Can I Afford It? Food as a Status Symbol

I grew up in a family of 6.  My dad was a pastor and my mom was a stay-at-home mom.  We had no money.  Really the churches provided houses and we always had food and clothes and school supplies and things beyond our basic needs.  But junk food and eating out were not in the budget.  Then my oldest brother started working a part-time job, and with some of his hard earned money, he would bring home Ding-Dongs and Pepsi.  Or Ice Cream and Pepsi.  And, oh my, what a party we had!  Somewhere along the line, I developed a mindset that the only reason we didn’t eat out or buy junk food was because we couldn’t afford it.

So when I started making money, food became a status symbol to me.  I could afford to eat out or buy donuts and Pepsi for breakfast on my way to school.  It reminds me of times past, when being overweight was a sign that a man could provide himself and his family as much food as they wanted.  Overcoming this attitude is difficult for me.

This is a double whammy issue for me too.  When we talk about our budget and say we don’t have any more money to eat out, it stirs my emotions and makes me want to eat out all that much more.  I don’t even want to think about how much of our credit card debt came from eating out when we thought we could afford it.

It should not matter if we have money to eat out.  For the sake of my health, I can not afford to eat out all the time or keep a lot of junk food in the house.