How Being Lazy Can Save You Money

I'm not a lazy person overall, but I do occasionally succumb to the 'I don't want to leave my chair' mentality. Usually when there's a good book and a cat involved and I'm all wrapped up in blankets, the last thing I want to do is leave the house for something as tedious as grocery shopping.  One good thing that comes from being lazy though is the fact that it has probably saved me a lot of money over the years.  When you are loathe to leave the house, it's much easier to hang onto your cash, and even online shopping doesn't have the immediate gratification as going to a store and acquiring something.

Example A:  I've been reading The Hungry Runner Girl blog for quite sometime, and as the title would suggest, she talks about food a lot.  Thankfully, I'm too lazy to make a lot of the recipes she suggests (learning to bake sounds exhausting to me and who needs the calories), and many of the restaurants she goes to are regional and since she lives in California, I'm not tempted.  However, she recently went on a Subway binge and between reading her blog and watching The Biggest Loser, I had some serious cravings for a Subway sandwich.  For days, those sandwiches were all I could think about, and even though there is a subway 1/2 a mile from where I live, on my way home from work, I've been too lazy to go there, and have saved myself at least $5.

You see, it's cold out; street parking is hard to find sometimes; Subway sandwiches often sound good but are disappointing; I can make a sandwich at home that I know I'll like, etc.  I can talk myself out of anything! Now that some time has passed, the craving has abated, and I'll probably go another five years without eating Subway.

Example B:  Back when I was in college, I smoked.  I never really enjoyed smoking, but I was majoring in writing so it was pretty much a given, and I was spending a lot of time in bars and needed something to do with my hands.

All the great writers smoked

However, I can remember numerous times when I wanted a cigarette, didn't have any, and was just too lazy to go buy some.  I never smoked enough that I was physically addicted, so it was super easy to talk myself out of getting into the car and making a special trip just for something that would potentially kill me.  Even when I lived literally across the street from a gas station, I was often too lazy to make the walk.  Savings for my lungs and my wallet.

Example C: 
In college and grad school, friends would often try to get me to go to cafes with them to 'study.' Study is in quotes because what frequently happens is you go to a cafe with some homework, and spend your whole time there talking to people, accomplishing nothing except spending money on food and annoying a waitress. I figured this out quickly, and also figured out that cafe booths are terribly uncomfortable and cafes are loud. By saying no to these invitations, I saved both calories and money AND actually got homework done at home instead of wasting a lot of time.

Example D:
I work on the same street as many restaurants--fancy and non-fancy.  I could potentially go broke taking advantage of all their offerings, but I still pack a lunch every day out of laziness.  If I go out to eat (and I only get an hour), I have to walk to the restaurant, pick something out, wait for it, find a table--you see where I'm going with this.  If I pack a lunch, all I have to do is go downstairs, pop it in the microwave (if it's not a sandwich) then curl up on the couch in the staff lounge with book.  I can get in a whole hour of reading that way!


I often achieve my particular type of laziness by exercising a lot and then being too lethargic to want to do anything else, so for those of you who feel like you need to constantly be doing something, just do a lot of something right away in the morning and then you'll want to loll around.  If you convince yourself that going out and spending money is an arduous task instead of a fun thing to do, you will save lots.  Find a balance between laziness and accomplishing things that works for you, but I have to say, the lazy mindset comes in handy pretty frequently.