Crinkle Cut Carrots and Financial Freedom

by Lee
(Thailand)

It’s hard to believe that saving just a few dollars a day will add up to a small fortune one day. But for those who understand the concept of saving, even small sums, it truly works. This is my story about saving money by bringing your lunch to work, instead of eating out.

I worked in several offices and sold insurance for the last 20 years of my working life. There always seemed to be a refrigerator and microwave available, so it made my “lunches at work” quite bearable. Sometimes, it was leftovers in a Tupperware® bowl, and sometimes it was sandwiches, but almost always I brought along an apple, and carrot sticks.

I guess I’ve always liked raw carrots enough, and eating any kind of vegetables seems like a healthy choice. But, when I discovered a crinkle cutter at an estate sale many years ago, it made eating carrot sticks more enjoyable.

If I said it made eating them more fun, it would sound too juvenile, so I will just say more pleasurable. If fancy restaurants serve could serve crudités with fancy ridges, I could certainly pack them in my lunch. I found that re-using plastic peanut butter jars worked perfectly.

My Crinkle Cutter was made by HUOT in St Paul MN. I much later tried to find out more about that company, but failed. It certainly is a sturdy piece of stainless steel kitchen equipment. And just the other day, I looked online and found that you can buy similar cutters for about $10. So, it’s an enduring design.




Okay, enough about carrots. Whatever your incentive to pack a lunch is good. I found that it’s much healthier than eating fast food every day, and MUCH CHEAPER. For comparison, I sought out the average bill at McDonald’s, in the USA. It said, online, as low as $5 for the Happy Meal, and up to $9.

Let’s take a round number like $5 a day in “savings.” Multiply that by 5 days per week, and 50 weeks a year, less a dozen holidays, and you have a figure of about $1,200 a year. While current interest rates are quite modest, they still provide an increase in the total. But even without interest, that would be about $48,000 in the bank on retirement day, considering an average 40-year work history.

I was not fanatical about bringing my lunch; I did go out with friends occasionally. But as a rule, I brought my lunch. I found that it was more convenient, healthier, and definitely more economical. My “Crinkle Cut Carrot Plan for Financial Freedom” worked for me.

And if you want to, take it one step more. If you took that sum of money and bought an annuity, a man age 65 who was just retiring, could get a lifetime income in the neighborhood of $300 per month. Now that would buy a lot of carrots. But maybe some might be tired of carrots by that plateau.

By the way, when I retired and moved out of the country, my Huot Crinkle Cutter came with me.

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