My Average Workday

Let's talk a little about what my average workday used to look like:

* Wake up late, get the kids and myself ready for the day and drop off at school at the last minute.
* Since I was generally late and had no time to look for parking on the street, I would park in the parking lot closest to my office.
* Stop by the coffee shop for a good cup of coffee and a muffin.
* Work myself silly until lunch time.
* Go out to lunch with some colleagues for some schmoozing and recharging of the batteries.
* Back to work – fairly tired from the big lunch, but effective none-the-less.
* Mid-afternoon break which included a snack at the kiosk and sometimes even a coffee at the coffee shop on the corner.
* A little bit more work before going home.
* Pick up the kids from Aftercare and stop for some ice cream to cool us off.
* Early evenings spent with lots of kids around, either at home or in the park. If there were lots of kids at home, we would finish off the evening with a delivery of pizza, send all kids home, shower, pj's and off to bed – ALL OF US!

WOW! I am impressed with this quick look from the side. Pretty busy days. No wonder I sleep so well. I am impressed from all the activity but not so impressed by the amount of money that would slip through my fingers.

Let's make a quick calculation:

Parking Lot - 50
Coffee and muffin - 12
Lunch (we had lunch coupons) - 15
Afternoon snack - 8
Afternoon coffee - 10
Ice cream – 18
Pizza delivery – 69

Total: 182 Shekels (about $45) - UNBELIEVABLE!

Let's say that I take away the 3 items that I didn't buy every day – afternoon coffee, ice cream and pizza – the total is still 85 shekels! 85 shekels a day on things I really didn't need.

I work about 264 days a year – that would come out to 22,440 shekels a year! Today, I can think of a lot of better things to do with that kind of money. Things like paying off debt or investing to create passive income.

I have changed my ways and have almost completely eliminated frivolous spending while still being able to "buy on demand" or "splurge" just because. The only difference is that now I have the money to do so!

Check out your daily routine and see how much money and on what you spend routinely and ask yourself if there are better ways to spend it.

Mindy