Caporegime
Am I very wasteful with my money or is it the norm these days
- Thread starter willhub
- Start date
Caporegime
I just spent £179 on Nespresso's new pods, is this the right thread to mention this?
I go yo-yo.
On one hand I’ll go buy a max spec MBP. Then I’ll buy Tesco value sardines to save a few pence. I typically eat very cheaply at home, hardly eat out unless I’m on holiday.
Today I went to Specsavers instead of Vision Express...current pair is like £400, new pair is £200.
That’s £100 per month...basically the cost of my petrol to work ....all the little things add up...
£1200 per year...
Soldato
So? Making them yourself isn't free either...
It’s so much cheaper though. Queuing in Greggs in the morning or in my lunchtime would do my head in. I can make a far superior lunch myself for less...
Associate
You forgot the most important one of all.
No. 2 at work. Toilet paper aren’t cheap.
I've trained myself to have a 10:30am drop time
Glasses direct 2 for £90
I always thought back when I was a poor student how anyone could earn £50k a year and still be loading up the credit cards by the end of the month, then I started earning more and more.
The creep is insidious, takeaway here, coffee there and pub lunches a few times a week and I now understand.
The more you earn the lazier you can allow yourself to be and there is always someone offering a quick fix for a price.
I've trained myself to have a 10:30am drop time
Glasses direct 2 for £90
I always thought back when I was a poor student how anyone could earn £50k a year and still be loading up the credit cards by the end of the month, then I started earning more and more.
The creep is insidious, takeaway here, coffee there and pub lunches a few times a week and I now understand.
The more you earn the lazier you can allow yourself to be and there is always someone offering a quick fix for a price.
Yeah it’s so easy to fritter away your hard earned cash on crap
Associate
Yeah it’s so easy to fritter away your hard earned cash on crap
Honestly I can see why coke bought costa, the "Costa Culture" among some of the teams at work in insane:
Morning Train: Costa Coffee + Snack
Morning Break: Costa
Lunch: Meal + beer (Or coke).
Post Lunch: Costa
Train Home: Costa
This is London and Cambridge prices so how much is that costing them a day????
I despise Costa and Starbucks...hipsters use them and it’s overpriced tat...I’m no Mug
That's the scam though, where companies want to hook people in for a fixed price, be it food, Netflix, leased car etc.
There's nothing in Greggs that has a good nutrional value so you would be paying a lot of money for the privilege of a poor diet.
By cutting out that £1200 spent per year habit, someone on an average salary in their 30s could use that money to retire a year earlier. I'm sure other lifestyle changes could yield a few more years too.
Think it's pretty normal from what I hear. Even with my miserly ways I still seem to find ways to waste money. Although my savings rate is very high and I only 'waste what I budget to waste - I don't seem to have any issues doing so.
Soldato
Absolutely this! it also helps me to budget purchases. + lets me see how much junk i am, or aren't buying whilst keeping track of rent phone bills credit card insurance ect ect.
Soldato
Comparing like with like...
Nescafe Cappucino sachets x5 - £1.25
Pastries x5 - £1.55
Baguettes x5 - £2.25
Margerine - say 50p
Bag of lettuce x2 - £2
Cucumber - £1
Chicken pieces - £3
Mayo - say 50p again
Bottle/can of soft drink x5 - £3
Now add in the 15 minutes a day it takes to prepare it at whatever your hourly rate is... £12 an hour for example. That's £30 a week making it yourself vs £25 from Greggs with their meal deals.
Sure you could get it cheaper by just having instant coffee, but then you need to add in the cost of milk too, making simpler sandwiches but you end up making more of them, etc. Point is it isn't so much cheaper at all. I haven't even included any overhead costs like electricity and water in that.
Last edited:
Soldato
Have you been in a Greggs recently? It isn't just pies and sausage rolls...
That's good if you found something you want to do and are willing to do volunteer work. I have an aversion to work outside of my main job even with the lure of good company and free food. If you look at most social activities on the likes of meetup.com, they will almost always end up costing money for something... room booking, a drink, donations or something like that.
Associate
From my perspective I don't think about like "If I was at work id be earning X" but "I can save X but not sitting in-front of youtube for 15min by making lunch". I want to work as little as possible and every "saving" I can make helps that.
Also £1 for a cucumber??? Bagged lettuce?? Where are you shopping "snobby organics r us"?
Also my partner packs my lunch so it's free labour
I've just been on their website and yeah it's all junk. Just gradations of beige, with a token bit of lettuce here and there.
Soldato
From my perspective I don't think about like "If I was at work id be earning X" but "I can save X but not sitting in-front of youtube for 15min by making lunch". I want to work as little as possible and every "saving" I can make helps that.
Also my partner packs my lunch so it's free labour
Yeah, but you can't exclude the true costs because that's what you're paying for when you buy food from a shop. You can't just exclude the cost of water, electricity, plates, knives, etc because you already have them at home. It isn't a fair comparison. Plus for some people it will be a case of they could work or be productive for those 15 minutes (even just sending emails etc).
Soldato
How's that different to making sandwiches at home? If you're advocating eating completely different things, that's not what we're talking about here and even if we were, fresh ingredients are expensive.
Eh?
This is what I do...I might vary the ham to beef or chicken slices...to keep things interesting..
Hovis Granary Loaf £1.20 lasts the week
Ham £2 per week
Bag of Onions 65p per week
Mayo jar last 2 weeks £1
Iceburg Lettuce 49p per week
10 red leister slices £1
£5.84 per week for my lunch at work.
I don’t drink coke...I buy a 5 litre bottle of water and use that...this costs £1.10...I’ve already discussed my coffee usage and costs.
But no way does it cost me 30 quid a week for work lunches lol...