Peer pressure
Bringing your lunch to work is frequently recommended as a way to save money, since spending $5-$10 a day eating lunch out adds up to $100-$200 per month. But women commonly complain that their husbands aren’t willing to bring their lunch. Or worse, that their husbands do bring their lunch but then don’t eat it — spending extra money to eat out and wasting the food they’d brought.
I never really got this reluctance until I witnessed an exchange that made a lot of things clear. The exchange went something like this:
Hey, are you ready to go to lunch?
No, I brought my lunch today.
What, again? You’ve been bringing your lunch a lot lately.
Yes, I’m probably only going to go out once a week.
Why? Are you having money problems? Is that $5 a day going to break you financially?
No, I’d just rather use my money for something else.
Plain and simple, it’s peer pressure in action. I think the person choosing to bring their lunch had a very valid point. They also diffused the situation well, but it’s interesting that the person doing the questioning immediately started ribbing them publicly about having financial problems. Who wants to look desperate? There may also be the fear that people will think you’re cheap, or unfriendly.
If you’re having difficulty implementing a financial change that you want to make, it makes sense to step back and see if there are issues with peer pressure. Solving those issues can make it easier to reach your goal and save money.
July 27th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Does it make me a bad person if I give into peer pressure?
July 27th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Good heavens, how incredibly rude and inappropriately personal of the “friend.” Geez, just tell them you’re trying to eat healthier and that’s easier if you bring your own lunch because you know what goes into it. Can’t really argue with that.
July 27th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Talk about making me grateful for the friends I have! Many of us bring our lunches, and those who are buying usually express admiration for those who brown-bagged it for saving money and eating healthier – not to mention eating better (some homemade lunches are just plain awesome).
July 28th, 2007 at 7:36 am
The guys at work would sometimes buy their lunch but I, being a brown bagger, would just them at the lunch spot. Still having lunch with colleagues but without spending the money.
However this makes it hard if they decide to have lunch at a restaurant.
July 30th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
I love bringing my own food, because I know it tastes amazing, it’s decently healthy AND I paid much less for it than in a restaurant.. plus everyone’s jealous when I bring in really great food and they’re stuck having to eat subs again because they didn’t plan ahead.
I totally feel the peer pressure to buy food every lunch time… so I’ve taken to leaving my cards at home. If I don’t have money, I don’t eat. I learned my lesson pretty quickly.