w/peanut butter ($.10), slice of banana’s on top ($.21), topped with honey ($.15)! Small glass of orange juice ($.15). Yummy and fills the tummy.   

Lunch – $2.18: Wendys double stack ($.99) and chicken sandwich ($.99). Glass of water ($0)

Dinner – $1.12: Top Ramon noodles ($.20), chicken breast ($.75), glass of milk ($.17). Hit the spot!

Total $5.20.  I shopped at Pavilions for their specials.  The sourdough muffins cost $.99 cents for a 6 pack. I bought 12 frozen chicken breasts for $8.99.

$5 dollars to eat all day and be full!  Are you kidding me.  This food was good too!

Beefy

So where did this go all wrong? I had 8 straight years of making 6 figures. Life was good.  I was making good money and I was spending a good portion of it too.  Going out to dinner at least 3 times a week. And I’m not talking Dennys.  I’m talking the likes of Flemings and Roys.  The standard Friday was cutting out of work early and hitting the links with the boy’s for a 1:30pm tee time.  Weekends were spent in Vegas, Palm Desert, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, etc etc.  Women were always around to share the good times.  And then it happened. You all know what I am talking about.  2008.  The beginning of the end.  2008 and his little brother 2009.  Where did it all go?  My job was gone and so was my lifestyle. One minute I am working for a bank the next I am trying to scrounge a living learning the insurance industry. How did I get here!  Why me! 

Well that’s for a whole other blog.  That blog will be called the “Let’s feel sorry for Tom” blog.  Well this blog isn’t about my miserable life now. It’s about understanding your situation and dealing with it. It’s about forgetting about the past, hoping for the future, and living for the day.  It’s about adapting.  Yes adapting to my new life and I’m sure a lot of you are in the same boat I’m in.  Where once we ate at the nice steak houses and today we find ourselves  searching for ways to stretch our diminishing dollar. 

Well my friends it’s time for us to get together and fight back.  A little over a year ago I didn’t have a problem taking a date out and spending $100 on a nice meal. Today I get my delight if I can eat 3 good meals in a day for under $10 bucks.  I’m not talking rabbit or hippie food.  I’m talking 3 hearty meals that don’t leave me yearning for more.  I’ve become a Cheapskate and I take a special pride in have far I’ve come.  I know I know. Nobody likes a cheapskate.  But like my father said “You do what you gotta do.”  Today I have to be a cheapskate so tomorrow I can spend $100 dollars again on nice meals and not even miss it.   

I will post my meals and daily costs as much as possible.  Hopefully once people discover this blog they will contribute their 2 cents on each meal and the cost breakdown.  Let’s all help each other become The Cheapskate Eater!