PACK YOUR LUNCHOr, your dinner, or your breakfast.....depending on the time of day!!! I couldn't find the exact figure, but did you know that, on average, buying your lunch out every day is about $6-$7 a meal and if you times that by 5 days a week, you could be spending $35/week, $140/ month or $1820 a year!!!!! That's quite a bit of money!!
When Mark and I started being "hard-core" about packing his lunch every day, I couldn't believe how much money we kept in our pockets!! The difference is amazing. Granted, we went through our food at home a little quicker, but the difference that you're saving on NOT buying out everyday, FAR out-ways what you are paying to buy groceries at the store. Plus, what an awesome way to use up LEFTOVERS!!!
Another twist on this, is not just packing your lunch for work, but being smart about bringing your meals with you other places. I've found that it's not only cost-effective but so convenient to pack our meals on some of our outings, ie: the Zoo, the Children's Museum, Baseball Games or to the Park. Oodles of money could be saved!! Or, to save some money, but still get the experience of, let's say, ball park food, bring a sandwich and just buy those garlic fries you've been craving, or bring a bag of chips and buy that mouth-watering Hot Dog. You're still going to save money and you'll get the "experience" all at the same time.
It's fun, and not to mention, yummy and convenient to buy your meals out, but consider packing your lunch/meals more often and you might just be surprised at how much money stays in your bank account!!
Oh, and packing food on driving/plane trips is a huge cash saver, too! Good ideas, Sarah!
ReplyDeleteOr, BUDGET your lunch/breakfast/dinner. Scott gets $25 a week for lunches, and if he decides to get breakfast out, it comes out of there, too. He can take his lunch if he likes, or he can buy it - but putting a cap on the spending is a big savings for us!
ReplyDeleteSince I'm here, I'll mention that when eating fast food, we rarely get "meal deals." I order X number of burgers (usually the cheaper ones, like Junior Bacon Cheese at Wendy's or Whopper Junior at BK), X number of large fries, and we don't buy their drinks. HUGE Savings, there, too.
ReplyDeleteYes!! We do the same! Kids meals sometimes, but normally not!! A big money saver!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, that very night I caved and bought a kid's meal, LOL. Figures!
ReplyDelete