The recent headlines indicating that if people stop buying sandwiches they will be able to afford to buy a home has definitely grabbed attention. This is definitely the sort of content that does very well on social media because there is a level of absurdity to it all. Most meal deals are available for between £3 and £4, so even if someone was buying lunch at the more expensive end five days a week, their overall spend would be £20 a week.

This would amount to £1,040 a week which is a lot of money. You would then further argue that some weeks people would be on holiday, they would be ill, they could be working from home and lunch may be provided on certain days. All of these aspects could bring the amount of money a person spends on lunch down over the course of a year. Then again, there will be some days when a person enjoys a more extravagant lunch which means that the level of spend will increase, so there could be some people who normally buy a meal deal at lunch but still manage to spend more than a grand when they pick up sandwiches.

Will you stop buying sandwiches?

A grand is a lot of money and a lot of people would be appalled to learn how much they were spending on food for work. However, even if they do stop buying sandwiches, they aren’t going to suddenly be in a position to afford a deposit for a home. A study led by My Home Move found that for the initial three months of 2017, the average deposit for homes in England and Wales was £59,633. This means if you stop buying sandwiches, you’ll have your deposit saved up in 59 years. Given that the vast, vast majority of people don’t work for 59 years, there is going to be a slight problem in making sandwiches at home in the hope of bringing in enough money to change your life.

Of course, there is a serious point to the message. People should look at their expenditure and try to be more realistic in their use of money. Even making lunch at home for a few days a week would lead to a big saving and this could help people to make improvements. When you stop buying sandwiches you can save a small amount of money but if you are able to stop buying sandwiches alongside a lot of other changes, you will find that you can start to make a notable difference when it comes to building a better future.