Here’s the headline from a circular that came in the mail today. “You need to post this at Get Rich Slowly,” Kris told me. She’s right.
![[as that reads 'Driving is so much easier than cooking!']](http://www.getrichslowly.org/images/applebeessucks.jpg "Oh, please.")
It would take me fifteen minutes to reach the nearest Applebee’s. It would cost me several dollars in fuel, not to mention the cost for the meal. For less money and the same time I could fix a fantastic meal of steak and risotto. (Accompanied by a frosty adult beverage.) Come to think of it, that’s exactly what I just did! How about a new motto: “Cooking is so much tastier than Applebee’s”?
One key to reduce your spending is to avoid advertising. If you do expose yourself to ads, at least be conscious of how you’re being manipulated. As for this ad, if you too think that “driving is so much easier than cooking”, take the time to teach yourself some basic cooking skills. You’ll be glad you did.
(For more on this topic read: Healthy food on an unhealthy budget and Learning to eat more meals at home.)
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This article is about Choices, Food, Frugality
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Yucky, yucky food.
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Cooking is such an important life skill. I don’t think I could ever be with a man who didn’t cook. I’m not talking like gourmet, but everyone should know how to cook food that didn’t come from a box or can.
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Heh. I heard a story on NPR this morning about how Applebees and other low-end restaurant chains have been suffering due to the rise in gas prices, because higher fuel costs cut into the budgets of middle-class Americans. Unlike the people that can afford to eat at swankier restaurants, the people who regularly eat at Applebees are more cautious about the decline in gas prices, and are not yet rushing back out to spend the money they are saving at the pump. So perhaps Applebees is just trying to encourage their customers to spend those extra dollars again.
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I don’t think it’s even worth it to go pick up food from Applebee’s and take it home. Their food isn’t spectacular and if it isn’t really fresh and hot isn’t good at all. You’re paying as much for the experience of getting to go out as you are for the food – so if you’re taking it home, maybe it should be half price!
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I don’t think it’s even worth it to go pick up food from Applebee’s and take it home. Their food isn’t spectacular and if it isn’t really fresh and hot isn’t good at all. You’re paying as much for the experience of getting to go out as you are for the food – so if you’re taking it home, maybe it should be half price!
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You are less likely to die while cooking your own meal than driving.
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Oops. Hit that return key too early.
Point is every activity has risk. Sure it’s easier to drive, but you’re more likely to die in a car accident than in a cooking accident. (oops knife slipped, need stitches for my own stupidity vs. t-boned in the car by driver who ran a stop sign and their stupidity)
Is it really easier to drive 15-20 minutes out of your way than to relax and cook at home? Admittedly, I dine out all the time. But I do occaisionally cook and find it to be much more satisfying than dining at a generic food restaurant.
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Not to mention that with most entrees at Applebees-esque restaurants laden with enough fat, calories, cholesterol, and sodium (egads, the sodium)…you’d probably be better served to sprint 30 minutes to and from the joint than to drive.
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/113222.html
Disgusting.
Plus, all that added weight you pack on at these places can’t be good for the fuel efficiency in getting to and from them.
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Who knew Get Rich Slowly readers were so funny? These comments are cracking me up.
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Ironic that today on NPR (Morning Edition), Applebee’s was one of the national chains lamenting the high price of gas because their clientele didn’t go out to eat as much. To save money.
“Applebee’s is SOOOOOOOO much more expensive than cooking.”
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SEVERAL dollars in fuel to drive 15 minutes? What kind of gas guzzler are you driving?
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Ah, fair question, Joe. I should have linked back to this article on the true cost of car ownership. At about a sixteen mile round trip, it would cost me about $5 to use my Ford Focus.
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J.D.,
I followed your link but can’t find anything about the “true cost of car ownership” there… perhaps the article moved. Either way, I’m guessing that you’re adding more than just the cost of fuel and wear-and-tear to arrive at the $5. However, if you are including a fraction to represent the daily cost of financing and insuring the car, you are making a mistake. If you chose to own and insure a car, the costs of purchase and insurance are already a necessity.
For example, if you have made the decision to own and insure a car for your 9-5 m-f job, opting to use your car one additional day on the weekend does not cause you to spend 1/30th more for purchase or insurance. Alternatively, by staying home and NOT driving during the weekend (or in the evening), you do not get a refund of the monthly fixed costs.
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I’ve eaten at Applebees a grand total of three times. I just don’t care for them.
As I mentioned in another comment, it’s really hard to get me to walk away from my own kitchen with inexpensive food prepared to my whim and tastes and assuredly pleasant company so that I can pay too much to eat factory food around total strangers yodeling into their cell phones.
It’s bad enough that having to pay for what I ordered is my only motivation to eat some of the stuff, then some woman I don’t know will wait until my mouth is full to ask “Is everything okay?”
My first thought is: “No, it’s not. I got roped into eating here again and you guys still couldn’t make an open-face bread sandwich.” but I just keep chewing and nod at this person who, despite having interrupted my agony, will be expecting a gratuity when I give up trying to eat this offal.
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You’re telling us to avoid advertising. How do we do that? The whole concept of advertising is to grab our attention and it’s nearly impossible to simply “avoid” like you suggest.
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Great article and blog, but you have misused the word “patronize” in your title. It’s a common mistake.
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One definition of patronize is “to condescend or treat condecendingly”
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Amy: It’s easier than you think. I don’t watch TV at all and I change radio stations whenever commercials or talk radio comes on.
As for the ads on the web, I use Firefox with AdBlocker Plus and AdBlocker Element Hiding Helper, so I can hide the ads that aren’t so easy to hide with AdBlock Plus.
Other than the overt advertising at work, I usually get more subtle advertising, such as my coworker’s Diet Coke, my friend’s Old Navy shirt, the really sweet looking SUV that’s parked next to me (that I can’t be bothered to look at what the brand and model are), the book one of my friends are reading, etc. etc. etc. Although, a more recent effect “advertising” had on me was when I was browsing through the cleaning aisle, because I want to get new cleaning supplies for the house, and I want to start keeping the house clean. I would up putting a broom, a mop, a feather duster, 2 feather duster refills, 2 mop refills, the spraying Swiffer Sweeper and Swiffer Sweeper refills on my ‘to budget’ list. The spraying Swiffer and the refills for Swiffer Sweepers are looking more and more unlikely as the days pass. We have a Swiffer and a half (mom was a big impulse shopper), but I can’t help but feel guilty by my glutton desire for the refills for those brooms/mops/feather dusters, since I’ll end up throwing a way a paper towely-thing and it’ll kill the Earth. Which is probably another advertising by the pro-Earth freaks (not everyone who wants to keep the Earth around are freaks. The only freaks are the ones who support something like florescent bulbs because you don’t have to replace them as often and they’re energy efficient and then change their tune of support to one of disapproval when the majority of people start using said florescent bulbs).
So, no, I guess you can’t fully avoid advertising, but you can avoid the more overt ones given by the companies, and instead deal with the subtle ones everywhere.
Although, I’m not sure what effect the overt ads have on me, considering that they’re often for stuff that I can’t afford and don’t want to buy anyways. Things like cars (“The. Fit. From. Honda. The. Fit. Is. Go” “Speedy. Gas. Pacer. The. Fit. From. Honda. The. Fit. Is. Go.” to name a couple from Joost that I kept seeing over and over and over, since they were the only two commercials on the Bewitched Station).
Admittedly, I guess I still *do* watch TV every once in a while, but it’s usually on my computer using a program called “Joost,” which is free and features syndicated shows. From what I’ve seen, some stations don’t use commercials on Joost all that often, and others (the Bewitched station, for example) use the same ones over and over and over every commercial break.
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Heidi-
I was JUST about to post that exact same thing!
Firefox + AdBlock Plus.
ads never download or render:
- no download time or bandwidth
- greatly reduced CPU time
- more screen real estate for actual content
Cheers!
Spooky: you posted this a couple of hours ago
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Micah: Don’t forget the AdBlock Plus Element Hiding Helper. It’s good for hiding those text ads and frame ads that normal AdBlocker Plus doesn’t usually catch.
I don’t normally bother with blocking text ads, unless I really don’t like a site/it’s business practices. I currently only block text ads for LiveJournal (I don’t agree with their business practices), I can’t be bothered to block text ads anywhere else.
I have a Greasemonkey script that lets me push a triangle button to keep ads from showing up in gmail, and even that’s too much work for me. For the 30 seconds it’s going to take me to read that individual email, the text ads aren’t that big of a deal. Not to mention, the only ones I read anyways are the ones on google searches.
I suppose someone who’s more gung-ho than I am could go about deleting ads out of everywhere with Element Hiding Helper. Just keep in mind that some sites rely on ads to make money (GRS is one of them, I think. I know dooce is another).
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I would also endorse the Firefox add-ons:
Customize Google (block adds, click tracking, etc.)
Flashblock (puts ‘play’ buttons on flash content)
NoScript (blocks scripts from running, can selectively turn them on)
Flashblock and NoScript can be a hassle depending on your mindset, but with the previously mentioned solutions and these, I haven’t seen an ad in years.
I prefer to donate to sites, rather than proliferate advertisement.
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I must be way too conservative, I really don’t see any justification for dining out unless one is entertaining their significant other or a real friend or perhaps a business deal or you just want to go out. Too many reasons for going out?
Why not stay home and enjoy the company of those friends or entertain at home etc. etc. etc. The reasoning is, stay home and save the money and learn to cook…:)
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