Finance Tip of the Week: Food
by Gareth Cotten on 29/03/10 at 3:05 pm
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Cut down on unplanned eating out. For many of us, with our crazy day-to-day schedules, it’s often easier to just pop into a café or deli to grab a bite. Or maybe you’re in the habit of popping into your local coffee shop once a day (or more) to get your caffeine fix.
If this sounds like you, and you were to collect all the slips from your purchases at these food and drink places, you’d probably be amazed at how much you spend in a month. Here at home, I know people who spend over a thousand bucks a month on coffee. A thousand bucks! On coffee!
For most of us, this is an area where there’s a huge potential for saving. Remember that when you pop into a restaurant/café/coffee shop, you’re paying a premium for what’s essentially a basic foodstuff. The prices have to be loaded, as the proprietors have to pay rent, wages, cover all their expenses, and still make some profit over and above all of that!
Rather than making somebody else rich, make an effort to plan for your eating needs better, and put what you’ve saved into an investment for your own financial freedom. Bring a packed lunch to the office. Have breakfast at home before you leave for work. Buy the type of coffee you like and keep it in your desk drawer. Instead of going out and buying junk to get you through the mid-afternoon slump, bring some fruit to work, or a healthy snack bar. And you don’t have to cut out your triple-mocha-chocca-doubla-chinos entirely – just cut back to one or two a week, and treat them as a reward for your financial discipline. Your wallet (and your waistline) will thank you!
Gareth Cotten is one of the growing breed of SA entrepreneurs with that ‘world-domination’ look in his eyes. Gareth runs the coaching and consulting practice 'Good Advice'. Gareth is also the 'course convener' for the University of Cape Town (Law@Work) Start and Manage a Small Business course and the University of Cape Town Basics of Financial Management course. View more articles by Gareth Cotten.
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