The Lunch-eater's Dilemma

One area where we can really improve is in packing our own lunches.

Yes, it's difficult, especially for two busy people who are juggling work, school, community group commitments, keeping up a house and garden, etc. But according to this calculator from bankrate.com (God I love the Internet), if we invested the money that we spent on buying lunch during the week, we could have $4511 after four years.

That's equivalent to about 15.5% of my yearly gross pay.

I was reminded of this when I forked over about $7 for my lunch today -- my fast-food, definitely unhealthy lunch. Usually we're good about this kind of stuff. On the weekends, we'll make big dinners and package the leftovers up for lunches. But this weekend we ate at other people's houses both days, making it difficult to do that. I'm going to a friend's house for dinner tonight, too, so I may end up having to buy lunch again tomorrow.

Eventually, we'll have a weekend where we'll make a big batch of soup or stew and freeze it. Until that day comes, though, I'll try to remember to wake up a little earlier in the morning to at least slap some peanut butter and jelly on bread.

Obligatory About Me

Hi, everyone. I'm the Nonprofit Breadwinner, or NPB for short.

I live in Pittsburgh, and my spouse is a Full-Time Student, or FTS for short. We're in our mid-twenties. I don't make a lot of money, since I work at a small nonprofit organization. In fact, they just cut my pay. I make under $30,000 a year. FTS is in a demanding graduate program and, prior to August, worked full-time (not at a nonprofit). However, FTS will still be able to work about ten hours a week for that company, providing much-needed income.

We have two cats, a mortgage, student loan debt (mine), and the will to make this work.

We've lived pretty frugally for the past few years, both because it suits us and because we don't want to spend our money on crap. We garden, can and pickle the produce we grow, rarely eat out, and don't buy things on credit. Still, we've had to make some adjustments to our budget, and hopefully this blog will help keep me honest about what in our plan is working, what isn't, and everything in between.

I hope you enjoy our chronicles.