Hi there! Long time reader first time poster.
TL;DR: Two jr. mustachians forgot that lifestyle inflation is a thing and spent too much money on GROSS FOOD.
I consider my husband and I Jr. Mustachians..In 2013/2014, as fairly recent university graduates I read every single post, from start to finish. We quit cable, sold off a car that had payments, got some old bikes, bought a 2009 Honda fit in cash monies, got the cheap cellphone plan etc. etc. We fully drank the koolaid. Husband had just finished his masters, and we were watching every penny to see where we could save. Back then our variable expenses every month (Groceries, gas, shopping misc) was ~$1500 a month, not amazing, but not too bad for downtown Toronto. We were doing ~$500 on groceries, and $200 on entertainment (restaurants and other events). We would scoff at the antimustachian lifestyle of our coworkers and family members. We both were/are working as engineers (plus some side hustles), making good money and were able to buy a small house in the crazy Toronto market back in 2014.
Fast forward 2 years: I got a job working on a Field Rotation- this meant pay increases, living expenses paid for, travel allowances. Hubby had to stay in Toronto for work, so we started long distance. We bought a 2007 Prius (cash monies!) and I found a tiny apartment to rent below my allowance (allowing me to get the cash difference), still we scoffed at the anti-mustachian coworkers who spent their full allowance on giant trucks and fancy restaurants every day. In addition, we started Airbnbing our basement, making us some good money on the side!
I'm wrapping up my field experience, and decided to check Mint to see how things were going. We are exceeding our savings goals, and our house is doing fantastic (until the bubble bursts and we lose it all :P), so we had been more focused on that, not so much our spending. So, just for fun, I checked to see what our spending had been through this 1 year experiment....
I almost cried. In the past 6 months we have spent on average $1285 a month on Food (incl Restaurants and Groceries.) Excuse me while I hang my head in shame.
Groceries: $588/month <- We eat mostly vegetarian, so that feels high to me...
Restaurants: $423/month <- WHAT!!!
FAST FOOD: $273/month <- EW!! WHAT!! GROSS!!
Non mustachian excuses: "Some of that grocery money is on Airbnb supplies" "Well, I'm still below my living expense allowance" "We like eating at restaurants it is our hobby" "A coworker came to town who was living in a hotel so we went out to dinner every night for 6 weeks" "We didn't get the economy of scale because we were living apart" "We are living apart, so every weekend together is a special weekend and we don't want to cook!"
Mustachian truth: We let our high savings rate/and laziness/and excuses distract us from curbing our stupid spending habits. If we continue at this rate of spending potentially an extra $600/month, we would be wasting $100,000 (or potentially delaying retirement by 1-2 years!!!...ALL FOR CRAPPY FOOD!)
Also not to be ignored are the health effects of eating in this way...Now I must hang my head in shame and also go for a shame jog around the block.
To wrap this all up...I'm heading back home in about a week, and we are going to try to reduce our spending to $500 a month for groceries and $150 for restaurants - and really focusing on spending restaurant money on delicious unique food we haven't yet mastered at home, or social events. We are going to try to have more at home parties/potlucks and pack food with us when we can, and most importantly MEAL PREP AND PLANNING!!
Consider this a friendly reminder to go check your spending once and a while, and try to avoid hanging your head in shame!