Yesterday, at lunch, I was in the office kitchen heating up my lunch (delicious leftovers from the dinner I cooked Sunday night) and a co-worker I rarely run into at lunch wandered in.
“I guess I have to get used to bringing my lunch,” she said. “My husband saw the credit card bill and got mad that I was wasting so much money on food.”
Of course, the first thing that rolled through my head was that perhaps they should be more open about their spending so that they don’t have those issues, but I didn’t say a word. Instead, I commented about my own lunch policy.
“Oh, I bring my lunch most days. I never go out more than once a week and really try to only go out twice a month.”
“Really? You don’t seem like the type to bring your lunch. Why do you do it?”
“Couple of reasons, really. I like to try to eat healthy, and that’s easier to do if I bring my lunch. I also like to go to the gym on my break and don’t have time to do that and go get carry-out. And, of course, as you know, it’s expensive to eat out every day. I just can’t afford to do it.”
“Oh, come on. I know what you make. You can afford it if you want to.”
Wow. So this woman I never talked to was now criticizing my spending? I was a little offended, but let it slide.
“Well, sure, I could, but then I would have to cut other things out of my life that I would like to keep. It would be very easy to drop over $200 a month on eating out at lunch. That’s $200 I can spend elsewhere.” I considered mentioning savings, but didn’t think that would go over well.
“See, you could afford it,” she said.
Clearly, I didn’t get through to her. But hey, it’s not my place to tell you how to spend your money. I just advocate mindful spending. If you want to spend $200 a month on lunch out, so be it. For some people, it’s their vice. They don’t like to go to movies or buy music or clothing. They like to eat out every day. And that’s okay. But you have to prioritize. If you eat out daily, you spend money that you could have used for something else. If the lunches are higher priority, then go for it.
For me, eating out isn’t high priority. So maybe I don’t seem like the type to bring my lunch, but I am. Crazy co-workers aren’t going to convince me to change that.
I’m not surprised. I get that a lot too, like “oh really? you have savings? in retirement?”.. totally surprised that a girl my age, who dresses, looks and thinks the way I do, could possibly be interested in something as hard as money
*rolls eyes*
Also, I agree with the point about eating out being a vice. If I wanna eat out, I’ll budget for it. But if I want a set of nice headphones, I’ll forgo eating out for that month just to pay for them..
I definitely get the looks like: “you bring your lunch?”… and then .. “You can actually COOK?”….”and the food is GOOD?”
LOL.. I had some co-workers drool over my lunches and proposition me to share
Only BF succeeded..
My opinion? She’s just resentful that her husband “made” her bring lunch. It’s just hard for her to believe that you do it when you have a choice!
Well heck, just about everyone could ‘afford’ to eat out everyday. It’s just that we couldn’t afford things like ‘clothing’ and ’shelter.’ Or, you know, ‘retirement’, ’savings’ or ‘emergency fund.’
You sound so much wiser than her. Not only is bringing your own lunch easier on the pocketbook but it’s much easier on the waistline, too. Not just a good way to stay healthy but a good way to stay slim, since you control the calories/fat.
I admire your restraint in dealing with her.
Wow, that is a really terrible story. As in, I really hate that there are people like that in the world. Just so clueless and kind of catty. Yeesh.
I bring my lunch to work too. I admit it was hard at first but once I saw the savings, there was no going back. Besides, my food is way healtier than fast food anyway.
[...] At Counting My Pennies, Megan shares a somewhat frustrating experience in which a co-worker who didn’t know her well criticized her for her frugality. It’s a short and very worthwhile read titled “You don’t seem the type.” [...]
[...] at Counting my Pennies wrote about how she deals with rude questions from unfrugal folks. I hate when people try to justify their poor spending habits by judging me for my smart [...]