Friday, January 4, 2008

No, young lady, you cannot go to lunch!

Oh, the horror! The horror!

I was just sitting her eating my little lunch of leftovers and quietly pondering my eating habits (my day seems so peaceful, no?). This is the third day this week I have brought my lunch. Two days were leftovers and one was a frozen meal of sorts. One of my resolutions for the year is to stop going out to eat for lunch. It was draining my checking accounting. Of course, I never thought about to what degree. It's shameful, folks.

Last month, despite the holidays mixed in, I spent $207.33 on meals out. Some were lunches and some were dinners at night meetings I attended. One was a lunch meeting with my friend Rob that I would have felt bad about expensing. It was partly business but more of a catch up with each other and I don't want to be called out on that stuff. Another was a lunch with a friend that was in town. I splurged because I hadn't seen her in a while. Damn those martinis. Still, it's a lot of money. It's more than I was spending on paying off my credit card. No wonder my finances are screwed up!

Ask me how much money I've spent on meals out this month. Go ahead. NOTHING! This is what I love about New Year's, it's like a contest to see how long I can possibly go without eating out. I am so going to win! It made me think of how this is a good thing overall.

  • It will save you a good amount of money. If you ate lunch out twice a week, taking $20 out of your wallet and put it aside. Look! 80 dollars a month to pay off bills!
  • You have more control over what you are eating. Face it, you cooked it, you know what's in it. You can plan to eat healthier this way.
  • You can spend the rest of your lunch time doing something you enjoy, like reading a book or your favorite personal finance blog ;)
  • While your co-worker is eating Subway, again, you're having roasted herbed chicken with steamed green beans with pinenuts. It's okay to laugh at their sandwich. Do it.

Bringing lunch is easy for me because I'm single. I hate cooking for one. Hate it. So, now I make a little more knowing I can take leftovers. I just have to shop smartly. It can be done. That was then, this is now.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Good for you! It is so hard to see how much we waste on the "little" things like lunches or drinks, but when you take a look back, you realize YIKES that is a lot of money!
So, good for you and I hope you can stick to your resolutions and keep saving money!

Take Care

LJ

HS @ Our Debt Blog said...

I have no issues with bringing lunch and just eating out on Fridays... my only issue is I have no one to eat with at work! and I hate to eat at my desk since everyone stares at you or stops by and asks, what are you eating!

Esme said...

I have the same resolution this year. Eat out less. It's easy on the budget and good for the other resolution eat better. Keep it up :)

Little Dough Girl said...

Glad to know I'm not alone! I did eat a meal out last night but only because I had planned a meeting at a restaurant a few weeks back and only two people came. Next meeting is at the coffee house! No guilt over there is $1.50!

SavingDiva said...

I'm also trying to avoid the cafeteria at work for lunch. It's not very expensive, but the desserts are too enticing!