There will be no more dining out on my budget in Mint moving forward. I actually only have $50 in my budget for dining out. I do not ever spend close to that amount on a monthly basis.

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I set this amount to account for any time I may order food or go out to eat. Pre-Covid, I planned on eating out with coworkers frequently and thought $50 a month would be enough. During Covid I’ve ordered food three times. I don’t think I will be eating out so my dining out budget is sort of being wasted.

Making the dining out change

I’m going to remove this field from my budget starting in October. At first I thought of reducing it to $25 and allowing the amount to roll over every month. Then when I finally decided to go back to dining out then I would have a good amount of money to spend.

After some thought, I realized it would make more sense to totally eliminate it as I do not see a need for dining out any time soon. If I do end up ordering anything then I will classify it under regular groceries. I tweak my budget every few months to make it work for my needs. Since I do not plan on going out to eat, or ordering food very often, this is not a necessary category in my budget.