$50 a week!

$50 a week will we sooooo easy for some of you to find right away.

How????

MAKE YOUR LUNCH. Yes it is that simple. Spending $10 a day is easy to do when you go out for lunch and snacks. Just by brown bagging it, you can free up an extra $50 a week in your budget. That's $200 a month....$2400 a year!!!!! That's a vacation!!!!!

I know some of you are saying, "I don't have time for that." or "Ugh!!!! I hate making lunches." Believe me I understand. I've been there....heck, I AM there!!! Here are some things that get me past that and inspire me to make and maximize my time.

I hate making lunches! Drives me crazy, so I only do it twice a week. I still make lunches for 5 days, but I only make them twice. I make 3 lunches on Monday, and 2 on Thursday, put them in sealed containers and shove them in the fridge. It takes the same amount of time to make 3 lunches as it does to make one. Think assembly line technology.

Try making them at night instead of in the morning when you are running around like a crazy person trying to get out the door. This makes life so much smoother in the morning.

Cut up veggies and put them in a sealed bag and they are easy to grab all week, without having to wash, peel and chop daily.

Freeze it. Make extra at supper for the next couple of weeks and freeze the extra in lunch-size portions. Next month, you can enjoy that nice piece of lasagna or other favourite food in your lunch without any more effort than grabbing it out of the freezer and heating it in the microwave at work. I've even seen companies selling frozen grilled cheese sandwiches, so why couldn't you freeze your own?!!!!

If you still resist, remember, that if you are making $10 or $20 an hour at your job, you are working 2.5-5 hours a week, just to pay for your lunches!!!! This isn't including dinners, weekend lunches, etc, this is approximately 10% of your time and money going into just paying for 5 lunches!!!! UGH!!! It sure doesn't take me 2.5-5 hours a week to make 5 lunches!

It actually takes less time than you think. We often just make it a big deal in our minds. Think Nike and 'Just Do It'. I can make 3 lunches (actually it is 6, because I make it for both my kids) in less than 10 minutes. If you figure 10 minutes, twice a week or 20 minutes total to save $50, you just got paid $50 for 20 minutes of work. This equates to being paid $150 an hour......who wouldn't like to make that kind of money!!!

REMEMBER: Even $10 counts. Each day you make your lunch, you've saved another $10, and those $10 add up fast.