Frugal Fridays With Jen- Do It Yourself

This is what graces my kitchen counter every weeknight: a pitcher of homemade iced tea in a reused Gatorade bottle and a fresh organic lemon (making my daily serving at work $0.10), a Greek yogurt that I got for $1 (each serving $0.20 plus blueberries I got for free this week), a giant bin of cantaloupe that serves as snack at day care and dessert for me all week (free from my mom but usually $1.99, or about $0.15 cents per serving). I put a slice of lemon in a water bottle every day and refill it at the water station at work. An organic lemon is $1 here and a serving is about $0.05, since I can stretch it a long while.

It takes a few minutes extra work to fill my own yogurt and iced tea containers, and slice a lemon, but I am saving about $3 per workday doing so. You probably think I am nuts, but I actually timed the difference, and it is a negligible 3 minutes I am saving every day if I bought prepackaged yogurt, snacks, and pop- to the tune of $60 a month.

I think we often delude ourselves that we just don't have the time, and that buying things for convenience is worth it to make life less hectic. I challenge you to put this to the actual test. I admit I have been through the drive through at Wendy's many a time thinking I worked hours of overtime and don't have the time to cook dinner, when the truth is it takes less time to make a simple egg over easy and buttered toast with a piece of fruit than to drive to a fast food restaurant and pick up a burger and fries.

I am happy to earn $60 a month with 60 minutes extra work. This means I am earning myself $60 an hour, right?