Moneywise24 Personal Finance

I found myself in a typical situation yesterday, one that I have been trying to avoid since 2009. I was going over my checking account balance, and discovered a missing 100 Euro amount. Something wasn’t right, I felt like someone had stolen it.

I took a good look at my finances, and found an incredible amount of 100 Euro booked to the category ‘to go products’; I use this category for all unnecessary food and beverage items, which are bought quickly when I am going from A to B. Back in 2009, I just bought an item when I felt like it. I might have bought a coffee to go, even knowing that I’d be home in 2 minutes. I still do it every now and then, but usually only in the morning on my way to work, knowing that I’ll be traveling for an hour or so. But now, 100 Euros extra! An yes, having taken a quick glimpse in my ‘to go products’ category, I find the criminal: Starbucks.

I have to admit one thing though: Starbucks has launched a great and unique concept. They actually manage to sell qualitative, but overly-priced food and beverages. I am not sure about pricing in the States, but at Starbucks a muffin costs nearly as much as a sandwich at the bakery store. And I know a muffin will only compensate for that hungry feeling for 30 minutes or so. Still, their concept is so good, that it keeps drawing me inside when I pass. Yes, the frappuchinos are great, and so is the white coffee mocca, although I don’t want to know how many calories are in there.

As a rule of thumb, I always eat something when I go to the supermarket; it prevents me from buying all that food that I don’t need, and I can’t eat it all before it goes bad anyway. Now, I have to eat and drink before I leave the house, because Starbucks is waiting for me around the corner.

My action for change: every time I think about buying something at Starbucks, resist the urge and put 3.50 Euros to the side. When it reaches 100 Euros, invest the money.

Once I think about it… even if I’d spare myself 3 coffees at Starbucks each week, that would be 546 Euros per year that I could invest. At an annual rate of 8%, that is 66,801 Euros in 30 years, or by the time I retire.

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Last week, I met a good friend of mine. As we talked about various topics, our conversation slowly transitioned to the topic of being overweight, and how to not reach that point of being overweight. As we did so, we walked into Starbucks to get ourselves a coffee. As we sat there talking, I observed how a pretty much obese woman next to me litterally stuffed herself with 2 huge cakes within only a few minutes, while she was drinking a grande hot chocolate with a lot of cream on top… and when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

I just had to write a post about that… not about the situation, but rather what can be done to avoid coming to the point of being obese. I consider myself to quite slim, but why is that?

The body needs energy in order to burn it to stay alive; it’s much like a vehicle, which needs petrol in order to burn it for it to move. The is obtained by eating and drinking, and is measured in food calories (kcal), or simply refered to as calories. How much calories you need on a daily basis depends on your gender, you height, weight, age, and daily physical activity. Myself, I would need 2510 calories on a daily basis, as calculated on http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm. It a logical equation: if I eat more than I need, I will gain weight, and if I eat less, I will lose weight.

I consider myself quite slim, although I could lose 2 or 3 kilos. However, I do have a set of unconscious ‘rules’ which I apply each time when I eat something. Here they are, and I hope they will help some readers becoming conscious of their eating habits also:

1. I know how many calories I need per day, I have calculated it. I also know how many calories are in some typical foods and beverages. Calorie Counting offers an overview of the most common foods and beverages. Or you might refer to your favourite site, there is a lot about this topic on the internet. If you are not familiar with calorie counting, please do. You do not have to count each and every calorie and each single snack… but if you are in the habit of having 2 tall White Chocolate Moccha each day, it comes in handy to know that it includes 688 calories. That is one third of my daily needs.
2. I tend having only one big meal per day, either at lunch or in the evening. If I had a big and warm meal during lunch, I might only eat a salad in the evening.
3. I not only look at fat, but also sugar. If I have to drink a Coke, I might rather opt for the low sugar variant.
4. I do not believe commercials and marketing. If something is marketed as ‘low fat’, chances are that there is loads of sugar in it. I want to make my own choice as much as possible, and I recognize that marketing is a tool for generating higher profits, not for making people eat more healthy.
5. I will not let myself be driven crazy by calories and counting them. If I have the sudden urge to eat a king-size burger with fat dripping out of it as soon as it is squeezed, with a hot chocolate with cream on the side, I will. But I know I can not do this every day, and I will compensate for it.
6. If I eat less than the body needs, the body will start using available energy reserves to compensate for it. Many people think, that in this case the body starts using up the fat in our bodies. This is untrue: the body will first focus on the most accessible energy reserves: our muscles. Therefore, I recognize that doing sports is very important. Additionally, the website Health Status has a neat calculator, showing which activity burns how much energy.
7. I recognize, that being overweight has an impact on other areas of life:
   • Overweight people are usually not as self-confident
   • Overweight people have smaller social circles
   • On average, overweight people earn less than those within the same position
   • Overweight people spend on average more money on food and beverages
   • Some airlines charge extra fees for overweight people, making travel more expensive
   • Overweight people are more likely to become ill

I would like to state at this point, that I do not want to criticize overweight men and women. The above text merely reflects my own opinion, and what I do to control my weight in order to create the life I want.

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In the past I could have lived an easy-going month, with little financial activity, and by the end of the month I would notice 150 Dollars is missing from my budget, without really knowing what I spent it on. I could not track this amount anywhere.

I have to admit, I did not have an efficient bookkeeping system at that time, and it is one of the main reasons I implemented it. I started to track all my finances on a day-to-day basis, and what I found quite quickly is that the money which mysteriously seemed missing was in fact spent on convenience items.

As the word says, convenience items are bought out of pure convenience. It might be the quick take-away coffee you buy when you walk past Starbucks on your way to work, or the pack of chewing gum you buy because you saw it lying around while you were waiting at the cash counter. I personally also count fast-food to convenience items.

I have to admit, some convenience items are fully justified; for example, I would sometimes buy a frappuchino after work on a hot late afternoon, or somethings else to reward myself for some achievement I did on that day. In most cases, however, I found that I bought many convenience items because I was simply being lazy or reluctant to say ‘no’ to myself.

I found one trick, which has helped me the most: before I went out the door, I would get prepared. In the morning, I would make sure that I had at least two cups of coffee before I went out the door, sometimes I would even take with me a small bottle of water. Moreover I would make sure that I would not leave home with a hungry feeling, especially not when I was going shopping for groceries; doing your groceries while you’re actully hungry will result in uncontrollable shopping and thus spending more money. Additionally, each time when I shop for groceries I will make a shopping list, and rarely deviate from it. This allows me to stick to the original plan.

Surely I still spend some money on convenience items, but the total amounts has dropped from 150 Dollars to around 50 Dollars per month; a very good result.

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