Cheapskate {from, the 'wsj's, new weekly column}
The High Cost of a Bargain Meal
By NEAL TEMPLIN
June 26, 2008
 
Life in the cheap lane is sometimes rough, sometimes funny -- and sometimes financially rewarding. In his new weekly column Cheapskate, Personal Finance Editor Neal Templin shares lessons learned from a lifetime of penny pinching.
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So there we were in Monterey, Calif., overlooking the vast blue Pacific. It was 1982. Clarissa and I were on a belated honeymoon when I spotted this seafood restaurant.
 
We didn't have much money. A chalkboard outside the restaurant boasted of an $8 special on beef ribs. That seems affordable, I told Clarissa. She agreed.
 
Once we were seated inside, Clarissa picked up her menu. But you're having the ribs, I told her. She gave me this look as if I were crazy, and when the waiter came she ordered fish -- for a lot more than $8.
 
I stuck to my guns and ordered the ribs. They were bad. Clarissa enjoyed her fish, and I spent most of the meal wishing I had ordered the same. So who ended up wasting money?
 
That same scene has played out more than a few times in our 26-year marriage. Many a time I've carried penny-pinching to a ridiculous extreme.
 
But looking back to that Monterey restaurant so many years ago, I'm not so hard on myself. At the time, I was earning $12,000 a year as a reporter at a tiny newspaper in the California desert, and Clarissa was earning $10,000 as a photographer there. We'd been married three months, and she was already pregnant. And we had two aging cars that weren't long for this world.
 
By the time our son was born in July, we had paid off our $1,000 share of medical costs for the delivery. Shortly afterward, we bought a new Honda Civic for less than $6,000. {I kept the price down by ordering it without air conditioning despite the 110-degree days there}. All this without borrowing money. It was quite a feat.
 
I wish I could tell you that we've followed that pattern ever since: Save it before you spend it. If only life were so simple.
 
Once we had a child, then a second child, then a third, saving got more difficult. Clarissa stopped working for a while to go to college, and then stopped working for good after child No. 3 was born 16 years ago.
 
My salary rose substantially over the years. But so did our expenses as we ended up in high-cost areas like northern New Jersey while trying to pay for our kids' college and save for retirement. Our best intentions were often shot down by an unexpected home repair or a family emergency.
 
So our finances follow a common pattern for the American family. We borrow money. We pay it off. We borrow more money. Eventually, after the children are out of school, we should be able to completely dig our way out and stay there.
 
When it comes to dining out nowadays, Clarissa and I are true to our younger selves. Even at a nice restaurant, I still cut costs by ordering an entree and little else. For Clarissa, the entree is just the beginning. A meal out means a glass of wine, maybe an appetizer, for sure a dessert.
 
But one thing has changed: If we go back to Monterey, I'll take the fish.