Budget Sense

In the beginning of last year, I wrote about a new resolution or ideas for 2022, where it would help me to both lose weight and save money. Win Win. Can’t beat that. For those who didn’t get a chance to read the post last year, the idea behind ‘Junk to Health to Wealth‘ is to cut down on junk food spending and save that money instead. Although I didn’t spend a lot of money on junk food and dinning out in general, I still did it couple of times a week, easily adding up to $25-30 if not more, depending on whether we dined out with the entire family. And that was even before the current inflation which would add an extra 10-15% to the total.

So how did my resolution hold up and how did I do in 2022 and did I carry this into 2023?

Glad to report that I did great! Let us go through some numbers and figures.

With some minor exceptions here and there, I stuck to my intention to only buy fast food once a week, maybe twice if it involves family outings. In other words, I cut junk food purchase to half or less. Meaning half the money and calories saved.

How much is that in terms of health impact?

In terms of calories saved and how that translates into better weight management, the math is rather simple and clear: assuming I cut 1.5 fast food purchases a week, each having an average of 1100 calories (for a combo) , that works out to 1650 calories a week , multiplied by 52 weeks in a year, and we get just over 85k calories saved a year. With each pound having 3500 calories, that means I saved myself close to 24.5 lbs.!

What about the financial gains?

Using the numbers above and assuming the average combo meal is $8, and with 1.5 combos eliminated a week, multiplied by 52 weeks a year, comes up to about $625 saved! That is pretty significant savings, especially when you couple it with the above health gains. And I rolled this saved money into a saving account and from there I used it to purchase dividend paying stocks.

Making one effective decision can have a positive ripple effect on multiple aspects of your life. I have found this to be true through my own kexperience in 2022, and have continued to apply this principle in 2023. Through 3 weeks of January, I have made two fast food purchases so far, which is in line with my goal and even better.

I am no slave to junk food. I may eat it once or twice a week, sometimes with the family. But despite it not being a daily habit, it still goes a long way towards causing damage to both my pocket and health, especially with the rising prices for food of late.

So for 2022, I have a new saving goal in mind, which will help improve two hugely important areas of my life: my pocket and my heart, both in an almost literal sense.

Junk to Health to Wealth

The idea is simple: on the days I know I would go out and eat junk (usually over the weekend) I will withhold those purchases and instead save that money. At first, I thought I would just keep the money and spend it on something else, since it was part of my ‘personal spending money’ anyway. But I thought it is more effective if I diverted this saved money to a new saving program or even into a piggy bank. Why? To be able to physically see the result of this diversion initiative. In other words, in 6 months or 1 year from now, I will not only be able to go on the scale and see a difference in my weight , I should also realize some nice financial savings from this junk food boycott or reduction.

Putting it in OKR terminology

If you are thinking this in terms of ‘Objectives and Key Results’ , it could read something like this:

Objective: (based on historical data of how often I ate at junk food places and how much I spend) : To save $500 a year and reduce my weight by 7 lbs for the year by reducing how often I frequent these places.

Key results:

• Visit max of once a week (from two)
• Spend a max of $7.50 a visit
• Skip at least once a month from the remaining regular visits.

If I eliminate my visits from 2 to 1 visit a week , this alone would result into savings of $375 per year, based on 50 weeks. If I can also eliminate one extra visit per month, that is another $90, putting me close to my goal of saving $500 from this ‘Junk to Health to Wealth‘ initiative.

While the numbers look clear and the advantages are numerous, this will not be without challenges and distractions. There will be those random days and weeks where you are out with the family and are too far from home or can’t wait , so you just do the easy thing and buy junk. That is fine. We should almost build those in and try to make up by skipping the next visit to eat junk.

Good luck if you decide to do this and let us in the comments below how it goes.