Business
Two for One “There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.” - M. Scott Peck When Connie and I were poor, we sometimes went to nice restaurants and bought two meals. We seldom could eat everything on our plates (well, Connie couldn’t), but that, we were sure, was the price of going out to eat. Somewhere along the way, however, we realized that portions were so big that we could easily split a dinner and save a lot of money. For the past 15 years, we’ve seldom ordered two meals. We always have plenty to eat, and if we’re still hungry, we go wild and get dessert. Some people think that splitting a dinner somehow shortchanges waiters who have to do the same amount of work for half the tip. We solve that by giving a larger tip, so everybody’s happy. How much have we saved over the years? My estimate is that Connie and I go out to eat three times a week. (Yes, I know that’s a lot.) If we save an average of $12 on each meal, that’s $36 a week and $1872 a year. Over the 15 years, that comes to over $28,000 (with no interest on the money)! If we had paid that much each time, I’m not sure we’d have gone out to eat as much, or maybe we’d have gone to restaurants with cheaper meals. Even if we didn’t save that much money, we went to nice restaurants, enjoyed fine meals together, and stayed within our budget. That works for us!