Lunch Bag

Having less disposable income requires you to be a little bit more creative and smart when dealing with your budget. We definitely don't go out to eat as much as we used to, and we rarely order in. Having a budget doesn't necessarily mean you need to sit at home and eat chicken breast everyday of the week but it does mean prioritizing and learning when and where to shift the dollars around.

So if buying a $20 bottle of wine at the end of the week or subscribing to 5 magazines is something that's high on your priority list, you just need to reallocate.

We've been meaning to reassess our budget for a while now and we've decided to start a little test. How much money could we free up if I started to make Hillsy's lunches for the week. So we added 1/2 lb of sliced turkey meat, 1/2 lb of cheese, pint of mixed nuts and an extra loaf of bread to our usual grocery list. The pack of chicken fillets were enough for what I needed for the week plus a couple of extras to be used for his lunches. Probably ended up being an extra $15 or so. Hillsy usually spends anywhere from $7-10 a day on lunch so already that's a $20/week ($80/month) savings at a minimum. I think the key is to get creative with the lunches so it doesn't seem like a cut-back but more of a treat right? I'm still working on that part...

This morning I woke up a little earlier than usual and put together his lunch for the day. Kind of boring I admit but I promise these will get a little better!


Turkey + Provolone + lettuce (he hates tomatoes)
mixed nuts + grapes

If you plan on doing this for you and/or your loved one, it really helps to prep as much as you can Sunday evening - shredding lettuce, grilling chicken, premixing tuna or chicken salad, dividing nuts/fruit etc... believe me, it's a real time & mind saver - I'm not the most alert at 6:30am so every little thing helps!!

For next week I was thinking of buying some cranberries - so I can fix up a Thanksgiving sandwich. You can save even more money if you purchase the meat uncooked and cook/slice it yourself. I'm thinking about buying some pork loin next week and learning how to make apple chutney - now that would be a treat!!

PS. I'm definitely less cribby today. And I'm still twittering...