I’m there to make money, not spend it

The other night, I was listening to some podcasts while I prepped dinner, and when I saw the, “You’re there to make money, not to spend it.” episode from Laura Vanderkam, I thought, “Oh, that’s what I say about packing my lunches!”

Then I listened to it and realized I’d inspired the podcast episode. Heh.

(Although, I have to give credit to my friend Katy of The Nonconsumer Advocate because she is the source of this phrase for me!)

In the podcast, Laura mentioned that buying a lunch doesn’t add up to a prodigously high amount of money. At $10/day, you’d spend a bit over $2500 in a year.

She acknowledged that for her listeners, who tend to be high earners, this amount of money is not very shocking.

But for someone like me, the value proposition is quite different. I make $20/hour as a student nurse patient care tech, which means a 12-hour shift earns me $240 before taxes.

Also, since my shifts are so long, I’m packing a hefty lunch, plus a mid-morning snack, plus coffee, plus I’m prepping a breakfast to scarf down before I leave.

If I bought all of that at the hospital, I’d definitely spend more than $10/day!

I’m guessing it would be pretty easy to drop $20 on food in a shift ($5 coffee, $5 breakfast, $10 lunch, plus a snack). That would eat up the pay from an hour of my shift (and actually more than an hour, if you consider taxes).

So, if I pack a lunch, I can keep more of my paycheck, and that feels good to me.

Also, as I have pointed out before, the food I am packing for myself is generally more nutritious than what I’d be able to buy at the hospital.

Two other good things: a packed lunch produces very little trash since I always pack in reusable containers and since it doesn’t require a trek to the cafeteria, I can spend more of my lunch break actually eating.

Other ways I keep my paycheck

The “I’m here to make money, not spend it.” attitude motivates me to pack my lunch, yes, but that’s not the only effect it has!

I bought only two sets of scrubs

I did not ever work more than two shifts in a row over the summer, so two sets of scrubs were all I needed.

It was tempting to buy more, but the more scrubs I buy, the less of my paycheck I’m keeping!

(I will buy more once I graduate since I’ll be up to three shifts a week then.)

I did the same for my clinical scrub uniform; I bought two tops and two pants because we usually just have two clinical days in a row.

I wear shoes from eBay

I wear my foot-shaped, zero-drop Altras whenever I work, and I get mine from eBay by routinely searching up my model and size.

That way I always have a backup pair or two here and I never have to pay full price.

I did not buy a water bottle

Stanley cups and Owalla bottles are quite popular among the nursing staff but I still just use my free metal water bottle that I got at Fincon 2019. 🙂

And I bring my coffee in my Yeti mug that I got from being a bridesmaid in my brother’s 2021 wedding.

I bought almost no lunch-packing supplies

There are a dizzying array of products you can buy for lunch-packing, but the only things I bought were a larger insulated lunch bag and two hard plastic reusable ice packs.

(The flowered lunch bag in this post’s pictures is an old one from Aldi that I use for shorter days, like school lecture days.)

The lunch bag and the ice packs will last me through many a packed lunch, so I consider them to be an investment that pays for themselves over time. 🙂

What has “I’m here to earn, not spend.” looked like for you?

P.S. The argument for packing drinks and food on college lecture and clinical days is even stronger. Not only am I making $0 on those days, I actually am paying for the privilege of being there! So I really do not want to be spending extra money on food and drinks.

P.P.S. I did buy this pair of compression socks and I probably will buy another couple of pairs because they really do help to reduce the fatigue in my calves from multiple shifts in a row.

P.P.P.S. I work my hospital tech job mainly because I want the experience, so despite the title of this post, I’m not actually mainly there to earn money. Ha.