Week 2: Food Expenditures

Annika R. Uyenco
Blog 2

As someone who does not shop often for material items, this challenge has not been difficult for me yet. Growing up, I have seen people I know buy various items from stores and they just pile up or get thrown away after a while. I was taught to not adopt this shopping habit which I am quite thankful for because I have continuously saved space and money. However, I do have the tendency to impulsively buy things (especially cute and colorful knick-knacks at Target). Impulsive shopping can be dangerous for me, especially if the price is cheap or if I desperately want something I know I won't want anymore after some time. This mindset is a pretty common one. Mariah from the video "The Truth About Where Hair Extensions Come From," said in an interview, "People want things that are disposable. They just, like, want long hair today and that's that." This is true for a lot of items that are meant for temporary pleasure. Once I started college though, that went away due to other important areas of my life I needed to spend money on such as rent and food.

Though I do not struggle with buying material items, I continue to struggle with spending money on food. Although food is a lot less disposable in a sense and have more value, I prefer to spend money at the grocery store since I can buy a lot and can provide food for myself for a longer time period than buying one meal at a restaurant. However, on Wednesday afternoon, I was hungry but unfortunately did not bring any food with me from home and ended up buying a meal at the farmer's market. I made sure to get my money's worth and not waste food. This is a common dilemma for many people, especially working adults and working parents. When these people get home from work, it is tiring to have to cook and prepare food. According to an online article "Lazy with Food: Restaurant Vs. Grocery Expenses," "people waste a lot of money on dining out – anecdotal evidence and personal experiences tell us that much."Hopefully next week my discipline for not shopping for material items will rub off on my food expenditures.

Sources:

Miller, G.E. “Lazy with Food: Restaurant Vs. Grocery Expenses.” 20somethingfinance.Com, 21 Jan. 2019, 20somethingfinance.com/restaurant-vs-grocery-expenses/.

Refinery29. The Truth About Where Hair Extensions Come From | Shady | Refinery29. YouTube, YouTube, 9 June 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlZ1SWLBfPE&t=71s.