Lunch Adds Up!

This was the 5th day in a row that I ate out for lunch. I think that it's a symptom of various frustrations from work. I usually eat out for lunch no more than twice a week. Not only does the $10 per meal average add up quickly but also the thought of all of those restaurant calories isn't very appealing. There are a couple of people in our small office that eat out every single day. That's take a look at what that costs. $10 per day x 5 days a week x 48 work weeks yearly = $2,400 annually. Assuming that your income is taxed at 30%, $2,400 is actually $3,428 in pretax wages. For someone with a salary of $40,000, $3428 is 8.57% of the entire income! Think about THAT the next time you're chowing down that gyro!

Add a $3 Starbucks daily into the mix and suddenly you're spending $3,120 annually or $4,457 in pretax salary. That's a whopping 11.1% of that $40,000 salary.

What do I do when I don't join colleagues for lunch? There's a nearby park where I eat a sack lunch, talk a mile-long walk and read. This is where I finished most of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. There's a nearby Borders bookstore where I often spend an entire hour perusing travel and personal finance books (although I usually end up buying something). South Coast Plaza is around the corner so there's never a shortage of places to check out. And of course there are the chores like getting the car washed and other miscellaneous things.

Total spent today:
$8 (lunch at Vietnamese noodle shop with two colleagues)