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 t

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.