The Power of Substitution: An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor AND the Debt Away

Most people who grew up in the US have heard the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Good advice, as apples are certainly healthy! More importantly, if you are hungry and want a snack, an apple is better than a bag of potato chips. It’s a healthier substitute.

Here is the nutritional comparison:

Apple (medium, 5.5oz): 90 calories, 0 grams of fat, 2 mg sodium, 5 grams of fiber
Chips (1 oz bag): 150 calories, 10 grams of fat, 180mg sodium, 1 gram of fiber

So, if you make your daily snack an apple instead of a bag of chips, you will consume 60 fewer calories per day. This is despite the apple being a more dense food, at 5.5oz vs. 1.0oz for the chips. Over the course of one year, that’s 21,900 calories saved. If you estimate 3500 calories = 1 pound, you could lose about 6.25 pounds over the course of the year by eating an apple instead of a bag of chips as your daily snack (holding everything else constant, of course).

What about applying this “apple a day” principle to the realm of personal finance? Well, lets take a look at an apple vs. a bag of potato chips based on direct costs. Assume supermarket purchase for the apple and convenience store purchase for the chips:

Apple (medium, 5.5oz): about $0.35 each
Chips (1 oz bag): about $0.75 each

So, if you make your daily snack an apple instead of a bag of chips, you will save 40 cents per day. Again, this despite the apple being a more dense food as well as more nutritious. Over the course of the one year, that’s $146 saved.

In my opinion, that’s a lot of money for a simple choice that’s better for you anyway. More importantly, it speaks to the savings one can generate from making a simple substitution. Just one of these a day could make a nice impact on your checkbook. What’s great is that so many of these substitutions involve bringing in a new choice that’s either a) not materially different from the alternative, or b) much better for you in terms of your health. When you add up all the accumulated benefits from these

Here are some examples of substitution choices in various purchase categories, and their cost savings:

These 10 substitutions, not out of the realm of possibility for a middle-class American family, can save sizeable dollars individually and in aggregate. These are simply examples. Each of us has a different life, and different choices which provide different substitution opportunities. The point is that we all have the opportunity to save quite a bit if we just apply discipline in a few decisions here and there that don’t have a tremendous impact on our overall lives.

Going back to this example, if you take $3,691.25 and multiply it by 20 to get your 20 year savings, you get $73,825. This could pay off a home loan or get your kid through college, avoiding student debt. All for making a few simple, relatively painless substitutions.

And as we know from the HWR framework, the quality of each of our lives is impacted by the health, wealth, and relationship working together and influencing each other. Besides, as I mentioned, an apple a day can keep the doctor away, so some of these substitutions are actually helpful to your life!

This post was included at Money Hacks Carnival #114 at Nerd Wallet.

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