The Brown Bag Revisited

Data I included in my previous post got me thinking about my own situation. While I've always focused on the short-term (i.e. monthly budget) benefit of packing a lunch, I've never really considered longer-term consequences. Here is my brown-bagging status:

• I pack a lunch every day,
• I include leftovers 100% of the time,
• I don't actual use a brown bag per se, I reuse a plastic grocery bag (read helplessly frugal) .

Were I to eat out, a modest lunch would be about $6.50. In a week that's $32.50 and annually, $1690! As there is no additional cost for me to pack a lunch I'm counting this as 100% savings.

A few observations:

• This amounts to over 8% of my gross savings goal for 2006 of $20,450,
• To enjoy a similar gain through employment income, I would need to (successfully) walk into my manager's office and request a raise of about $2682. Hmm...
  
• Assuming the cost of eating out appreciates at an inflation rate of 2.2%, and assuming a long-term growth rate of 7%, investing this savings alone over a 10-year period accrues $25,492.35.

Admittedly this isn't terribly glamourous*, though handy in the short term and hopefully valuable as time goes by.

* Not particularly helped by the plastic grocery bag.