pack a lunch every workday

I had it packed and everything and then left it in the front hall!

I had to go out and buy lunch! And it was OK but I really wanted MY lunch!!

Holy St. Francis, what a change is here.

PS: and also, I missed my breakfast. No wonder I felt so off kilter all day. I was!

I did this every day except for Friday, when work sponsored a pizza lunch. So thirty more dollars went to Pay off credit cards.

Sometimes I wish there were a “star chart” sort of system on 43 Things where you could just give yourself a gold star. How about it?

Two lunches made out of five work days.

One day I took off work. One day someone bought me lunch (thanks!). And one day I contributed to a group restaurant lunch.

In theory I have saved $7 to Pay off credit cards. It didn’t feel worth a special trip to the bank though.

This week though only $20 goes to Pay off credit cards instead of the usual $25. One day this past week I didn’t get time to make my lunch, so had to buy some from the cafeteria just outside the meeting room I was about to spend 2+ hours in.

By now I must have saved myself at least $100 in lunch costs.

This is turning out not to be such a hassle. It’s still hassle-y, but not a total hassle.

Yesterday morning I realized that throwing an apple, a yogurt and a juice box into a little plastic bag - not a big deal, I might want to eat a yogurt later - is practically making my lunch.

I have started a little collection of small Post-It notes that live on the back of the front door.

For every “tomorrow” that I need to bring something to work (more chicken, more bread, etc) I move that Post-It note to the left-hand side of the door, so I can’t open the door to leave without seeing what I need to restock on for lunch. (This also works for those of us who chronically forget our phone because it is on the charger.)

It looks as though I may have found a successful compromise halfway between packing a complete, destined-for-soggy-sandwich-nastiness lunchbag, and spending $10 / day for total freshness. I will keep you posted.

ps: As a consequence of another successful lunch week, another $30 went towards paying off credit cards. There is a worthier purpose for my lunch dollars, indeed.

of lunches made at work.

I have taken the savings and applied them to my goal Pay off credit cards, which is adding to the progress seen over there; so that’s good.

I have however been eating the exact same thing for lunch for the last two weeks. I may need to lay off the baby carrots.

Nah. I’ll change up the sandwich. Next Wednesday, when I’m out of chicken slices.

Yay me.

I had a little revelation the other night when I realized I still had money in my wallet from the week before. It was like, “All those lunches really are costing me money!”

Well, duh.

I discovered that our meat crisper (? what does one call that drawer anyway?) in the fridge at home is ridiculously full of packets of chicken slices. Yes, the kind I want to use for sandwiches at work. How did that happen? Anyway, it’s not doing me any good today as I had to be at work 3 hours early and so did not think to bring any more chicken for the work fridge.

I do have an apple, but right now I want a big Starbucks vanilla latté and a carton of milk for my Cheerios.

Today I brought a loaf of bread, a jar of mayonnaise, and a packet of chicken slices to work and got a sandwich going on. I even made one for my office mate.

Bringing groceries to work might be the answer. Unfortunately, the loaf of bread takes up probably 10% of the space in the tall bar fridge that is communal at work, so I might need to bring part loaves so as not to annoy the group. Also, there are only 8 slices of chicken to a packet, which could end up feeling like I’m constantly bringing groceries in to work, rather than just on Monday and being done with it for the week.

Isn’t it ridiculous how much thought is going into lunch. You’d think it would be simple.

Perhaps I am a little obsessed.

But you see, two of my other goals (op. cit.) are to Pay off my credit cards and to Save up six months’ worth of living expenses and right now I estimate I am losing about $200 per month toward those goals due to boughten lunches.

PS: no Cheerios or apples today. Though my sandwich was good, it was, I confess a little spartan as a solo lunch.

late this afternoon. No Cheerios. Lunch today at McDonald’s—when do I ever eat at McDonald’s? Well, today apparently.

Maybe I need to buy a small supply of groceries for lunch and put them in the fridge at work.