From what I know of the industry reducing portion size recognizingly is a death knell for an existing restaurant. A couple of years ago my clients started using 1oz smaller spoons for ladeling out the rice and beans...said it made a real cost difference without the customer noticing.

My wife goes to a one woman salon...what she charges she keeps...but insists on tipping her. Not sure why that makes sense.

I used to spend about $1100 a month on food. Now I spend like $1300. It isn't 3x or 4x more like people are saying, but it's noticeable.

It's getting tight everywhere. I've been wondering how bad the waitresses are getting shorted on the tips from customers trying to counter the inflation.

A new Mexican joint was opening up and quickly realized how bad the situation was in town. .... so they called the feds on the long established Mexican joint. LMAO The place was crawling with INS and DHS vehicles for days and was completely shut down for a while. The service and food was so good I didn't even pay attention to what it was costing, until I realized just how much I was saving because they were closed down.

Is that you, Mr. Pink?

We decided to spend on big quality things that saved money. As I mentioned, the blackstone was huge. Also the air fryer was too. We buy in bulk from Costco and plan our meals accordingly.

I also spent a shit ton of money on a good espresso machine and grinder since I was spending $6.50 a pop on Cafe Corazón a lot.

It all pretty much paid for itself. We only eat out for date nights and that goddamn coffee set up was so damn worth it.

Thats interesting and makes me wonder if something similar is occurring near me as we seem to being seeing an uptick in calls to regulatory agencies for peoples side hussles.

Ladies selling homemade tortillas, tamales and such out of their houses. The neighborhood Facebook group which was 92% cringe and 8% bomb ass abuela fare on the cheap is now just 100% cringe.

Pizza was my takeout kryptonite because a) its delicious and b) I always felt it was one of those things that I can't make better myself. I received a portable outdoor pizza oven as a gift last year and haven't ordered a pizza since.

There's a learning curve, but if anyone likes to cook, especially outdoors, its hard to get less expensive than flour, water, yeast, and salt.

I use the grocery store deli as a substitute for fast food when short on time. I'd say it averages about 5 bucks a meal.

You sound like a guy who eats well like me. :thumb:

I've always tipped my barber $5 ever since I started paying for my own haircuts

Girls tip at least $20 for anything under $100.

We're good with budgets but not math.

I rarely leave a bad tip, but if the service is just average or below... meaning, I've had to flag you down in a less than half full crowd to get a drink refill or something like that, you're just not trying. That tip is typically 15%.

Outside of that, I'm at least 20%... maybe 25% if you're just good at your job.

I tip the girl at Sports Clips 20% every time.

Now, tipping options are out of control with the new tablets/apps. If I'm driving through for coffee or fast food and all you're doing is turning around, grabbing my meal and handing it to me - no tip. If you really did nothing extra aside from just taking my order... there's nothing to tip.

Food prices are crazy - we're trying to be smarter and maybe we have pulled back on eating out a little bit, but not as much. Our issue is time to actually cook if we haven't planned for it.

My wife and I go out to eat about once a week. Last night two enchilada plates, ice tea and two house margaritas was $60 before time.. WTF.

Shoot Chick-fil-a is $13 for a deluxe chicken sandwich meal with large fries and an iced tea..crazy...

The margs were probably a combined $25.