By Jason Cox

Find more of his views at his blog: http://stingyfriend.wordpress.com

Welcome to the first installment of the new mini-blog, "Little Tip Big Money." (Please disregard the alternative meaning of the last two letters of my acronym - not intentional!)

In this segment, we'll be examining some of those nuances of everyday life - that end up costing a fortune. Sure, most of these "little tips" may be common sense, but most of us still do it anyway, and it might just take a little jab at your conscience to quit. So, to begin...

Pack lunch according to hunger level

Little Tip Big Money #1: Quit Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

That's right, I said it. We all like to splurge on food once in a while - after all you only live once, so you might as well enjoy your food! I can agree with that, but what I can't agree on is hitting up the fast food joints every day instead of packing a lunch once in a while.

I'm ashamed to admit that I fell into this pitfall once - and the result was my wallet got skinnier and I got bigger! The truth is you're likely to pay around $5/meal at a fast food place, and you can buy a lunch's worth of food at the market for around $2.50/meal. That's a savings of

52 weeks x 5 days/wk = 260 days x $5/day = $1,300

52 weeks x 5 days/wk = 260 days x $2.50/day = $650

$1,300 - $650 = $650/year savings

Sure, you can eat out once in a while. But doing it once in a while makes it more of it a luxury.