How much money do you spend on Chocolate?

I have been thinking about this lately. I love chocolate. Its like getting a nice big hug. Therefore, when its on sale, I stock up on it so that when I really need that hug, it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. The only problem with this philosophy is that when chocolate is on hand...I have a tendency to need a hug daily.

I won't buy a candy bar if it is going to cost me fifty cents. If I am desperate I will get them when they are three for $1.00. Usually though, I like to get them when they are four for $1.00. That doesn't happen every day! So that once or twice a month when they go on sale for that cheap, I will stock up and get four or five dollars worth. Then D and I proceed to eat them...The thing is, even if we don't share any with the boys $5.00 worth only lasts about ten days! So that is at least $15 a month on candy bars. I am not even counting the occasions when my favorite Lindt truffles go on sale, which results in another bout of stocking up. Then there are the M&Ms, the large sized symphony bars, the non chocolate candy, and don't even get me started on the ice cream. I don't even want to start paying attention to how much I pay for my Tillamook Ice Cream addiction (yes, I AM an ice cream snob...if you tried Tillamook and taste tested it next to another brand, even Dreyers or Ben and Jerry's you would see it too!) I figure that not counting our ice cream fixation we are probably spending $20 to $25 a month on chocolate or related junk food. I will be nice to myself and say $20 a month. That is $240.00 a year! It should be even more than that because during the holidays I go even crazier, and for Halloween and Christmas we decorate cookies and other things that take even MORE candy! It doesn't count the ten to twenty pounds of chocolate chips we get every year! Lets just round it up to at least $300 a year, and I am still not counting ice cream.

What could I get for that $300?

Memberships to the Oregon Zoo, OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), Oregon State Parks Pass, the Portland Children's Museum, and a DVD box set of seasons 3 and 4 of The Cosby Show. (All that is from one $300)

A new lawnmower that starts with a key instead of the annoying pull string

All the supplies to build a beautiful raised garden in our yard.

Three to four new windows to replace our cracked or broken ones.

An 8 track digital recorder for home studio recording.

More fruits and vegetables for a healthier diet for my family.

That money could also be put towards fencing our back yard, or our front yard for that matter. It could pay down some of our debt, go towards replacing our oven that is on its last legs, pay for swimming lessons for the boys and on and on and on.

Yet I continue to waste the money on chocolate...and I continue to gain weight from it. Thinking about it has helped me to cut back on buying it. In fact, it has been more than a week since I bought chocolate...almost two weeks. Do I still crave chocolate? You bet! Its horrible how much I crave it. Am I giving it up all together? I am not that strong. I haven't quite run out of chocolate yet. I just stopped downing it so fast because I would like to be spending a LOT less on it every month. How much money are you wasting on junk food? And what satisfying snacks can you recommend to replace the chocolate? (I am not ready to forego chocolate all together, but I need substitutes if I am going to cut back my spending as much as I would like to.)

(For my friends Sans Auto and TV Free, who don't eat chocolate at all and spend very little on junk food in general...I already know your answer but you can still comment if you want!)