New 30 Day Challenge

The no caffeine/water kick has been going so good that I thought I'd try another 30 day challenge. This time, the challenge is to not eat out for my lunches or breakfasts for 30 days. At the beginning of the month, I started tracking my expenses and it took no time to realize that a good percentage of my money was being wasted on eating out, especially at lunch time. Not too long after my realization, Ciff @ Chez Cliff (Formerly Changing my Direction) wrote an article detailing just my problem.

So, the 30 day challenge starts tomorrow and will run throughout the duration of March and hopefully/mostly through life. I went to the grocery store today and spent about $80 on groceries. I was completely empty, so I figure I'll spend about $20-$25 a week to keep things stocked up from that point forth.

I've already packed my lunches for the week with the exceptions of making my sandwiches. I figure making a ham sandwich wouldn't be so great after sitting in the fridge for 5 straight days, so I'll make them on a daily basis. However, I already have my chips divided up and put into individual bags. I also have the grapes cleaned and pre-bagged as well as some cheese.

I pretty much took the same menu as Clifford. 2 Sandwiches, fruit and cheese. My menu consists of 2 ham/cheese sandwiches, some pringles, grapes, and a banana. I figure this will be a fairly health meal, much healthier than double cheeseburgers from McDonald's $1 menu. Also, much cheaper in the long run.

I'm expecting to gain in the health department and in the wallet as well. I figure instead of lunch costing nearly $6 a day plus another $5 for breakfast, I'll be down to about $1 day for breakfast and maybe $3 a day for lunch. A savings of about 64% ($7/day). That adds up to about $210 month. Not a huge amount, but a definite cut.

Conservatively, if I take $80 for the 1st week and $25/week thereafter, I'm spending $155 for lunch in a given month as opposed to $330 by eating out.... so that's a savings of $175/month or $2100/year. That's conservatively speaking. I'm expecting the savings to be closer to $200/month or $2400/year.

And of course all of this is just gravy compared to the health benefits of this challenge (especially when coupled with my water challenge). I'll be munching on bananas and grapes instead of french fries. I'll be munching on honey ham instead of grease burgers with cheese. I'm going to weigh in the morning just to check so I can check my progress as the challenge progresses.

I love this 30 day challenge thing. You can use it in so many aspects of life and 30 days is not a huge number. I'm sure some things might not stick forever (like the caffeine thing... I'm sure I'll be drinking caffeine again when the challenge is over), but they allow you to see what it's like living a certain lifestyle. I can see the benefits of cutting caffeine, so I'll continue to do so even after the challenge is over....just not completely. The same with fast food. I can't tell you that I'll never go through a McD's drive-thru again in my life because that would probably be a lie. However, I bet this challenge shows enough tremendous benefits that I will stick with it 95% of the time even after the 30 day challenge is over.