What is a reasonable amount to budget for a single person for food, entertainment, etc?

Schleppy: What is a reasonable amount to budget for a single person for food, entertainment, etc?
I am trying to pay off some bills and save some money (as many people are) and I want to set up a strict, yet realistic budget for myself. I have all my “fixed expenses” (mortgage, utilities, credit card payments, etc) budgeted out, but I really need to reign myself in on food, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses. How much money per week is “reasonable” for a single person to spend on groceries, eating out, entertainment, etc ? I’d love to hear especially from other single people who are budgeting themselves, but certainly any comments are welcome.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Conor C
it’s a personal decision. when i was single, my rent was almost nothing (>$ 300 including utilities and i had no bed), but eating out could be well over $ 500/month.

have you been tracking your spending? if not, start today! my wife and I eat for $ 1.40/person/meal. and we only spend about $ 75/month eating out. it’s about what you enjoy. resist the urge to go out all the time with friends…instead have friends over for dinner. for example, we do a sushi night which costs maybe like $ 10 in food (our friends bring the rest) and we all roll our own sushi and stuff ourselves full.

i would cut back all discretionary spending to practically nothing until all my debt (outside of the mortgage) was taken care of.