As this website has detailed in several prior articles, saving money is critical to repaying student loans early. Indeed, a dollar saved is oftentimes more important than a dollar earned, because you do not need to pay taxes on money you save like you often must on money you make. Individuals hoping to pay off student loans often need to make their own meals to save money, but ordering take-out while repaying student loans is advisable in certain circumstances.
During my student debt repayment saga, ordering take-out while repaying student loans wasn’t usually an option. I was committed to saving as much money as possible, and take-out food is often several times more expensive than meals you can prepare yourself. However, debt fatigue is a serious problem for individuals paying off student loans, and it often pays to treat yourself when ordering take-out while repaying student loans. If you keep some suggestions in mind, you don’t need to break the bank while doing so.
One strategy when ordering take-out while repaying student loans is to order in bulk whenever you order out. Many of the fees associated with takeout involve the delivery itself, and the marginal cost difference between a small meal and a larger meal is usually minor. For instance, when I would order pizza when repaying student loans, I usually did not order pizza that would just satisfy me for one meal.
Rather, I would order enough pizza for several different meals. I froze the pizza I did not eat, and the pizza tasted almost as good when I heated it up later as it did when it was delivered. In addition, when ordering larger amounts of food, I was usually able to utilize coupons and other deals that lowered the cost of each individual meal to well under $10, which made it more cost-effective to order out. This same principle applies for Chinese food, Indian, and many other dishes, and ordering take-out while repaying student loans is more cost-effective through bulk ordering.
Another thing to keep in mind when ordering take-out while repaying student loans is that picking up food is often far cheaper than having food delivered. When food is delivered to your home, you are typically charged a delivery fee, possibly a fee to the platform used to place the order, and tip to the person who delivered your food. However, these costs are usually eliminated when you travel to the restaurant to pick up your food.
During my student loan repayment saga, I fortunately lived in a city that had a wide variety of restaurants. The city was only about a mile square, so it was easy enough to walk to any local restaurant to pick up my food. In my entire time repaying student loans, I can only remember a handful of instances when I ordered delivery. In addition, picking up food yourself also helps avoid the possibility that your food will get cold while it is delivered or that you will have trouble locating the delivery person, so picking up food is the way to go in many instances.
Another strategy to consider when ordering take-out while repaying student loans is that it oftentimes makes sense to call the restaurant rather than order through an app. I am so old that for most of my student debt repayment saga, food-ordering apps were not prevalent, and I called ahead whenever ordering takeout. However, sometimes food-ordering apps charge a fee in order to use their service. In addition, these apps also sometimes charge restaurants to use their service, and they may pass along this charge to the customer. One way that you can avoid unnecessary charges it to simply call the restaurant to place an order, and you may also be saving a small business fees that they are probably thankful they will not need to pay.
Some people do not order take-out that much, and rather rely on services which deliver meals kits that enable customers to cook meals in their own homes. During my student debt repayment saga, such services became commonplace, and some people I knew and myself tried these services. In my own experience, ordering take-out while repaying student loans was a better option than preparing meals from these kits.
Preparing meals took a significant amount of time and effort, whereas food that I ordered out was ready to eat. Since I worked a number of part-time jobs during my student debt repayment saga, I did not often have the spare time to cook such meals. In addition, I am a hungry guy, and the meal delivery services typically did not provide enough food for me to be completely satisfied. Since the meal-delivery services cost a similar amount as take-out, but some take-out provided more food, I was more satisfied ordering take-out. Of course, I know people who are extremely satisfied with meal kits, but they may not be preferable to people who have the same student debt experience as myself.
In the end, ordering take-out while repaying student loans is not only possible, but advisable, since this can help you avoid debt fatigue and provide a much-needed treat. So long as you buy in volume, and are careful with your decisions, ordering out is not mutually-exclusive to saving money and devoting the most cash possible to student debt.