The Secret Savings to Brown Bagging It
Here’s this week’s Joy of $aving Secrets…
As we get back to working in the office, let’s keep some of the money saving habits we’ve developed over the last year by making our own lunches, coffee and snacks! Here I share with you an excerpt from my book, The Joy of $aving: Money Lessons I Learned From My Italian-American Father & 20 Years As a Consumer Reporter. This section has all the money-saving tips you need to keep you (and your wallet) full during your new morning and lunchtime routines.
Brown Bag It
When I was growing up, we brought a bag lunch every day to school. Even my dad brought his brown bag lunch to work. We also had to bring our brown paper bags home to reuse them. By packing your own lunch, you can save thousands (Yes, thousands) of dollars off of your yearly food expenses. And I would bet, if you pick up the right ingredients, you can make a sandwich just as good as a deli. Here’s an example from a news story I did a few years ago: The average deli sandwich with turkey and cheese, a bag of chips, a cookie, and iced tea will cost you about $11.50 a day. That is close to $3,000 annually, just for lunch for one person. You can create that same lunch at home for about $2.53 a day, or about $658 a year. When buying your groceries for lunch, use the same money saving strategies you use for grocery shopping: Plan your menu around what is on sale, join loyalty clubs, use coupons, and ask for rainchecks. Depending on what you spend when buying lunch, you can save about $2,332 per person a year.
Skip the Scones and Coffee
The same mindset and strategies apply to your morning cup of coffee, breakfast, and snack. Here is where it is very easy to unconsciously overspend. Let’s say you spend an average of $2.10 on your morning cup of coffee (more if it’s a latte) five days a week. That’s about $546 a year. Now add to that a scone or muffin for $3, so another $780 annually. By making your own coffee and bringing a snack from home you can save about $800 a year. You can easily buy coffee beans from popular coffee chains and make your own for a fraction of the cost. As you can see, adjusting our mindset and habits when it comes to spending money on food can make a significant difference in our annual budget. Take a few minutes to do the proper planning and prepping. Think of it as an investment of your time. By making these changes to your grocery shopping, bringing a brown bag lunch, and skipping the coffee shop, based on national averages a family of four could save over $10,000 a year, which is like earning $15,000 or more depending on your tax bracket. If you think of it in these terms, it’s worth the time it takes to apply these strategies to your life.
Making small changes to your daily life is easy to do, and The Joy of $aving will show you how these savings will make a big impact on your finances in the long run. You can also check out my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more quick tips on how to save money every day.
Here’s to Joy, $aving, and cultivating a healthy relationship with our personal finances in 2021! Thanks for subscribing!