How to eat less and spend more

My wife and I went out to dinner last night at a decent asian restaurant. The bill for the two of us? $67 including $9 for tip.

You might expect this from a restaurant that starts off with $23 plates. What you wouldn't expect is such a large bill when my wife and I split one of those plates. Some friends invited us out and such a sudden impact to our budget wouldn't have been pretty, so we agreed to split the meal. Unfortunately what we didn't plan for was buying a couple glasses of (their cheapest) wine each, which ended up costing more than the food!

Alas, it is the alcohol that breaks the bank at restaurants, not always the food. And at $5-6 each, it is easy to nickel and dime yourself to death.