I have had an addiction to doughnuts and pizza for a very long time. As a month passes along sometimes you just don’t realize how much money you spend on such a habit. I decided to track these expenses not for just one day or one week but I tracked them for 3 weeks. I was shocked at what I found out. I spent $120 over a three week period on doughnuts and pizza, which is the equivalent of almost $175/month. (WOW). Now, I’m sure you have heard worse stories than this because Kim, your latte gal, was pretty close to this amount.

Here is my action step: I have totally given up doughnuts and pizza and will not (with God’s help) eat them again until January 2005 (or longer if I can make it). Ask anyone in my office, I have made it public and am being held accountable. Also I have set up a fund where I have $150 withdrawn from my checking account “AUTOMATICALLY” every month. Since I plan on continuing this until retirement, I will have saved $1.7 million worth of doughnuts and pizza (I’m currently age 32 so that’s $150 per month for 40 years at 12%). My Social Security age is 72 and I am investing in a fund that has averaged more than 12% since inception. That’s why I use those numbers. So bottom line, I am already healthier, and a little richer but soon (40 years) I will be wealthy. And you know what they say about retirement: EVERY $1.7 MILLION COMES IN HANDY!!!