[dtwyim]

Originally Posted by Samurai of 2day

That's kinda harsh.... I sincerely do not wish to start a dick measuring contest, but i'm pretty sure my car costs more than yours and I still pack 2 lunches a day to avoid spending $20 bucks a day.
I think the OP brought up this conversation to discuss the "practicality" of packing lunch and or buying lunch.... not to see who can afford to drive what.... just saying...

Bring out the ruler The competition has begun!

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by dtwyim

Bring out the ruler The competition has begun!

lol, no thanks.... I would probably lose that "ruler" competition with ANYONE who feels that if you drive a Bimmer, then you can afford to be frivolous whenever possible even if it's not necessary.
Just wanted to touch on the fact that just because you drive a high end car, doesn't mean you can't be practical about how you spend your hard earned dollars.

[Foxrus14]

Originally Posted by Samurai of 2day

lol, no thanks.... I would probably lose that "ruler" competition with ANYONE who feels that if you drive a Bimmer, then you can afford to be frivolous whenever possible even if it's not necessary.
Just wanted to touch on the fact that just because you drive a high end car, doesn't mean you can't be practical about how you spend your hard earned dollars.

High end is relative I guess. BMW high end compared top what? and BMW would be low end compared to some. Am I Right?

[amanda hor$t]

Originally Posted by Samurai of 2day

lol, no thanks.... I would probably lose that "ruler" competition with ANYONE who feels that if you drive a Bimmer, then you can afford to be frivolous whenever possible even if it's not necessary.
Just wanted to touch on the fact that just because you drive a high end car, doesn't mean you can't be practical about how you spend your hard earned dollars.

agree. but eating out is a good way to socialize and network. could have been nicer about it though (i.e. the prius comment)

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by Foxrus14

High end is relative I guess. BMW high end compared top what? and BMW would be low end compared to some. Am I Right?

Excellent point! To me, my 650 GC is "high end", but to a guy who owns an aventador for the weekends, and a cls AMG as a daily driver, might not agree with me.... lol

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by R Grubba Balls

agree. but eating out is a good way to socialize and network. could have been nicer about it though (i.e. the prius comment)

You are absolutely right. Getting out there is definitely a good opportunity to meet potential associates and or pretty girls.... oh wait..... is it lunch time yet...? I think I will catch up with you guys later! lol

[SilverII]

Originally Posted by dtwyim

$100 per week, $5000 per year!!



Serving at McD's and drive a BMW!

I pack my own. Cheap and healthy.

sometimes we discuss work stuff, so it gets paid by to company. Its not too bad. Like someone else said, i dont have a M5 payment

[mdosu]

My wife cooks about 4 times a week, which creates enough lunch meals for the entire week. I average buying lunch once a month. We save lots of money and eat a lot healthier.

I don't mind even eating the same lunch on back to back days.

I know a guy who buys everyday, he always complains to me he can't loose weight and save enough money...hmmm maybe he should start cooking his meals, this will knock out 2 birds with one stone. When I was single, I would still pack 5 times a week, so no excuses there

[ibarry92]

Originally Posted by mdosu

My wife cooks about 4 times a week, which creates enough lunch meals for the entire week. I average buying lunch once a month. We save lots of money and eat a lot healthier.

I don't mind even eating the same lunch on back to back days.

I know a guy who buys everyday, he always complains to me he can't loose weight and save enough money...hmmm maybe he should start cooking his meals, this will knock out 2 birds with one stone. When I was single, I would still pack 5 times a week, so no excuses there

Cooking and packing your own food does indeed does save lots of money. Also the food is definitely healthier. My only problem is cooking. I find it a pain having to find a recipe that is somewhat easy to cook and going to the store to by the ingredients. By that time you kind of lost your motivation to cook. With this into the equation, plus doing this all after work is very difficult.

I found a food service that is pretty neat that I am thinking about subscribing to. I was going to make a separate thread asking the members, but I guess I will ask here. (Sorry to thread jack OP) The companies are called "Blue Apron," "Plated," and "Farmingo." So far I am just reading through the sites to find out more about them. They seem really legit and well established. They all have very positive reviews with satisfied customers.

http://www.blueapron.com
http://www.farmigo.comhttp:/
http://www.plated.com

The ingredients can be compared to stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Roots, etc. They also have meal plans for Vegetarians and Diabetics, which is convienent for me since I am a diabetic. My only problem is that it costs about $60 a week. That includes 3 meals per week for 2 people. I wish they had a plan for only 1 person because otherwise what am I going to do with the extra food.

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by ibarry92

Cooking and packing your own food does indeed does save lots of money. Also the food is definitely healthier. My only problem is cooking. I find it a pain having to find a recipe that is somewhat easy to cook and going to the store to by the ingredients. By that time you kind of lost your motivation to cook. With this into the equation, plus doing this all after work is very difficult.

No, you got it backwards.

Most people get caught up with finding recipes and then buying the groceries. That method will cost you ALOT of money and time. What you should do is buy what's on sale, and seasonal items first and then tailor recipes to those ingredients.

Often, we buy all of our meat when it's on sale. Anytime at the grocery store and meat is marked down, we clear it out and take it home and freeze it. We also look at local ads every week and take advantage of meat sales. Make a habit to talk to you butcher to see what days he marks down those meats (often it's marked on the packages, so you need to go the day before to pick it up on sale). Additionally, your butcher may give you a preview whether he has a big batch of meat he's cutting up in the back (and likely to go on sale). Also Costco is NOT cheap in terms of groceries and meat. Often you get better prices at regional groceries stores (safeway, harris teeter, kroger, meijer, etc.)

A very good site for recipes to use is www.foodgawker.com . You just simply punch in what your main ingredient is and they'll give you many options.

Seriously, with this method, my wife and I spend about $50 a week which includes enough food for lunches. And we eat well, we had lamb and asparagus tonight. Over the weekend, we had bean sprouts and sliced beef stir fry. Healthy and tasty, and lots of cash in my pocket for a M3.

[ejheverest]

Originally Posted by BMW E90

I'm curious as to where you guys work at that provide all the meals free of cost. Usually only the big tech companies like Google can provide such things. There are a couple members on here that have meals provided for free. That's pretty cool.

When I'm at work for 21 days, the steward's department cooks all the food.
We have 4 meals a day- midnight, 6am, noon, 6pm since everyone works different shifts. For the people who like desserts, we have a full-time baker who does nothing but make cakes, cookies and pies.

I work for ticker symbol- R I G, as a first engineer supervising the Engine Dept.

Not sure how much I save but, I'm sure its a fair amount since 1/2 the year my food is paid for, along with laundry washed/dried and folded. No gas expense either.

[ashtaron14]

I scrolled through the whole thread and there's no pics...

[amanda hor$t]

[bosstones]

I always bring my lunch (and dinner....I work too much).

[Templar]

Originally Posted by ibarry92

Cooking and packing your own food does indeed does save lots of money. Also the food is definitely healthier. My only problem is cooking. I find it a pain having to find a recipe that is somewhat easy to cook and going to the store to by the ingredients. By that time you kind of lost your motivation to cook. With this into the equation, plus doing this all after work is very difficult.

I found a food service that is pretty neat that I am thinking about subscribing to. I was going to make a separate thread asking the members, but I guess I will ask here. (Sorry to thread jack OP) The companies are called "Blue Apron," "Plated," and "Farmingo." So far I am just reading through the sites to find out more about them. They seem really legit and well established. They all have very positive reviews with satisfied customers.

http://www.blueapron.com
http://www.farmigo.comhttp:/
http://www.plated.com

The ingredients can be compared to stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Roots, etc. They also have meal plans for Vegetarians and Diabetics, which is convienent for me since I am a diabetic. My only problem is that it costs about $60 a week. That includes 3 meals per week for 2 people. I wish they had a plan for only 1 person because otherwise what am I going to do with the extra food.

There's an emerging business I've seen recently that ship foods to you. Not just pre-made meals, but meats, veggies, fruits, etc... I used to be a member of one, but like you I thought it was a pain. I paid weekly for "points" to buy food with. They delivered Saturday, but if I wasn't home the stuff sat outside. They pack it with dry ice and all, but in the Southern heat that stuff can still melt if it's out all day and I'm not home to pick it up. And if you didn't order one week because you were gone, you were still charged and just got extra "points." Then the following week it was damn near impossible to spend all those points without getting massive quantities of food. I gave up on that.

I did just get an email from them and they have changed how they do business. They added new vendors, they ship on Thurs and Wednesday as well, and they offer a "pay as you go" service too instead of the points based system. I might start back up. Their meats were top quality, grass fed beef, organic eggs, etc. I was very happy with the quality of food they had.

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by R Grubba Balls

That smells delicious!! Save me Some!!

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by Samurai of 2day

lol, no thanks.... I would probably lose that "ruler" competition with ANYONE who feels that if you drive a Bimmer, then you can afford to be frivolous whenever possible even if it's not necessary.
Just wanted to touch on the fact that just because you drive a high end car, doesn't mean you can't be practical about how you spend your hard earned dollars.

I drive an M3 and I pack lunches daily. Everyone has their splurges and luxuries and different budgets, but just b/c one drives a $40k+ car, doesn't mean we blow money like we won the lotto.


Needless to say food cost is NOT a major cost in my household.

So where do I cut back? I don't buy shit all the time. I don't buy new clothes b/c I have plenty of work clothes when I pick them up on sale at Macy's. I never buy dress shirts over $25 and never buy dress pants over $40. (Dress shirts wear out in about 4 years) And I generally wear name brand clothes (BR, Charles Tyrwhitt, Hilfiger, RL, Ken Cole NY, etc) My most expensive suit is a Hugo Boss which I wore for my wedding, all my other suits are named brand suits from Nordstrom Rack or Macy's, all under $350.

I don't buy electronics, my computer is 4 years old and it's only the 3rd PC I've owned since 2002, one of which I built myself. When I use to play xbox games, I would always sell my old games and buy pre-owned games.

I JUST got my first smartphone 3 months ago, and I use T-Mobile's old value plan (pay $80/mo with 5 lines, 2 data plans)

I'm still on my original HDTV which I bought 6 years ago, which is the first TV I've ever bought my whole life, I usually take a hand-me-down. I call my cable company once a year to argue my bill to decrease it.

When we go on vacation, we look for cheap flights and reasonable accomodations.

We have a FSA for medical items. We max out on our 401ks to decrease our tax base.

I volunteer to buy coffee creamer at work for our coffee club, which at times based on grocery store's gas reward points save me 40 cents per gallon at Shell.

We try to buy EVERYTHING we can on our cash-rewards credit card, which to date for just my card, since 2004, I've redeemed about $1000 back in cash. I also don't borrow money.

In general, everything I buy is on sale or clearance. And that's how I save in my household.

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by mdosu

I drive an M3 and I pack lunches daily. Everyone has their splurges and luxuries and different budgets, but just b/c one drives a $40k+ car, doesn't mean we blow money like we won the lotto.


Needless to say food cost is NOT a major cost in my household.

So where do I cut back? I don't buy shit all the time. I don't buy new clothes b/c I have plenty of work clothes when I pick them up on sale at Macy's. I never buy dress shirts over $25 and never buy dress pants over $40. (Dress shirts wear out in about 4 years) And I generally wear name brand clothes (BR, Charles Tyrwhitt, Hilfiger, RL, Ken Cole NY, etc) My most expensive suit is a Hugo Boss which I wore for my wedding, all my other suits are named brand suits from Nordstrom Rack or Macy's, all under $350.

I don't buy electronics, my computer is 4 years old and it's only the 3rd PC I've owned since 2002, one of which I built myself. When I use to play xbox games, I would always sell my old games and buy pre-owned games.

I JUST got my first smartphone 3 months ago, and I use T-Mobile's old value plan (pay $80/mo with 5 lines, 2 data plans)

I'm still on my original HDTV which I bought 6 years ago, which is the first TV I've ever bought my whole life, I usually take a hand-me-down. I call my cable company once a year to argue my bill to decrease it.

When we go on vacation, we look for cheap flights and reasonable accomodations.

We have a FSA for medical items. We max out on our 401ks to decrease our tax base.

I volunteer to buy coffee creamer at work for our coffee club, which at times based on grocery store's gas reward points save me 40 cents per gallon at Shell.

We try to buy EVERYTHING we can on our cash-rewards credit card, which to date for just my card, since 2004, I've redeemed about $1000 back in cash. I also don't borrow money.

In general, everything I buy is on sale or clearance. And that's how I save in my household.

Sound like you have a good system in place in order to save money. I actually have similar habits...

-I pack lunch everday to take with me for work.
-I wear uniform for work, so my Civilian Clothes last a long time! LOL
I probably by nice new clothes maybe every four years or so. No need for new threads for every season because I don't party that much, and I prefer to enjoy my drinks at mine, or a friend's house with a small but intimate crowd, so I don't burn a lot of money in bars or clubs or trying to impress the ladies.
- I treat all my toys, (bike, car,weapons,TVs, phone, Video games, computer) very well, so they have a tendency to last a LONG time, and do not need to be replaced annually, or when the "new one" drops unless I stop being cheap and upgrade, lol. I can't keep up with the technology race.

Like you said, we all have our ways to cut corners, and that is just fine. To each their own, unless they are causing trouble for the rest of us.

[JLed79]

Interesting thread. For me, I don't drive a BMW beacuse its high end. IMO its not really high end, its not an Aston or anything. I drive it because its a blast to drive. That being said, I usually have lunch provided by drug reps in my office. When there's no lunch I brown bag it. Frugality aside, I know what I'm eating if I make it myself and I'm not stuck putting garbage in my temple lol. I'd also rather throw that cash in my gas tank to enjoy burning up than into my belly.

[MMMCOOKIES55]

I usually pack during the week, the wife and I usually go to our favorites "spots" during the weekend anywho.

[BMW F22]

Just started my new job yesterday and I packed lunch today. I ended up buying something else for convenience so I didn't eat the lunch I brought. However, I'll be doing that starting tomorrow. It's just easier I think. All I have to do is heat it up and eat it. No need to drive around to buy food and having to wait in line. Not that there's anything wrong with people doing that. Just saying that I'm kind of used to bringing food and eating at my cubicle.

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by BMW E90

Just started my new job yesterday and I packed lunch today. I ended up buying something else for convenience so I didn't eat the lunch I brought. However, I'll be doing that starting tomorrow. It's just easier I think. All I have to do is heat it up and eat it. No need to drive around to buy food and having to wait in line. Not that there's anything wrong with people doing that. Just saying that I'm kind of used to bringing food and eating at my cubicle.

congrats.

I found out that on the first day on the job, people generally take you out. So I've never brought my lunch on day 1.