Dining out less frequently, are you doing it now?

Last night, my friends and I went for a dinner special at a local restaurant. For $24.95, they offered an entree for two (that could have fed four) and two glasses of Sangria. On our way to the restaurant, I noticed another restaurant offering a 2-4-1 entree deal on weeknights. Earlier in the day, I noticed that The Good Fork, a favorite of mine, was offering $14 comfort food entrees during the week.

So, I wondered, how badly are these restaurants doing? Are people eating out drastically less? Eater reported that three restaurants in the popular B.R. Guest chain have just shuttered, including one in Chicago, so it's not just a New York thing, some sort of trickle down from out-of-work Wall streeters. I took to the blogs to see what people had to say about their dining out habits.

There was a lot of conversation about cutbacks in meals outside of the home. It seems that many people out there are cutting back on all sorts of expenditures, and dining out is just one of the first to go. Additionally, Suze Orman was on Oprah last week, and she issued a money challenge, one of the terms of which was to not eat out for a month. This generated substantial buzz.

Many bloggers noted that they had made a New Years Resolution to eat out less either to save money, or lose weight. So if they're not eating out this year, surely they're eating in? According to Yahoo! Finance 3 month charts, Kroger, Safeway and Winn-Dixie have all had drop-offs in earnings since the beginning of the year, that took them below their levels from before the holiday jumps. So are people just not eating? Watch out Jenny Craig!

Personally, I have been eating at less expensive restaurants, though not necessarily dining out less. At the grocery store, I will look for sale items, and then purchase ingredients to make large meals that I portion off and keep in the freezer for lunches and dinners. This makes my trips to the grocery store less frequent.

Are you dining out less? Buying less groceries?

Even though I can't afford it

With pocketbooks pinched, and the holidays approaching, many people are reaching for their credit cards to pay for things that they can not necessarily afford. We wondered, what type of items are people still buying, even though they can't afford it?

One frequently mentioned category was camera equipment. This was surprising, since cameras tend to be luxury items. For more insight, I contacted professional photographer Max Flatow, who attributed this phenom to the fact that, "camera companies are constantly trying to one-up one another. As soon as a new product comes out from one manufacturer, another one comes out from a different manufacturer the next month, so people become overly consumed in wanting to buy new equipment."

Other frequently mentioned splurges included:

Travel: Weekend trips, visits to families, and vacations. Bloggers noted that "they needed a vacation," or that visiting their relatives was a priority, regardless of funding.

Coffee: Expensive lattes or flavored coffees from Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, or other local chains. Some cited their addiction to caffeine, while others saw the drinks as a way to treat themselves.

Education: Student loans and books or other expenses related to education. Some referred to the fact that they needed education in order to excel in their future careers.

Are you interested in consumer splurging patterns? Drop me a line at heatherm@nicholasresearch.com