Welcome February!

Tomorrow is the first day of February, and the start of a new challenge for myself. For the month of February, I will not be eating out. That's right - no restaurants, no fast food, no Starbucks... sigh!

My motives are two-fold. First, eating out costs a lot of money. So, in theory, it will means savings for me! Second, I have got to get back on the healthy-eating train! I was doing really well this summer into fall, then I kinda jumped off the wagon.

So, I am not promising to actually cook all month, but I'm going to try and mix a little of that in, too. I have come up with a few ground rules, because every challenge has them.

1. Prepared foods and frozen foods will not count as "eating out."
2. Eating prepared foods at the grocery store (i.e. Wegmans, Whole Foods), will count as eating out.
3. If someone at work brings food in, it will not count as eating out (as long as I didn't order or pay for it).
4. I'm going to allow myself to eat out if it is a birthday celebration for a friend.
5. If my family takes me out to eat, I'm not going to say no. (I expect this after my Polar Plunge on the 26th.)

So, that's it. Wish me luck - I may need it, but hopefully I don't!