6 ms·

> Price: Within reason, who cares? I don't have a wife or kids or any obligations really. What good is a six figure salary if I have to micromanage what I'm spe

by grecy 9y ago

> Price: Within reason, who cares? I don't have a wife or kids or any obligations really. What good is a six figure salary if I have to micromanage what I'm spending on food? This mentality always blows me away and I am genuinely curious. Has it not occurred to you that if you spend less, you can work less? (i.e. part time or retire sooner) I cut things like this out of my spending, now I work a couple of years then travel a couple of years, first time I drove to South America, now I'm driving around Africa.

iaabtpbtpnn 9y ago
To be honest, I like my job, it brings me fulfillment in my life and I don't have a lot of other sources of that (as stated no wife/kids). I'm not really interested in restricting my lifestyle now to hasten my retirement, although I'm certainly not so stupid that I don't save for retirement. I just don't bother to minmax my finances. I find the type of travel you describe stressful. I also don't like the insecurity of part-time work. Maybe I'll feel differently later, but at age 31 that lifestyle is just not for me.
- ice109 9y ago
  how much do you spend on food? I eat out every work day and I spend on average 5$ per meal. how much less could you possibly be spending per unit?
losteric 9y ago
I translated food costs to my income per-day, after taxes/rent. The choices were: * 1 work day allocated to making/eating 20 personally made meals a month * 2 work days allocated to eating 20 professionally meals a month. Factoring in time, variety, and the fact that professional meals taste better than mine - yes, I absolutely eat out most days. I'll pinch pennies on bigger items like car insurance or rent, but food was simply a good cost-benefit trade off. YMMV; cost-benefit is subjective.
- ThrustVectoring 9y ago
  Important point: you may or may not have any control of the number of paid work days you have. The time you save won't trade against the average value of your time, but the rate at which you can trade time for money at the margin. So if you save an hour and spend $30, you wind up behind in cash-flow if you can't monetize your extra time. And, uhh, most fixed-salary programmers don't have great options for spending an extra hour a week and winding up with more cash. In my opinion, eating out is definitely a luxury. If/when I get serious about saving more money, cooking my own meals is absolutely the first thing to do.
  - losteric 9y ago
    Saving money is not my point here... it's saving personal time. Every month I have surplus income, after expenditures/long-term savings, but never have I had surplus time. There are always more things to do! I am committed to ~160 work hours / month. Of that, I spend 10 work hours buying lunch - versus spending 2 work hours and 5 personal hours making my own lunch. Spending 8 work hours to buy 5 personal hours is worthwhile for me.
angersock 9y ago
Theoretically, you can work less. Then again, it's hard to guarantee the market won't tank and hurt your savings, that taxes won't go up, that a minor healthcare crisis won't screw you over, etc. etc. The notion of "retirement" is a quaint one.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
Merad 9y ago
Unless you are eating $20-30 lunches every day, the difference really isn't that great. It really boils down to: spend money to save time, or spend time to save money? A typical week of lunches for me is one meal out with coworkers (~$15), three meals at the work cafeteria ($6-8, we'll assume $8), and one day WFH that we won't count. Average cost of $9.75 per meal, and no time invested. If I was taking my lunch, I'd probably be looking at $2-3 worth of food per day, and at least 15 min of prep time per day; more if you count extra time needed for grocery shopping and so on. I'm not pulling in a fat SV 6 figure salary, but even so my hourly rate is upwards of $40 per hour, so the meal prep time alone is equal to what I'm spending on lunch. Personally, I'd rather have the time than the money. YMMV.
- hahamrfunnyguy 9y ago
  Even if you value your time at $40/hr doesn't mean you're going to GAIN any income for the time spent prepping food. Since I don't get a paid lunch break, I prefer to eat at my desk and work through lunch. This way I can leave an hour or so earlier each day. I figure I've been able to save an extra $25,000 since I started consistency bringing my lunch ten or so years ago.
vacri 9y ago
$10/day for lunch x 240 working days is $2400. For someone on a high wage, that's nothing. It's certainly not make-or-break in terms of holidays. Plus you don't spend your own time preparing your own lunch, and you get to sample lots of different kinds of food (if you're in the right place). Also, self-made lunch isn't free. It's cheaper, but it's not 100% cheaper. The difference isn't between $10 and $0, but between $10 and, say, $4. A lot cheaper, but it lowers the 'saved' amount (at the cost of adding in shopping + preparing labour)
- michaelt 9y ago
  $2400 a year is nothing? That's enough for two people to fly from Los Angeles to Paris, stay a week in a 4-star hotel, and fly back. Or to buy the highest spec Macbook Pro, every year, with change. In a year and a half, it's enough to buy a used BMW convertible.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - pjc50 9y ago
    Yes, but what if I already have a BMW and don't have enough free holiday for the trip to Paris, but really want to relax for a bit rather than make my own lunch? Yes, buying lunch is a "luxury", but a small, daily one. Don't make me bring Orwell on food into this..
pjc50 9y ago
Hmm. The cost of buying lunch to me is 2% of before tax salary or 3% of after tax salary. Assuming a 45-year career, that's over 300 days. But of course making your own sandwiches isn't free for ingredients, nor time. You're trading time in your "youth" for time in your old age. I do like the idea of going travelling, but you're not going to do it by cutting out lunch (unless it's something pricier like a proper sit-down lunch with waiters and drinks). Effectively you're moving your hedonism around so you can take it all in one go, rather than day-to-day.
xxSparkleSxx 9y ago
I buy lunch most days and only eat 2 meals a day, my meals range from $6-11. I pay ~$50 for 5/14 meals a week. I'm happy with that. I also spend a grand total of 120/month on transportation costs (includes costs of car, maintenance, gas, and insurance). People have different priorities.

by grecy 9y ago

iaabtpbtpnn 9y ago

To be honest, I like my job, it brings me fulfillment in my life and I don't have a lot of other sources of that (as stated no wife/kids). I'm not really interested in restricting my lifestyle now to hasten my retirement, although I'm certainly not so stupid that I don't save for retirement. I just don't bother to minmax my finances. I find the type of travel you describe stressful. I also don't like the insecurity of part-time work. Maybe I'll feel differently later, but at age 31 that lifestyle is just not for me.

ice109 9y ago
how much do you spend on food? I eat out every work day and I spend on average 5$ per meal. how much less could you possibly be spending per unit?

losteric 9y ago

I translated food costs to my income per-day, after taxes/rent. The choices were: * 1 work day allocated to making/eating 20 personally made meals a month * 2 work days allocated to eating 20 professionally meals a month. Factoring in time, variety, and the fact that professional meals taste better than mine - yes, I absolutely eat out most days. I'll pinch pennies on bigger items like car insurance or rent, but food was simply a good cost-benefit trade off. YMMV; cost-benefit is subjective.

ThrustVectoring 9y ago
Important point: you may or may not have any control of the number of paid work days you have. The time you save won't trade against the average value of your time, but the rate at which you can trade time for money at the margin. So if you save an hour and spend $30, you wind up behind in cash-flow if you can't monetize your extra time. And, uhh, most fixed-salary programmers don't have great options for spending an extra hour a week and winding up with more cash. In my opinion, eating out is definitely a luxury. If/when I get serious about saving more money, cooking my own meals is absolutely the first thing to do.
- losteric 9y ago
  Saving money is not my point here... it's saving personal time. Every month I have surplus income, after expenditures/long-term savings, but never have I had surplus time. There are always more things to do! I am committed to ~160 work hours / month. Of that, I spend 10 work hours buying lunch - versus spending 2 work hours and 5 personal hours making my own lunch. Spending 8 work hours to buy 5 personal hours is worthwhile for me.

angersock 9y ago

Theoretically, you can work less. Then again, it's hard to guarantee the market won't tank and hurt your savings, that taxes won't go up, that a minor healthcare crisis won't screw you over, etc. etc. The notion of "retirement" is a quaint one.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

Merad 9y ago

Unless you are eating $20-30 lunches every day, the difference really isn't that great. It really boils down to: spend money to save time, or spend time to save money? A typical week of lunches for me is one meal out with coworkers (~$15), three meals at the work cafeteria ($6-8, we'll assume $8), and one day WFH that we won't count. Average cost of $9.75 per meal, and no time invested. If I was taking my lunch, I'd probably be looking at $2-3 worth of food per day, and at least 15 min of prep time per day; more if you count extra time needed for grocery shopping and so on. I'm not pulling in a fat SV 6 figure salary, but even so my hourly rate is upwards of $40 per hour, so the meal prep time alone is equal to what I'm spending on lunch. Personally, I'd rather have the time than the money. YMMV.

hahamrfunnyguy 9y ago
Even if you value your time at $40/hr doesn't mean you're going to GAIN any income for the time spent prepping food. Since I don't get a paid lunch break, I prefer to eat at my desk and work through lunch. This way I can leave an hour or so earlier each day. I figure I've been able to save an extra $25,000 since I started consistency bringing my lunch ten or so years ago.

vacri 9y ago

$10/day for lunch x 240 working days is $2400. For someone on a high wage, that's nothing. It's certainly not make-or-break in terms of holidays. Plus you don't spend your own time preparing your own lunch, and you get to sample lots of different kinds of food (if you're in the right place). Also, self-made lunch isn't free. It's cheaper, but it's not 100% cheaper. The difference isn't between $10 and $0, but between $10 and, say, $4. A lot cheaper, but it lowers the 'saved' amount (at the cost of adding in shopping + preparing labour)

michaelt 9y ago
$2400 a year is nothing? That's enough for two people to fly from Los Angeles to Paris, stay a week in a 4-star hotel, and fly back. Or to buy the highest spec Macbook Pro, every year, with change. In a year and a half, it's enough to buy a used BMW convertible.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- pjc50 9y ago
  Yes, but what if I already have a BMW and don't have enough free holiday for the trip to Paris, but really want to relax for a bit rather than make my own lunch? Yes, buying lunch is a "luxury", but a small, daily one. Don't make me bring Orwell on food into this..

pjc50 9y ago

Hmm. The cost of buying lunch to me is 2% of before tax salary or 3% of after tax salary. Assuming a 45-year career, that's over 300 days. But of course making your own sandwiches isn't free for ingredients, nor time. You're trading time in your "youth" for time in your old age. I do like the idea of going travelling, but you're not going to do it by cutting out lunch (unless it's something pricier like a proper sit-down lunch with waiters and drinks). Effectively you're moving your hedonism around so you can take it all in one go, rather than day-to-day.

xxSparkleSxx 9y ago

I buy lunch most days and only eat 2 meals a day, my meals range from $6-11. I pay ~$50 for 5/14 meals a week. I'm happy with that. I also spend a grand total of 120/month on transportation costs (includes costs of car, maintenance, gas, and insurance). People have different priorities.