Ever since I started making money, I started eating more. Why not? I can finally afford to have my mouth chewing constantly. The problem was when I realized I was going over 90kg. At one point, I struggled to get out of my chair. You know what happens next: constant weigh-ins, regular jogging sessions that leave me breathless, tolerating the muffin top etc. Wasting my money was another corollary of the same problem; despite making more money than ever, I couldn't get any of it to stick. Why can't I get these two to act in reverse: become fat with money but lean in physique? It would take me some years before I finally determine the exact cause of the problem and tackle it directly.
I will eventually realize that food habits are established in childhood and are extremely difficult to correct. For me, it took about 5 years of constant writing, reading, researching, exercising and dieting until I formulated a proper plan. The problem I was having was like a ball of differently colored strands of twine; pulling on one end actually tightened any number of other strands. Putting in effort actually made things worse. If I gave names to these strands, they would be:
Emotions are deeply intertwined with the food we eat, which explains the intensity with which the problem kept occurring. Typically, we use foods to correct some incorrigible situation in the environment, in my case the fact I had no control over when and how my father made meals. Once I started dealing with my feelings, most notably anxiety, I was ready to turn my diet around. Because of that, I'll be including some of my emotional states and thought patterns as we go with my budget cut. I did notice fasting helps with clearing the mind (hence the purge attempts) but I never before had a fully controllable environment where I'm in charge.
For me, the primary goal of the budget cut is to stop wasting money on food that is being used as an emotional stimulant, such as dark chocolate and pumpkin seeds. That doesn't mean I won't eat those but simply that I'll have to budget for them, for example by buying things in bulk to save and then buying a chocolate from the pfening crumbs. I'll consider being able to cut down my expenses from 350 to 100 KM on food a month a tremendous success. After the 30 days are over, I'll reconsider if the saving plan can continue, needs to be relaxed or can even be made more restrictive.
I'll give myself a 3.33/3.33/3.34 budget every three days to avoid 9.99 = 10 rounding errors. Where needed, I'll use my card so to avoid the cashier rounding the change in store's favor. I'm going full Jew mode here (Juden Modus). The money used is BAM aka KM aka "konvertibilna marka", with 100 pfenings making up 1 KM. 1 € = 1.95 BAM. I had the following food before beginning the challenge:
In the cupboard, I have 500g of honey, 6 baggies of soup, some white flour, 100g of capellini pasta, some spirulina, baking soda and teas. In the freezer, I have a slab of bacon, a fistful of vegetable mix, two large trouts and three medium chicken drumsticks (250g each). I don't plan on using these emergency reserves and will abort the plan if I feel such overwhelming hunger that I reach for them. I will also consider my budget is too strict if I do resort to using any of those. So, that's the failure condition.
Besides wasting money and food, I was also wasting energy, meaning I was exerting myself too much for no good reason except emotional agitation. I will also try to save energy when it comes to talking, sitting, walking, biking etc., meaning I'll save calories. This isn't simply a budget cut when it comes to food money but also when it comes to mental, physical and emotional energy. If my calculations are correct, doing whatever it takes to cut my food budget by 71.4% and feel great will also make me feel much better in all aspects. Numbers in brackets show how much I spent on food that day. It should all add up to -100 at the end of 30 days.
Bought nothing. Made 2 eggs and 2 sausages with ginger and scallions, eating them with bread throughout the day. Saved 3,33 KM.
Bought 900g of 12% milkfat sour cream for 2,85; 10-pack of 53-63g eggs for 2,45 and 516g of carrots for 0,95. Total cost = 6,25. Still got 0,41 pfenings for the next day. Cooked rice, added 2 fried sausages, added olive oil, ate with scallions, bread. Carrot for dessert. Still got the toast, it does tend to scratch the inside of my mouth when eaten constantly.
Crumbled some bread into a cup of milk for breakfast. Bought 1kg of dried fruit and hazelnut muesli that cost 6,15 KM. Today I have 3,34 and 0,41 from yesterday, meaning I've dipped 2,40 into tomorrow and have 0,93 left for day 4. I actually found an identical bag of muesli in two stores but in one it was 5% more expensive. Savings are everywhere, you just have to pay attention. Also, some lady left a 5 pfening coin at the register; the cashier didn't want it either so I picked it up. According to maritime law, we're all naval vessels and such cash is abandoned at sea (that's what I was told by Sovereign Citizens).
Anyway, the bag of muesli should last at least a couple days. This buying of foods in bulk seems like a winning strat for the challenge. Should have done the same with eggs, there's a 30-pack of eggs that I believe saves me 10-15% than if I were to buy 3x 10-pack. Ate some muesli soaked with half a cup of milk. A bit dryer than I like but it goes down. Eggs for dinner, it seems.
I feel warm. I know that's the effect of fasting, since the body burns its fat reserves. The last time I weighed myself, I had about 85kg and since I'm 180cm, I should ideally lose about 7-10kg of body fat to finally lose the muffin top. One kilogram of body fat has 7,000 calories and I spend about 2,000 a day, meaning if I eat nothing for a month I'll still be just fine. I don't intend to starve because that makes me incapacitated for work but the lack of calories does appear unsettling because I'm so used to constantly spending, chewing and tolerating digestive issues. I do wonder when I'm going to get some meat, probably by saving through bulk purchases and eating it once a week. I hope I don't lose my muscle mass.
Started writing a wishlist. Since I no longer feel the need to derive pleasure from food, I found a strong yearning to make a list of things I look forward to, such as buying a book or going to watch a movie. I remember making wishlists as a kid, which means the normal mental processes are being restored. After all the stress, it's my old self coming back to life. One item is Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air", a breathless story of two teams fighting to reach Mt. Everest summit.
Panic-bought a can of sardines for 1,40 from a 24-7 store early in the morning. Chowed it down with eggs and sour cream. Tasted great. Should have bought one way before I felt desire for meat, probably would have saved some 15-20 pfenings. Now I've spent all my budget for today and dipped into day 5 by 0,47 pfenings.
Woke up with what felt like being on fire around 5 a.m. I wasn't sweating. Probably has to do with me using 6 blankets mid-June. There's barely been any summer this year and then all of a sudden it's 20° C at 8 a.m.
Big pack of hotdogs for 4,49, bread for 1,30, 656g of carrots for 1,21, 688g of apples for 1,62. Eggs are out. Sour cream nearly out.
30-pack of eggs for 6,99, 1 liter of milk for 1,29 and 516g of cucumber for 0,75. I'm burning through my budget but it really does appear unavoidable to burden myself.
Well, after holding out for 7 days, I finally caved in and made some instant soup. The experiment didn't go out as planned and in the end I wasn't able to save money. However, I did notice some interesting trends.
I found myself buying food because it was a few cents cheaper but its quality was significantly worse or it tasted just plain bad. I thought of buying dark chocolate and rolled oats to make my own muesli but it seriously tasted like bitter wood shavings in milk while only costing a small fraction less. That's another thing I didn't consider before starting the trial; cheaper food comes with more food-borne risks since I'll be making it myself.
I did manage to save but the source of savings was completely unexpected – veggies. Fresh veggies were excellent at curbing hunger and by this I primarily mean carrots and cucumbers. Fruit? Not so much. I discovered I can in theory eat any amount of fruit but only a fistful of fresh veggies before getting sated. Eating any meal with veggies meant abandoning it halfway through and only coming back a couple hours later.
I also tried to save power, which I managed to do, and again the source of savings was completely unexpected. I started taking showers by heating up a pot of water on the stove and then pouring it in a washbowl to mix with cold water and adjust temperature; I'd use a separate cup just to pour water on myself. Not using the water heater saved around 60% on my power bill and I was quite comfortable with it, seeing that's how I took showers as a kid.
I avoided using the clothes machines as well, again with the help of pot on the stove providing me with hot water to soak, rinse and scrub to remove stubborn stains. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw I only used 100 kW instead of my regular 400 a month. Of course, I made sure I changed all incandescent lightbulbs to LED ones that spend 1/10 of the power and come with a 3-year warranty.
Saving money on food is doable but highly unlikely if you're not growing and/or cooking your own food. If you're living alone, it's difficult to find time to cook meals every day. Stocking supplies and buying in bulk is a big deal and can cause you to make rash buying decisions, wiping out your savings in a single hunger-fueled store trip.
Saving money on power, now that's a real game-changer. By finding ways to save money you're comfortable with, you can do something in the long run, but setting yourself untenable goals will only make you miserable and still won't save you anything.