Save Money: Pack Lunch

We're busy. Really busy. We don't need another thing to do. Or maybe it's social pressure. Everyone does it, so we should just do it too. Whatever the reason, plenty of people buy their lunch during the workweek. Once a week, twice a week, every day.

It's an expensive habit. Let's say you spend 5 bucks a meal every day at work. That's $25 dollars a WEEK on a single meal. And where exactly is that meal coming from? If you've committed to trying to make somewhat responsible eating choices, can you honestly say you know where your lunch money is going? Is it supporting whole trade products? locally sourced items? A well-balanced, healthful meal?

If you pack your lunch, every single day, you could save a lot of money off of your food bill. With a little prep time on the weekend, it only takes an extra five minutes in the morning. When you buy fruit on the weekend, make up some little single-serving containers. Same goes for chips, snacks, crackers, or whatever else you would like with lunch. Then all you need to do in the morning is make a sandwich or grab some leftovers, add a yogurt or fruit or snack, and go.

How much can you save? Let's have a look at lunch today. $1 on leftover pizza. Probably about .75 cents on blueberries. .50 cents on my yogurt. (On sale at Whole Foods last week for .50 each!) Maybe about .50 of little snack crackers. A whopping total of 2.75 for lunch. That's nearly half off if you're amazing at finding $5 lunch deals.

So, save the $2.75 per week, or any other multiplier, and pack your lunch.

A last bit of food for thought. What are you going to do with all that money you save? I challenge you: Try giving %10 of it to charity. Eat out twice a week? Saved $5 this week on your lunches? Give $.50 to a charity this week, and pocket the rest. Do a little extra good (you won't notice the difference, since it's money you usually spend anyway), and save some money as well. Then do it next week too. And the week after that. It will add up quickly

Happy lunching!