I will admit to $10-$15 a week on lottery, The Wife still burns the cancer sticks, and We are kinda stuck in the media deal. The 2 channels we watch are only available in the 3rd tier of cable (be 4th tier on satellite), and our internet options suck.

Dining out is an entertainment expense. I don’t think it’s a waste of money unless you’re going to Olive Garden on a Wednesday because you’re too lazy to cook. A long slow meal with friends is about my favorite way to spend an evening, and the thing I miss most about NYC.

I DO agree with the comment though that buying lunch (rather than bringing it in) is a big money-sink.

Also, regarding lottery tickets—these people who spend $20 bucks a week would do better to invest, but, if on the occasional moment where the lottery reaches 8 gazillion dollars you buy a single ticket for the simple thrill of thinking what you would do with 8 gazillion dollars: harmless entertainment expense.

It’s like that with all gambling. If you go to vegas looking to return with more cash than you had when you left (and you are not a hooker), you are going to waste some cash. On the other hand, if you budget $50 to have fun at a craps table on vacation—entertainment expense. No waste at all.

I agree. I think it depends on how much savings people have, and how they budget as to whether eating out is a waste. Same as with everything else on the list. Also, there are a lot of ways to entertain oneself without spending money. However, a good meal out on occasion is really nice. At my job we go out on Fridays sometimes and have a nice adventure in a new restaurant. African, Uzbeki, Jamaican, whatever we find. Lady P and I go to a place called Bistro Blanc which is totally worth it.

But yeah, eating out for lunch every day is a total waste of money.

Nau clothes: look good while wasting money. Smartphone data plan: I waste money but I look good because I respond to emails during the one hour windows where I’m between computers.

I still pay for a landline phone because I’m convinced that one of our offspring will have an emergency at 2 in the morning and I would never hear my cell phone because I keep it in my soundproof purse or the washing machine or some pants pocket that got left in the car. So I always risk life and limb to answer the thing whenever it rings, but at 2 in the morning it’s usually someone trying to dial their crack dealer at the Best Western Motel.
I think I’m going to ask the kids to make some of those middle of the night calls just so I can justify my irrational spending. The worst of it is that I know I would be zero help to anyone at 2 in the morning. Do I really think I could jump up and change someone’s tire on an imaginary dark foggy night? It’s doubtful. They should get road hazard coverage it that’s what this is all about. Would it be a broken heart at 3 am? I think it will still be broken once the sun comes up. Besides, who calls their mom in the middle of the night with a heartbreak? I think I’d disown them.
I sometimes use my landline to play Marco Polo with my misplaced cell phone, so it does have one useful function.

I love the occasional lunch out, but save a pretty astonishing amount by ordering tap water. I make sure to tip as though I’d ordered a soda though.

I actually often worry that I DON’T have a landline phone. After 9/11, and again during the Big Northeast Blackout of 2003, cell phones were useless but landlines were unaffected.