Money for the Rest of Us

How does what we put in our mouth reflect our spending habits? As the old saying goes “you are what you eat.” Eating frugally reflects frugal spending habits. Eating lavishly reflects extravagant spending habits.

At a former workplace, a co-worker of mine would only go out to get her lunch before 11:15am or after 1:30pm. Why? Because the lunch lines were too long right around the lunch hour. These long lunch lines were for your average lunch restaurants: Subway, Potbelly, Cosi etc. Lunching at any of these places will cost you anywhere from $5-$10 per day. Think of all the money these people are spending for what they could essentially be making at home for half the price. I admit, I am one of these people a few times a month. And when I go out for lunch in DC it usually ends up costing me about $7.50.

Compare that with the (roughly estimated) cost of my lunch today:

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich on two pieces of wheat bread: about $0.60
• Banana: $0.30
• Orange: $0.50
• Yogurt: $0.80
• Water: Free

Total Lunch Cost: $2.20

That’s a difference of $5.30/day. Not much you say? Spend a few minutes playing around with the lunch calculator. I ran it for the cost of my meal today against what I would pay for a usual fast-food lunch out in DC. At an 8% interest rate over four years I would save nearly $6,000 by bringing my lunch rather than dining out. In twenty years I would save over $60,000 by taking my lunch to work. In forty years (approximately retirement): $344,000!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should never go out to lunch. But do it minimally and gradually. If you currently eat out everyday, try cutting it back to 4 days next week, 3 days the week after that, 2 days the week after that, and then just eat out 1 a week. Plug 16 days/month into the calculator and see how much you could save by eating out only 1 day a week.

So, eat like a rich person: take your lunch to work.