Is Your Workplace Affecting Your Wallet?

Let me start off by saying I am absolutely grateful to have a job, but I can't help but notice how the office is affecting my budget, and I'm not even considering transportation and costs to maintain a professional wardrobe.  First there is the pressure to go out on group lunches, which are much more expensive than my homemade or frozen lunches.  Then there is the office party.  At my office, we celebrate birthdays, holidays,  weddings, boss's day, employee appreciation week, and I'm probably forgetting some other party occasions.  We take up a small monthly collections to help with the costs of parties and for office supplies like napkins and cleaning supplies, but each party requires that we either make a potluck dish or pay for catering, and contribute money for gifts.  Each party may call for a small donation, but these $5-$10 add up!

I have to admit, I do love the parties so I always choose to take part in them, but I have come up with a few ways to keep work spending in check:

Office Parties
Suggest a breakfast or afternoon snack party instead of one where the party food is serving as lunch.  This limits the amount of food everyone needs to bring, and everyone can contribute to cheaper food items than  meat items or large sandwich platters.
Offer non-monetary donations.  Bring in decorations, handmade gifts, or games you already own to serve as entertainment.
Suggest consolidating parties.  Instead of celebrating several birthdays individually, have a joint birthday party for co-worker's whose birthdays are in the same month or season.  Likewise, have one big holiday party instead of having back-to-back parties for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.

Group Lunches
Take advantage of lunch specials offered during the day to get menu items for a cheaper price.
Split an entree with a coworker to save on costs and keep you both from over-eating :)
Swap a  restaurant meal for B.Y.O.L (bring your own lunch) get-together in the break room or at a nearby park.

So, is your workplace affecting your wallet? How much do you spend on average each month for work related expenses? Feel free to share!

September Dine In Challenge

This month, I'm challenging myself to eat more meals at home.   I originally just wanted to curb my fast food habit, but figured why not see if I could avoid all restaurants! For the month of September, I'm giving myself only 2 free passes to eat a meal that is not prepared at home (mine or someone else's lol).  And when I say free pass, I also mean that I'm only going to eat at a restaurant if I can eat for free.  September is my birthday month, so I've racked up more than a few birthday coupons giving me free items.  Now free items are good, but a free meal is even better! With that being said, I'm planning to use a birthday certificate for Steak 'n Shake that gives me a free double steak burger with fries. Also, during the week of September 6th through 10th, Chick-Fil-A is offering a free breakfast entree, so I will probably use that as my other free pass.

Hopefully by the end of the month I'll save both money and calories, and maybe even become a better cook!

Feel free to join me! It's never too late!

Journey to Fitness: Finances and Beyond

For the past month, I have been working on creating a more healthy lifestyle.  Keeping track of my budget has become pretty routine for me, but working on fitness, nutrition, and finances at the same time is tough!   Whenever I'm faced with a challenge or feel a bit overwhelmed, I try to simplify things as much as possible by making connections between seemingly unrelated things. In doing that I find that I get a better understanding of each individual task, and can come up with ways to tackle them both at the same time.  So in an effort to help me (and hopefully you all as well!), I've brainstormed some ways that the journey to health and fitness and the journey to financial fitness are alike.  

Both require you to manage 2 main elements.  Whether it is income vs expenses or calorie intake vs calories burned, you have to be aware of what goes in and what goes out.