Anonymous wrote:Am I burning money by spending $20 on lunch 3+ days/week?

Well, what else do you spend your money on? Maybe cut out $60 somewhere else and you’ll be golden.

Anonymous wrote:People who become rich people pack their lunches, do their own yard work, and drive cars until they fall apart. People who were born rich eat out, hire everything done, and drive expensive depreciating assets.

This is dumb. Why can’t you become rich and then enjoy your money with conveniences?

OP, I’ve always bought lunch when working in the office. I would spend maybe $10-12/day, not $20. I don’t think spending $20 a day is going to make or break you. Just have a lunch budget as with every other type of expense. For me, I like the variety of food I can get rather than eating dinner leftovers every day, which feels depressing. I can also buy healthy salads that would otherwise be a lot for me to make myself given my limited time.

If I were awesome at cooking and could make myself a yummy lunch every day, I would totally do that. But I’m not.

I do it to save money (400K, so not 1%) and to because the plastic waste make me lose my mind. If you have children, I can't imagine not avoiding take out.

Depends how rich. What I had a HHI of $500K I packed a lunch every day.

People who become rich people pack their lunches, do their own yard work, and drive cars until they fall apart. People who were born rich eat out, hire everything done, and drive expensive depreciating assets.

For weight control and knowing what I am eating, I (and my dh) pack our lunches everyday. I don't know that we are DC "rich" but make 200k+ combined. Eating out a lot is expensive.

I have to eat out a fair amount for work (I do not pay), but otherwise I ALWAYS pack. I love to cook and care a lot about what I eat, so it’s much easier/healthier/better for me to pack. My husband and kids pack lunch every single day.

We mostly eat leftovers and salads. I batch cook and prep and bunch of great salad/grain bowl things each week or make a big pot of soup, so there is always something good on offer.

Before Covid, our entire teM pretty much went out to eat every day. This is New staffers and up, so not just the wealthy. It was an excuse to get out of the office and socialize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not about money, but more about mustering up the bandwidth to prepare lunchboxes.

Yes, so do rich people muster up that bandwidth or not?

They likely have a cook or a SAHW who makes their lunch for them.

I doubt the rock star lawyer is slathering mayo and egg together in the morning to make egg salad while in their bespoke suit.

You guys just don't understand that "normal" people can be quite wealthy. My husband goes to work in casual clothes, drives a small Japanese car, packs his own lunch, yet we have several millions in assets.
He could buy a healthy lunch at his workplace cafeteria if he wasn't so frugal.

You have very inaccurate ideas of what rich really means.

You're not a great ad for being rich, if driving a college-kid car, dressing like a fast-food worker and packing your daily lunch is "what rich really means." Or on second thought, maybe you're just wrong. You're not describing being rich so much as being cheap. You enjoy knowing you have "several millions in assets" and living like you don't. There are many people who enjoy having the several million in assets and live like it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not about money, but more about mustering up the bandwidth to prepare lunchboxes.

Yes, so do rich people muster up that bandwidth or not?

They likely have a cook or a SAHW who makes their lunch for them.

I doubt the rock star lawyer is slathering mayo and egg together in the morning to make egg salad while in their bespoke suit.

You guys just don't understand that "normal" people can be quite wealthy. My husband goes to work in casual clothes, drives a small Japanese car, packs his own lunch, yet we have several millions in assets.
He could buy a healthy lunch at his workplace cafeteria if he wasn't so frugal.

You have very inaccurate ideas of what rich really means.

So he’s rich and has a laid back job without long hours? Is he in Fintech?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not about money, but more about mustering up the bandwidth to prepare lunchboxes.

Yes, so do rich people muster up that bandwidth or not?

They likely have a cook or a SAHW who makes their lunch for them.

I doubt the rock star lawyer is slathering mayo and egg together in the morning to make egg salad while in their bespoke suit.

You guys just don't understand that "normal" people can be quite wealthy. My husband goes to work in casual clothes, drives a small Japanese car, packs his own lunch, yet we have several millions in assets.
He could buy a healthy lunch at his workplace cafeteria if he wasn't so frugal.

You have very inaccurate ideas of what rich really means.

Maybe you have an inaccurate idea? I don't think several million in assets necessarily makes a person rich. Depends on your age and where you live and a bunch of other factors.

Anonymous wrote:We are rich because we pack lunch. Who in their right mind eats out every single day?

Seriously, has nothing to do with being rich LOL

This type of reaction is so dumb to me.

You're not going to "get rich" because you packed lunch every day. Yes with a lot of small decisions across your life, you can be frugal and save a lot of money and then do nice things or reitre early and feel richer than you were when you started. But that's not what anyone is talking about.

And yes, lots of people buy their lunch on work days. They are not out of their mind. They just buy lunch out daily. Not that crazy.

Anonymous wrote:We are rich because we pack lunch. Who in their right mind eats out every single day?

Seriously, has nothing to do with being rich LOL

Lol @ contradictions between the bolded

For me it's a time issue and what do I have in the house issue.

I will bring leftovers when we have them. If I don't have them, I buy lunch.

I do think it adds up and when I was younger and had less money, I always brought my lunch.

I also eat healthier stuff than I would probably eat bringing from home. I get nice and expensive salads.

We are rich because we pack lunch. Who in their right mind eats out every single day?

Seriously, has nothing to do with being rich LOL