Saving Money - A Middle Class Rant I

I’ve decided that I’m going to start posting some of my rants about things that make me angry. In each post I’ll vent about whatever topic got me angry that day. Today the topic will be lunch.

I can’t stand listening to the money complaints of people who routinely buy their lunch. It makes them look like an idiot and makes me mad that they're so stupid. For example, an acquaintance was recently complaining that she didn’t have enough money set aside this year to contribute to her RRSP, meanwhile she buys her lunch every day (and many of her suppers). Let’s just see how much her lunches are really costing her.

Lets assume the average crappy cafeteria lunch with a drink costs about 7 bucks a day (doesn’t sound like much) but add that up 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year and it totals $1820(and remember that’s after tax). So, lets assume you're only in the 30% tax bracket ---that means that you spend $2600 of your pre-tax income on lunch. If your spouse does the same your spending over $5000 of your pre-tax income on crappy, cafeteria lunches (good lunches are usually more expensive). Now, I’ve heard almost every excuse under the sun from people who have “tried to make their lunch” but just couldn’t stick with it and the most common reason is “I just don’t have time” ---This makes me laugh--what kind of life are you living that you don’t have time to make a sandwich and put a pop can into a bag!? Or even better remember supper? You know that meal you had before bed – next time you make supper cook a little extra and put it in a container for lunch the next day.