Bring Your Lunch to Work

Grow Your Savings Account One Lunch at a Time

Every workday, I bring my lunch from home and eat at my desk. Typically my lunch consists of a salad, apple, grapes and other fruit. Some people might call that a sad desk lunch, but for me, it’s healthier, time-saving and thriftier. I do my grocery shopping on the weekend and purchase a large container of salad greens, an assortment of vegetables, croutons and grapes.  I buy extra fruit and almonds to snack on and I’ve started making my own salad dressing.  These groceries also cover lunches for my husband, and our lunch supplies including snacks for the entire week costs $28.08.

I spend a grand total of $14.04 on my lunch every week. It’s a significant savings when you consider some pay $8 to $10 at a fast food place for one lunch, and I wonder if the rest of my credit union co-workers are on to this money-saving ritual.

Who Else Brings Their Lunch?

So, I surveyed my co-workers to find out about their lunch habits. I was pleasantly surprised that more than half of my co-workers took the time to humor me and answer my survey and that 42% of the respondents are on team bring your lunch!

21%  of my office mates buy their lunch at least 3 times a week. They elect to venture out to fight for parking spaces in front of mini-malls, stand in line at the local casual sandwich shop or sit idly in their car at a drive-thru to pay anywhere from $5 to $15 for lunch. The survey participants who buy lunch every day spend an average of 32.50 a week. Compared to my co-workers that eat out every day, I’m saving 18.46 a week. That might seem paultry but at the end of the year, I’ve saved $959.92.

I wonder why others have not jumped on the bring your lunch bandwagon to save money. “It’s my time to get away from the office,” explained one. “It’s the only time I have to myself away from work and kids,” said another. One person told me that if they did not spend their lunch hour going out to buy lunch there would be too much extra time for shopping and therefore they would spend more money.

OK, fine. Bringing your lunch may not be the answer to all of your money problems. But if your someone who buys lunch frequently and often complains that it is difficult to build up your savings account, then maybe bringing your lunch is a step in the right direction. Give it a try. As a credit union member, you can open a savings account and see how far your savings goes just by making a small change to your weekly routine. Start Saving Now!

How often do you buy your lunch during the five day work week??