<p>Well, let me tell you UCLAri and others, one electric bill this month will most likely be the equivalent to one dinner out. At least AC brings you comfort, while eating out is so mundane.</p>
<p>Your electricity bill is $8 a month?!</p>
<p>REL, your electric bill is $4?</p>
<p>I want to live where you live.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t think you know anything about expenses and their value against each other… everyone values things differently. You may think that eating out is a waste of money… to me, cable TV is a waste of money, heck even heating your home is a waste of money. I haven’t turned the heat on in my house in 6 years and I live in the NE where we get cold winters.</p>
<p>Uh, no. A sixty dollar dinner at Olive Garden is the equivalent to an electric bill. So that is right, my electric bill is $60.00</p>
<p>I’m sorry REL, but I have never, ever, ever in my life spent $60 on a meal at Olive Garden. Didn’t I tell you earlier that I’ve never spent more than $20 on a meal in my life? You need to stop generalizing and grow up… which I told you before as well.</p>
<p>$60?!</p>
<p>I’ve never spent more than $20 at Olive Garden.</p>
<p>Besides, you do realize that there are other restaurants in the world besides Olive Garden, right?</p>
<p>I originally started this thread on the PARENTS forum for PARENTS. A family of four going to Olive Garden will most assuredly spend $60.00 We are not just talking about one individual at a restaurant.</p>
<p>Actually, I walked out of Olive Garden with my family spending only $40 because we shared plates and an appetizer.</p>
<p>But why would you eat EYE-talian food, anyway? It’s not “American.”</p>
<p>And there are students contributing to the parent’s forum, and I get the impression that some parents APPRECIATE the input from students and parents both on some topics that are less…shall we say, pointless.</p>
<p>lol
we have never been to Olive Garden in our lives- I don’t really go to restaurants that are * seen on tv*</p>
<p>We do go to an Italian bistro occasionally, I love it- Michel the owner is so friendly. When my daughter and a friend all went to see the World cup there recently, with everyone singing the Italian anthem( in Italian), and little kids rolling around on the floor, even though the broadcast was in Spanish and I only caught part of it- it was just so much fun. So much positive energy & how many places does my 16 yr old let me go with her anymore? ;)</p>
<p>I recently also found out that they host evening Italian classes as well as have live music, opera on Fridays and flamenco on Thursdays.</p>
<p>Yes if I broke down the cost, I could have made a pizza at home cheaper, but mine dont taste like that. BUt so what?</p>
<p>I paid a few bucks more for the experience of eating in the bistro, to feel like part of the neighborhood, to be * cared for <a href=“Italians%20are%20so%20friendly%20it%20was%20much%20more%20than%20being%20waited%20on”>/i</a>, to not be the one who is worried if people like the food or not, to wonder if they need something else, but to have someone else really interested if I am having a good time, to teach me a little Italian, and to have a place where I can hang out with two teenagers and have them teach me about World cup soccer teams.
Frankly, I would have paid more .</p>
<p>If REL’s idea of going out to eat an expensive dinner is going to Olive Garden, no wonder he started a thread calling it a “costly and unnecessary habit.” With apologies to those who are fans of chain restaurants (and I have been known to frequent a few myself), that is not the kind of eating out which I find worthwhile. The local diner, the mom-and-pop, a great bistro, an authentic ethnic restaurant, a fine dining restaurant preparing offerings which are complex or using hard-to-find ingredients, etc. etc. <em>Those</em> can be extra-special experiences. Unnecessary? Yes. Costly? Sometimes. Worth it to me? Yes.</p>
<p>A $60 electric bill? I am falling over. You’d have a near heart attack at mine (I do nearly every month, and we keep the house cooler than I like in the winter and warmer than I like in the summer)</p>
<p>Same reaction Allmusic. My thought was how in the world does one keep their electric to 60 bucks? I also make the family irritated keeping thermostat turned up to 76-78 in summer and down to 64 in winter! Gotta get a clothesline :)!</p>
<p>well we have gas heat ( no air conditioning) and a gas water heater.
( also we go around with flashlights instead of turning on lights- and although we have an electric stove, we go out to eat so we don’t have to turn it on!)
;)</p>
<p>LOL–I’m getting a great visual. If you go out to eat late, after dark, you can sit with lights on!</p>
<p>I am using Olive Garden as a mere example, which by the way I can’t stand. The only place I actually feel as if I get my moneys worth is Outback Steakhouse. All of the other restaurants make me laugh at their sheer lunacy. I would never go to the other chains.</p>
<p>So why not try eating at a restaurant that’s not a chain?</p>
<p>And what is it about outback that makes you feel so economically sound?</p>
<p>Wait a minute! Robert, you eat out at Outback Steakhouse? Why? It is far cheaper to cook that steak at home! </p>
<p>So, is it OK to eat out at Outback Steakhouse but not X restaurant because at X restaurant you don’t get your money’s worth? Do you not see this as your personal preferences and opinions? Someone else may love McDonalds, Taco Bell, Applebees, or Olive Garden. So what? </p>
<p>Just to clarify, I don’t eat at any of those places, nor are there ANY chains in my neck of the woods. Thankfully, I might add. Also, our state capital is the only one in the country without a McDonalds.</p>
<p>Fendergirl, how do you live in the northeast without turning on the heat in the winter?</p>
<p>soozievt…you must be from VT (as your name implies). There isn’t even a Target in the state of vermont, though burlington does have an Outback and Williston has a Chilis…</p>