So, how much money do you spend on food each year?
Go ahead – take a guess.
Chances are, you’re going to guess way lower than you expected.
Let’s even do some quick math:
- You buy the $3.99 daily special at Subway for lunch every day. Including tax, that’s just under $5 per meal. So let’s round that puppy up to $25 per week for lunch.
- You treat yourself to a $4 coffee 3 times per week. That’s $12 per week.
- At home, you have one beer a day. Sometimes, you may skip a day so you can have two on Saturday. And you never drink on Sunday — so you’re looking at a 6-pack of beer a week. And let’s make that a reasonably good beer, at $9 per sixer. And even if you bought it as a 12-pack or a case at a time, you might save a dollar or two per week… but not a whole bunch more. So let’s keep the $9 per week.
Add that up… (carry the one) and you’re already at $46 per week – almost $50 – on just “stuff”. Take that for an average 50 weeks per year, and you’ve spent $2300 on lunch, some coffee, and one beer a day (albeit a nice beer).
We haven’t even gotten to whether you eat out at dinner or have anything for breakfast, let alone what your weekly grocery bill is.
That’s why you may want to pop your head over to the FOOD SPENDING CALCULATOR to see how your food spending habits match up with the rest of the country.
Are you spending more than the national average at restaurants or at supermarkets? Or have you been relatively thrifty and frugal, and are keeping well within your means?
Web Watch has been to Austin, Texas. There’s some great food there. According to the calculator, folks in Austin spend almost twice the national average for dining out at restaurants. We can completely understand why this may be the case.
So pop your budget numbers into the calculator to see where you fall. You may be surprised how much lettuce you’re spending on actual lettuce.