Beating Brown Bag Boredom

One of the biggest costs of working in an office can be lunches - a 'low cost' takeaway can be $10 a day, whereas a fancier lunch can run up to $30.. plus drinks. For office workers going out to lunch every day can cost up to $100 a week.

Bringing lunch from home (Brown Bagging) is an easy way to bring the costs down, but after a while ham and cheese sandwiches get really boring. While it can be tempting to go out for some variety, it's easy to change up the basics to keep things interesting, and on budget.

Satisfying sandwiches

In summer my sandwiches are ham, cheese, tomato and cucumber. In winter it's ham, cheese and tomato on the grill. While the staples are delicious the same thing week in and week out can get dull. 

Whenever I ask google for some new ideas the suggestions are extremely costly and elaborate. Instead, there are some super simple options to make it interesting.

• Salad dressing and sauces - Thousand Island Dressing, Mayonaisse and Pesto are delicious on a sandwich. A dollar worth of dressing or sauces can last an entire week and turn a same-same sandwich into something new.
• Herbs and spices - salt and pepper are an obvious choice, but a sprinkle of Oregano turns a ham, cheese tomato sandwich into a pizza sandwich. 
• Change up to protein - swap ham for turkey, chicken or roast beef. Each protein has a different flavour and opens the door for different cheese, veg, or sauce options.

Pasta playground

Pasta is a winter favourite, but it's easy to fall into the trap of minced beef, garlic, tomatoes and cheese.

• Change your colour - red sauce pasta is the easy choice, but what about white sauces, that can be creamy, or cheesy, or garlicky. A green sauce can be made with a pesto base, or if you're feeling like something light, a simple lemon juice or olive oil dressing can make a great variety.  
• Protein options - mince beef is the staple for spaghetti, but meatballs can give the same flavour and a new texture. Chicken pairs beautifully with bacon and potato. Turkey tastes wonderful with pesto. Chorizo can add a smokey flavour. 
• Leveraging Keto for comfort - a favourite trick of mine is to take a 'keto' casserole and add pasta. Keto recipes alone can be heavy and expensive, with an abundance or cream and butter. Adding pasta to a keto casserole reduces the cost per serve, and creates a delicious comfort food that warms any winter.

Salads made special

When summer rolls around, pastas are heavy and warm. Leafy greens by themselves might not seem exciting, but there are so many flavours that can be added.

• Sauce it up - sauce is the trick to any tasty salad. There are the obvious ones like thousand island or ceaser dressing, but you can make your own with a little effort. Olive oil, mustard and lemon juice is cheap, tasty, and the oil will help keep you full. Mayonnaise can be flavoured with ketchup, or garlic, or pepper. For an even easier one, mix hummus with a bit of olive oil.
• Meat and Dairy (or tofu and beans) - salads can be boring when it's just vegetables. they have a reputation for being paired with flavourless poached chicken. Instead try different cheeses like feta or haloumi. Try crumbed chicken tenders, or salmon. And don't skimp on the nuts - cashews are both flavour and texture!
• Sweetness - lastly, try sweet additions. strawberries in a salad are divine (mix with feta, cashews, balsamic vinegar and honey). Apples and walnuts go together. Pomegranate seeds add a crunchy texture and a rich taste.

Vegetarian Variety

We have a high dependence on meat to be the stand out star of our meals. Yet, more than two million people are vegetarians. While for many this is a moral or ethical choice, it can also be a benefit to the budget. While it's easy to see a vegetarian diet as a boring one, it forces creativity, especially for those of us who are not so reliant on meat.

When meat is removed from the dish, we're forced to think harder about how to add flavour. Mushrooms and beans are the obvious alternatives, but other stand outs include roast pumpkin, zucchini and eggplant.

You can also draw inspiration from other cultures - lots of Indian and Japanese cuisines are light on meat. Both cultures use large amounts of rice, however the two approaches are markedly different.


If you're struggling to stay inspired, small changes can be some of the better ones - keeping you on an easy routine without letting boredom set in. Once you've tried something new for a while, the old classics will still be waiting for you.

How money in the bank got me a Great performance review

source

A couple of weeks ago I got to sit through the joyous quarterly occasion that is a performance review. Of course, we don't call them that because a positive outlook is everything so we call them Inspiration Sessions!! Well, not quite, but it's a similarly pompous name.

I'm not one of the FIRE bloggers who loves their job and says they'd keep working even with money in the bank. I'm one of those FIRE bloggers who checks their numbers every Monday and sighs before opening the job pages and seeing if something else has come up before eventually getting down to work for the day.

But, despite all this, I still got a Great outcome in my performance review thanks to my FIREy pursuits.

John Goodman in the Gambler.
Go watch this scene, if you haven't already.

This scene from The Gambler might be the entire FIRE manifesto wrapped up in a short one minute speech. Get Money, Stash it away where it gives you a big fat warm safety blanket, then if your boss or anyone else asks you to do something you don't want you can calmly and confidently say F-U.

While I'm far from FIRE'd (seven and a half years at last check) I could go a few months without a job without having to tap into my investments. And if I did tap them, I could easily last a couple of years. It gives me a sense of comfort and confidence to know that I could weather (almost) any financial storm.

Okay yeah, but what's your point?

How does money in the bank lead to a good performance review? We have five metrics that we are graded on, and they're all behaviourl based. They call out ethics, teamwork, striving for excellence, courage and mindset. Take a guess which one I got a Great result on.

Courage

In my self assessment I gave myself full marks for Courage and my boss agreed. Having money in the bank means I don't give a damn if I get muscled out of this job I've grown to dislike. Six months ago we had a different team and while I didn't love my job, I came to work everyday, got some stuff done and felt alright about myself.

Now, with my new team structure I feel undervalued, ignored, and underworked. A month ago I recommended a method to dealing with an issue that was overruled by my manager. The issue persisted and we recently had an hour long team meeting about it. The outcome? 100% agreement from the team that my initial solution was the way to go.

This might sound like a bizarre combination of complaining and bragging, but the focus here is that Money in the Bank gives me the courage and power to stand up and say no. My boss can still overrule me because that's his role, but I have no hesitation in telling him that I believe his decision is incorrect, and the potential impact it can have.

There is no way I could conduct myself like this if I was living paycheck-to-paycheck. If that was my scenario I'd need to keep my head down and my mouth shut while working frantically on ever changing goals and tasks I disagreed with. The peril of being fired (the bad kind) would rule all my actions. 

For some people, FIRE is an unattainable goal. For others, they love their job and see no reason to squirrel away large amounts of money. As someone who used to like their job and is now in a pretty unpleasant situation I can whole heartedly endorse the value of F-U money - even if you never plan to quit. Things can change and that job you love can quickly become a daily struggle.

F-U Money isn't enough to retire on, but it's enough to give breathing room. And apparently it will get you a great rating in your quarterly reviews.

Focus on your day job

A popular idea in the personal finance sphere is to start a side hustle. An online business, babysitting, or even a blog like this one can bring in a couple of hundred a week if done right. Of course it can also bring in next to nothing if you don't do it right (ask me about my blog profits ;) ). However we (almost) all have day jobs that are where we make most of our money.

Given a little love and attention these day jobs can make us a lot more money than any side hustle - for the same number of hours a week.

Side Hustle Rates

The income from side hustles varies wildly. Babysitters can charge $20-$25 an hour, maybe more for multiple children or overnight stints. Pet sitters generally only charge $20-$25 a night. Freelance writing rates vary from $10 an hour to $40 an hour, or sometimes $5 for 500 words, up to $20 for 500 words.

For every wildly successful freelancer out there, there are 100 more people make a measly $5 a week from online surveys or less. 

Of course, we don't often talk about the unsuccessful hustlers. Their stories just aren't as interesting, but they outnumber the success stories at least 100 to 1, maybe even 1,000 to 1. Or ever more!

Day Job Rates

Minimum wage in Australia is $18.29. While this might not seem very exciting when compared to making $40 an hour freelancing, day jobs have these wonderful things called promotions.

But before starting on the idea of making more money, remember that day jobs also come with annual leave and sick leave. In my position I earn 4 weeks annual leave each year, and 12 days sick leave. I also get public holidays off and get paid the same for a public holiday week.

With 4 weeks annual leave, 12 days sick leave and 12 public holidays, there are 44 days each year that I don't need to be at work, and still get paid.

Considering minimum wage, the rate on paper is $18.29 - $695.02 a week (38 hours) or $36,141.04 a year. However, consider that a full time employee can take all their leave and will still be paid $36,141.04 for only working 46 weeks a year. 

This means your actual hourly rate for the time you are at work is $20.67. This is a couple of dollars higher than your 'on paper' rate and well worth keeping in mind.

A freelancer on the other hand, does not get sick leave, annual leave or public holidays off. They can walk away from work whenever they want (assuming they still meet all their contracts) but the money won't follow them.

Earning more

There are two ways to earn more with a side hustle - work more, or charge more. 

To earn more with your day job you can't pick up more hours (in most cases anyway) - you just have to figure out how to charge more for your time. This comes through in terms of payrises, promotions and bonuses.

It seems easier and more enticing to earn more through a side hustle. After all so many nights are spent watching bad TV, so we have so much free time to trade for money. It also seems to happen instantly, just a few hours set up work for quick returns. 

However, side hustles are terribly draining. Human beings need to work, rest and play. We need to do nothing to take care of ourselves. While the draw of easy money is hard to resist, there isn't much money, and it is terrible for our health and well-being.

The simple alternative is to put in an extra 5-10% effort at work. It's boring, it's dull and when you do it day after day it can feel like it doesn't return much. However we often forget that we have infinite earning power. There are people being paid million dollar salaries.

While a million dollar salary might feel out of reach, by hustling at work rather than on the side, seeing a 5 - 10% pay rise each year isn't a far fetched idea. Starting from minimum wage, a 5% payrise each year for five years would mean you're now earning $23.43 an hour, an extra $200 a week. If you secured a 10% pay increase each year you would now be earning $29.45 a year, an extra $425 a week. 

Could you make that kind of money from a side hustle? Sure, but you wouldn't have the energy left to excel at work, and you'd be eating in to your free time. Is it worth losing all that time with your friends, family and hobbies for a measly couple of hundred a week? Probably not.