With Tax season approaching, Chad and I spent some time the other night looking over our budget seeing where all of our money has gone in the last year. It became very clear to us that with our new found ‘mortgage free’ life, our money seemed to all be going into the same spot – restaurants.

Unexpectedly, the month of February exploded with opportunities for us to dine out. You may have notice the abundance of restaurant post lately, and to think, that was only a portion of them!

So after realizing that we had gone a bit crazy and needed to get things back into check, we decided that other then this past Saturday which we had already RSVP’d to, we were going to give up going to restaurants for lunch and dinner for lent. Yup, 40 days with out buying amazing food and tasty beverages.

Going out for dinner is one of the things we love to do, and of course, it is worth every penny, but I have also come to realize that the new life we will have once we purchase a home, is going to be a very expensive new life. Renovated kitchens, puppies, new furniture, gardening, babies, and everything else we want comes at a price, a price I am willing to sacrifice and save up for.

So, this Saturday, we kind of ‘went out with a bang’. To celebrate Ginas birthday a group of us went down to La Bodega for dinner. Chad and I had never been before but I had heard many good things about it and was looking forward to trying all the different Spanish tapas.

We were originally all going to order the $25 tasting plate that features 4 courses of their most popular tapas, but since the boys aren’t into seafood, we decided that a group of us would all order 2 different dishes and then we would all share. Turned out to be a great idea because it allowed us to try a lot of different dishes. Add to that a couple of pitchers of sangria and a white chocolate raspberry ice cream dessert and I was stuffed like I had never been stuffed before!

After dinner we all headed over to Comedy Mix for some stand up. We had been one time before years ago and we quite enjoyed ourselves, so I was looking forward to it. There were 4 comedians including the host and all of them were quite funny. The only thing that annoyed Chad and I were this one couple that were sitting front row (we were also sitting front row). They were so stereotypical. They guy had a shaved head, sleeve tattoos, deep v black t-shirt, faded jeans with that ugly thick white stitching, and a Gucci man purse. She was wearing Louboutins, tights as pants, some top, fake boobs, fake lips, and a vacant stare. They sat there the whole time and did not laugh. Did not laugh. I mean honestly, who comes to a comedy show, sits front row and then doesn’t laugh!? Srsly.

Anyways, we have a fabulous evening out on the town! A good way to end a month long spending spree.