Bring Your Lunch and Save Money!
By: Jake | January 12, 2009 | Category: Money
The news these days is chock full of tips for saving money. We even have 66 simple ways for you to do that. But an alert Pueblo.gsa.gov visitor recently touched on an idea so obvious that most of us take it for granted. Simply, do you know how much you can save each month by bringing your lunch to work?
Like I said—it's obvious. You save more money making your own sandwich than you do paying Tony at the local sub shop, but have you ever sat down and quantified it? This alert reader sent us a lunch savings calculator from Bankrate.com which lets you calculate your savings from bagging your lunch over a long period of time.
To grab lunch in D.C. it costs me an average of $10 depending on what I get. The average cost for me to bring lunch is about $4. If I bring my lunch for a whole month, which is very doable, the calculator says I'll save $120. If I bring for a year, which is unlikely, I'll save $1,440. Bagging it for four years (impossible), will save me over $5000.
I don't know about you, but I'm able to really stick to something if there's a clear benefit to it. I won't be saving $1500 on lunch this year, but I know I can save at least $1000. While I'm bagging it, I can also focus more on my nutrition.
Permalink
| Post a Comment
| View Comments [4]
| E-mail This Entry
| Tags:
financial_savings
jake
lunch
lunch_cost_calculator
money
savings
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090115184600im_/http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/resource/images/dotted_line.gif)
Comment Permalink | Post a New CommentThanks for your suggestions! Maintaining some variety is a big key to brown bagging it. Not sure if I'll true raspberry jam, but perhaps one day I'll give it a whirl.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090115184600im_/http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/resource/images/dotted_line.gif)
Comment Permalink | Post a New Commenthttp://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com/2008/08/how-eating-baked-beans-saves-me-over.html
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090115184600im_/http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/resource/images/dotted_line.gif)
Comment Permalink | Post a New CommentI decided to try a different way of saving money. Now i buy those little drink mix packets, and only buy 1 soda out of the machine each day. I refill it the rest of the day with the packets. I buy boxes of 50 for $5. I used to use the same bottle more than one day, but i kind of like the caffien boost in the morning, and i don't have to worry about stuff growing over night.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090115184600im_/http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/resource/images/dotted_line.gif)
Comment Permalink | Post a New Comment