Thursday, July 21, 2011

Cafeteria Challenge Update: Day 4

I know I'm only 4 days into it, but I was just doing the math on my little challenge, and I'm amazed. I have only bought one thing from the cafeteria so far this week, and that was a salad today because I misjudged on my meal size last night, didn't have enough for Dan and I both to have lunch, and gave him the leftovers. Seeing as I have a cafeteria with relatively healthy options, and his non-leftover choices are fast food establishments, I'd say that was the best option for all parties involved.

Anyway, on to the numbers so far. I've saved $3.50 a day on sodas by bringing my own. Not to mention, I'm drinking less soda and more water, which is never a bad thing. I figured the average price per meal in the cafeteria is about $5.99, assuming a mix of salad bar days and hot entree days. That's just shy of $18 as of today. I tend to get a breakfast burrito once a week, and also do a weekly trip to Starbucks (makes Mondays better). Eliminating those saved another $9.60. Assuming I keep up the good habits tomorrow, I'll have saved $51.14 by the end of the day. Holy crap!

It's amazing to keep track and watch what's staying in our pockets because of making a solid effort to eliminate the cafeteria from my life. I've started dropping the daily savings into our savings account so I can literally watch my efforts add up, and that only adds to the motivation.

4 comments:

Dee Stephens said...

That is a chunk of change!

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy said...

Fantastic!!! Your'e doing awesome. I can also see a difference in our budget too. I was like, where did all that money come from? When you realize that you could save that much daily, it's a no brainer.

Anonymous said...

Good job. Do you find you are eating less processed foods through this change too?

Ally said...

Oh my goodness, that's a lot of savings!! And you aren't even extreme couponing, you are just changing your habits a LITTLE bit. That's awesome!! Ever since I went Paleo in Feb, my grocery bill has dropped considerably. I spend a little more on meat, but instead of doing all the boxed meals, I do veggies and fruit. It's amazing how it all adds up. Now if only I could drop the savings into an account and watch it add up...as opposed to writing it into a check for our general contractor. Grrr. Keep the up the good work, woman!!