Lunch Challenge Fail
Well, after 161 days (or 5.5 months, 44% of the year), my Lunch Challenge has come to an end. If you’re new to this blog, I had challenged myself to go without buying coffee/snacks/lunch during the work week for the entire year. The only time I was able to break the rule was when I was traveling for work (and could expense the meal), or if I was given a gift card that I hadn’t purchased myself. I initially came up with the Lunch Challenge because I wanted to see how organized I could be.
Lunch Challenge Fail
A friend at work is getting married next weekend, so yesterday we all went out for lunch to celebrate. I spent $21 – Cactus Club isn’t cheap! Even though I wasn’t able to go the entire year without buying lunch, I’m extremely happy that I broke it for a good reason – and not just because I had forgotten to pack a lunch, or because I was too lazy.
Down but not out
I have a really bad habit of falling into what I like to call the “what’s the point?” trap – where, if I set a goal for myself and fail, I just give up and revert back to old habits because, well, what’s the point? I’ve already failed, which means the goal is now out of reach. I remember that happening a lot when I was in debt. I would be really good at watching my spending for a while, and then I’d cave in and buy one thing, which for some reason would make my spending kind of spiral out of control. It’s in me to be sort of a perfectionist, so when one thing goes wrong, I tend just to let it all go to hell in a handbasket.
But not this time.
Yes, I failed at my initial goal. But my new goal (starting today) is to go the rest of 2011 without buying lunch – which will mean if I achieve this goal, I will only have bought lunch once this year. Who knows. I might end up failing again by going out for lunch to celebrate somebody’s something in a few months. But I’m still going to try, and I have to keep it in perspective. Going 161 days without spending any money on coffee/snacks/lunch is still a pretty good accomplishment. So I’m not going to give up, because there IS a point to all of this. I need to hold myself accountable, pick myself up when I’ve fallen down, re-adjust my goals based on ever changing circumstances, and keep my eye on the prize.
Have you ever suffered from the “what’s the point?” trap?
24 Responses to “Lunch Challenge Fail”
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Honestly, I get the point of this is to challenge yourself, but I think you're taking it a little too hard. Going out for lunch with a coworker to celebrate something, or even just because, is hardly a lunchtime fail if the goal was simply to force yourself to be organized. Like, I've put myself on pretty much a permanent fast food/take out/etc. ban for all meals — unless I'm going out with someone. Because then it goes from being lazy and unorganized, to being social. I think you should cut yourself a little slack. :)
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I know what you mean – I've had that problem too. What cured me of it actually was when I first became a vegetarian. In the first year or so I ate meat a handful of times – and at first I had the urge to say, alright, to heck with it, might as well just go back to meat eating full force! But someone pointed out that the previous 6 months of no meat were still meaningful – there were still potentially a certain number of live chickens and cows and pigs (or percentages of same) because going without meat really did decrease demand (admittedly in a teeny tiny way). Anyway, I went back to eating plants and I found the lesson stuck with me about money too. So I slipped and spent $5 when I was out and about – I still have the *other* dollars I didn't spend in my account! No need to spend those too! Or so I tell myself… it's not always easy. Good luck with your lunch challenge.
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Oh yeah, all the time… with my diet. Food is my downfall.
But if you're re-adjusting goals and the goal is to be organized, then maybe the goal should be to limit buying lunch to once (or twice!) a month, in a planned manner – ie. a special occasion. No special occasion, no lunch.
I don't think this qualifies as a fail. Had you said no to going out for this celebratory lunch then you would run the risk of looking stuck up or that you don't like the person being celebrated. I think there are always exceptions and this qualifies. I agree with an earlier comment, you are being too hard on yourself.
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How about instead of the goal of not buying lunch for the rest of the year, the goal can be only buying lunch in celebration of major milestone events (weddings, departures, probably promotions)? Like others have said, this doesn't reflect on your organization or "laziness," but not going will reflect on you personally.
Dude. You did so freaking awesome, one lunch out for a good reason DOES NOT qualify as breaking your Lunch Challenge. I say it's still on.
I'm with the others on this. I don't consider it a FAIL. It's an amazing achievement, one which inspired me to see if I could do it. I did have an exception rule which is – special occasions. I don't want to miss out on special times with my friends all because I want to save a few dollars. I take it out of my ENTERTAINMENT expenses. I love your blog Krystal. You're my inspiration.
I don't consider this a fail. You went out with a friend to help her celebrate. You didn't forget your lunch and run to the local fast food place. I've thought about doing this challenge myself but I hated my old job so much that I couldn't stand the thought of spending my lunches in the cramped breakroom. I might reconsider now because I have a job that I like.
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I fall for that trap all of the time. I've done it this month already. I over spent for the month of June already so I just gave up trying to control it and decided to just try to do better from next month.
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I agree with the others. Don't be too hard on yourself. You are only human. Plus you should focus on how well you have done the rest of the time and how you have made such a huge improvement. Don't focus on the negative. I myself have been working on this because it is so important.
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I have a really hard time with curbing my spending on grabbing lunch and coffee. I am also an all or nothing type of person. I think I need to place some sort of incentive reward in order to really stop spending.
I would love to know how much you have managed to save from now buying food? Great job–one slip up is fine:).
I think that's pretty impressive – I also (frequently) fall into the "whats the point" trap, and its almost impossible for me to avoid. I don't think I could do a whole year, but I've been thinking of challenging myself to a month or so of not buying lunches.
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I think you've done a great job so far! I'd like to set a similar challenge for me & my husband… eating out once/week max. We spend way too much money on eating out!
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I don't think you broke it at all. You've done so well with it up until now and it's not like you forgot your lunch; like you said. It was a celebration lunch so that does not fall into the same category. You've done amazing. Don't be so hard on yourself.
I wish I could plan something like this. I would sure save a bit of money, but my job is somewhat social and we eat out every few months for staff meetings and whatnot.
Time for a paradigm shift…. your challenge did not include exceptions (technically a failure). You might revamp your challenge criteria to be able to handle these (celebratory events rather than regular lunches). I do see your logic in how you set the original one — tendency to always go out and buy something. It's when you go past N (some number) of purchased lunches in a given period that you can call it a failure.
It's like smoking — very few people succeed the first time that they try to quit. Statistics show that the median value is something like four attempts.
Like everyone else said — start again with a good will!
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What a difficult challenge and what an awesome streak! 161 days is very impressive; it makes me want to try a similar paper-bag only lunch challenge. I think looking at your challenge with a positive spin (I've already proven I can go 161 days without buying a lunch – another 161 shouldn't be a problem) may help with starting over again.
Did you find you often had to say no to lunches with coworkers?
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Congrats on making it for 161 days! It's very impressive and should not be considered a fail. Good for you!
You totally have not failed. You have done amazingly. I have to admit I operate similarly too. These school holidays I bought one thing on Ebay and before I knew it I thought ' what the hell " and bought four more things. I am like it with food too, hence yo yo dieting I suppose. Anyway as long as we can catch ourselves doing this, then we can work on it and all is well again. Hopefully. Love your blog.
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[...] gmbmfb for Give Me Back My Five Bucks, 2011. | Permalink | 19 comments | Post tags: annual goals, [...]
I couldn't do 161 days of that…well done!
Iva
Congrats!! I couldn't manage to do it for even 16 days …
[...] Club. This marks the second time all year that I’ve gone out for lunch during the work week. The first time was back in June, to celebrate a co-worker’s upcoming wedding. This time it was to celebrate 4 birthdays at [...]
[...] Lunch Challenge. FAIL! Even though I failed at this challenge, I’m proud of what I accomplished by going 161 straight days (or 5.5 months, 44% of the year) [...]