Comments on: Just say no to the birthday lunch

By: TGIF link round up: Labor Day Weekend Edition! « Living Well on Less

TGIF link round up: Labor Day Weekend Edition! « Living Well on Less — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:52:24 +0000

[…] Plan Monday a day earlyWedding Wednesday: Planning an elegant reception without spending a fortuneJust say no to the birthday lunchBeing frugal when temptation strikes (is really hard)Spending money can save you […]

By: Marcia

Marcia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:26:12 +0000

Boy I have to agree with you there. I used to eat out a lot…then started bringing lunches. I cut back to just the “Friday lunch”, but … I was still fat. I finally decided to lose some weight and cut out lunches out altogether.

It took months before people stopped asking me. “Can’t you just go once a week?” Honestly, I was at the point where I just couldn’t control myself at a restaurant, so the answer was NO.

Nowadays my trend has caught on, and even the most die-hard lunch-out people bring lunch many days. There is often a 15 minute line at the microwave and 8 people (out of 30!) in the lunchroom.

My dh loves to have lunch out with friends – it’s a social thing. He cut back for awhile from weekly to twice a month, but is back up to weekly. I hate it…mostly because I am jealous…I just can’t eat out and maintain my weight.

The other struggle I have is with the birthday cakes. “Why don’t you have some? It’s a special occasion.” Well, you’ve got 10 birthdays a year, two meetings with cookies every quarter, 10 toddler birthday parties, 6 close-friend birthdays, my quilting meetings….all of a sudden the “special occasions” are once or twice a week…

By: karla (threadbndr)

karla (threadbndr) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:07:49 +0000

I do budget in money for lunches with co-workers once or twice a month. I’m a widow, and I don’t like to eat out alone.

I do understand though – when it was a choice between lunch with a co-worker and dinner with my sweetie, my choice was different LOL

By: RetiredAt47

RetiredAt47 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:40:15 +0000

Good for you for identifying your priorities and sticking with them. When I worked in an office, I found it incredibly annoying to be constantly hit up for this gift or that, pitch in for some celebration, etc. The real problem became precedent: once I said yes to one, it looked even worse to say no to another.

By: Carnivals, Festivals

Carnivals, Festivals — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:11:56 +0000

[…] Living Well on Less: Just say no to the birthday lunch […]

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:59:52 +0000

OMG, the incessant wallet-drain at work! Pitch in for birthday gift/retirement gift/secret santa/baby giftyadda yadda! And it’s such a hard place to dig your heels in, you look at these people every day and you value their opinion of you. Good for you, having the strength to stick to your committment! We could all use a healthy dose of your resolve!

By: Carnivals, Festivals and Linklove — Almost Frugal

Carnivals, Festivals and Linklove — Almost Frugal — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:05:41 +0000

[…] Well on Less says ‘No!’ to the birthday lunch. How do you deal with continual solicitations to spend money at […]

By: Michele Braun

Michele Braun — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:47:36 +0000

Karen,
Your story about not going out to lunch inspired me to cook dinner tonight! Geno and I have been trying to save money and lose weight, but we are in a bad habit of going out to eat alot. So, reading about the ultimate sacrifice you made, eating alone at lunch helped me to create a great little dinner. I am really impressed with your writing and knowledge.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:16:53 +0000

What a great idea, Sharon! I work in a small office, and most of my co-workers go out every day anyway, so I don’t know how well that would go over.

A co-worker’s wife runs a small scale cake bakery out of their home, and she makes a cake for every birthday. Very nice of her, and the cakes are delicious. Also much cheaper than a store-bought cake, I’m sure. Personally, I think that’s enough for celebrating a birthday. But my co-workers like to go out, so I just sign the cards and sit the lunches out.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:00:48 +0000

I finally bit the bullet and said that I would be unable to attend a birthday Lunch. It wasn’t such and issue when there were only 6 people in our department but we recently added 9 extra people by absorbing another department into ours. My bosses reaction….was how about we all bring in a dish….much better. We all brought in a little something and had a birthday breakfast. This might be something to bring up to co-workers. There might be other people trying to be budget consience but don’t have the guts to say no…..you could help them out.