Party & Save Money at the Same Time!

Every weekend many of us go out for dinner, drinks, and more with friends and family. And before you know it, these costs can add up quickly hurting your wallet significantly when the bills come or when you check your bank account. I hope to shed some light on a cheaper way of partying, at your own place! Obviously you don’t have to do this every week, but if you can do it even once a month, it will make a pretty big difference in the amount of money you spend and I find that you can actually have better conversations with people in a more relaxed atmosphere instead of yelling at them about the weather and getting a response about their new car.

Take Out = No Tip
Ok, not to be cheap, but every penny is starting to count in the economy we live in. Tipping is pretty expensive when you’re paying 15% on top of what you eat. If you can save that 15%, right there and then you have created a great reason to eat in. This money you saved could be put towards better causes, like a revolving theme on Mo2 Thinks, your financial future!

BYOB – Bring Your Own Boos!
Alcohol is where restaurants make their money. They get discounts from liquor stores and buy a bottle of beer for $1.50 or less and charge $6.50 or more for that same beer depending on where you go. Even without a discount you can buy beer, wine, or whatever it is that you drink at a steep discount at what you would pay for at a restaurant! You’ve probably just saved yourself a couple days worth of drinks if you drink at home.

The Beauty of a Potluck
Potlucks are great. When you have everyone bring their own dish, you get to taste different things and get variety. It also saves you the trouble of having to prepare a lot of food and the headache of it. It also saves everyone else money and often time because not everyone has to cook, they can bring take out or buy something at places like Costco or M&Ms and just bring that.

Mo2 Thinks
I have always been a great fan of having people over for a relaxing dinner and drinks. Sure you have to keep your place clean and tidy but that gives you a good reason to keep it clean! You’ll feel better about yourself that way and you can actually have very good conversations with your friends. I recently had friends over and we got take out and had some drinks and we had some very good conversations and it enticed me to write this entry.

Be creative about your parties, it doesn’t always have to be at your place. If it gets warmer you can meet up with your friends at the beach or park and do a potluck there. Depending on where you live, you might not be able to drink outside but at least you can enjoy each other’s company and save quite a bit of money.

To push this one step further and since this site is about finance and investments, I want you to keep track of how much you would have spent and how much you spent. You don’t have to do this every time but do it a couple times so that you can come up with a percentage of money you saved. It could be quite significant. I know I’ve saved at least 50% or more easily pretty much every time I’ve done this and I want you to do the calculation yourself so that you realize how much money you spend when you eat out and party outside.

And to take this one more step further, I want you to keep track of the money you saved and put it away into a savings account or somewhere where you won’t touch it. Invest it! Reward yourself for saving money and put the money to good use, if you take it this far you’ll definitely want to save more money and help yourself and your financial future. Good luck!

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