Diana over at The Chic Life hosts some awesome challenges. While I’m usually pretty bad at sticking to fitness challenges (other than training for races), I can do life challenges.

This is her third year doing her Eat In Month Challenge. She takes Eat in Month very seriously and strictly…but I, per usual, like to play by my own rules.

In all seriousness, I know that as a busy, single [sorta lazy about cooking] girl in NYC, trying to eat every single meal in would be setting myself up for failure.

I participated last year, and it definitely got me to be more creative in the kitchen, even if sometimes my “creative” concoctions were too weird to blog about.

My personal parameters this year:

• No more than 1-2 drinks out on a weeknight (which is a good rule to play by anyway)
• No food while at happy hour (wallet and waist-friendly. Nothing I’d be likely to have while having a glass or two of wine would be super-healthy anyway.)
• No spending money on food out when eating alone—so no takeout or delivery unless I’m with a friend.

I’m not trying to lose weight right now (after years of being overweight, I LOVE saying that), but I am trying to get rid of some fat around my belly, so even though I usually do pretty healthy takeout (Energy Kitchen, Pump, sushi), cooking myself is usually healthier, and I know what’s going into my food.

One of my goals, as I said, is to pay down some credit card debt this year, and I’m trying to do it by making small changes. Bringing lunch (and never stopping for my beloved spinach feta wrap) can easily save me at least $150 a month. I sort of miss blogging about food, so I’m going to blog about any interesting creations I make, or successful recreations of other bloggers’ recipes that you may not be familiar with.

What are little ways you save money on food?