One of the most commonly covered topics in the personal finance world is bringing your lunch to work. By packing a frugal lunch, you can really save a lot of money over time. For one of my summer jobs in college, I brought my lunch four days out of the week, and it saved me hundreds of dollars over the course of the summer.

Now that I have a job in the real world, things are different. We all know that nothing comes for free, so does bringing your own lunch hurt you in other unexpected ways? Some people argue that your lunch is part of your nonverbal communication, and bringing your own lunch doesn’t exactly project an image of power and success. As absurd as it may sound, does bringing your lunch to work actually hurt your chances of moving up in your career?

My initial thought — that’s crazy. But now that I think about it, all but one of my supervisors at work eat out or buy their lunch everyday. My bosses at the summer job in college also ate out everyday. Practically every boss that I’ve had over the years ate out everyday.

In fact, now that I have a full time job, I never bring my lunch to work anymore. I’m nowhere near a supervisor or boss yet, but I’d like to become one someday. It’ll take a few more years to see if this lunch theory proves to be true, but in the meantime, here are a few reasons why I never bring my lunch to work.

1. Nobody else brings their lunch.
Based on my experience, this one varies greatly depending on the company. I’ve worked at a company where almost half of the employees brought their lunch on a regular basis, but at my current job, the majority of the employees never bring their lunches. Two words — peer pressure.

2. Buying lunch saves time.
Lunch packing zealots will argue that it only takes a few minutes to pack a lunch, and that’s mostly true. What they conveniently leave out is the time that goes into the planning and grocery shopping for the lunches that you make. Of course, you also have to wait when you go out to eat, but while you wait, you can spending time doing something productive, like socializing with your coworkers, supervisors, bosses, etc.

3. Bringing your lunch isolates you.
Even if you’re not one of those people that eat alone at your desk, bringing your lunch still isolates you from your coworkers. Whether it’s making your coworkers wait while you reheat you leftovers or saying “no” to impromptu lunch plans because you already reheated your meatloaf, bringing your lunch can hinder the growth and development of professional relationships that could help you advance your career.

I was recently contacted by a newspaper journalist requesting a phone interview for an upcoming business story. This was exciting news. A PR firm called me with a similar opportunity a few months ago. However, things fell through on their end, so it never happened.

This time around everything seemed like it was going to work out. I did have one request though. I must retain my anonymity/pseudonymity. No big deal, right? People blog under pseudonyms all the time.

Wrong.

After talking to the editor, the reporter told me that I’d have to give my name to get interviewed for the story. Without a moment of hesitation, I knew my answer. No.

I declined because I value my anonymity too much to give it up. This is a personal finance blog after all. I post personal things, including specific figures related to my personal finances. The moment my actual name gets attached to this blog, anybody who knows me (past or present) could find out about my finances by simply googling my name.

On the other hand, I wonder if I’m limiting the growth of Broke Grad Student by passing up media and press opportunities like this. When an anonymous blogger becomes popular, they usually end up revealing their identity anyway, but at that point, it’s usually due to circumstance rather than choice. I’m willing to wait for that circumstance (if it ever happens).

I can understand why the editor wanted a name to attach to the blog — credibility. But, honestly, what’s in a name these days? Penelope Trunk is living proof that you can build credibility using a fake name.

In hindsight, I could have used a fictitious name to appease the editor, gone ahead with the interview, and the content would have been exactly the same. From their point of view, it would have been more credible. From my point of view, it would have been more of a lie.

The truth is that credibility lies in the hands of the readers, not the writers. Regardless of what name you write under, everyone else has the final say on whether or not to trust you, so what difference does a name make? It’s the content that really counts.

This is why I blog pseudonymously and plan on keeping it that way.

One of the questions that almost every college student encounters at least once is, “Should I live with a complete stranger or with my best friend?” The question seems simple enough, and the answer seems like it should be obvious.

When it comes to picking roommates, we naturally assume that our best friends would also make the best roommates. However, this isn’t always true. In fact, many times a good friend can turn out to be a horrible roommate, and here’s why.

1. Your expectations are too high.

Your friends are awesome, and when they become your roommates, you expect them to live up to that level of awesomeness all of the time. The problem is that nobody can be that awesome all of the time (heads would explode). It’s simply not possible to sustain it.

2. You discover their quirks and weaknesses.

After a few days, weeks, or months, you’ll start to discover some of your friends’ quirks and weaknesses. Whether it’s creating a hazard zone in the kitchen, blasting music at 2 AM, snoring so loud you can’t fall asleep, or not paying rent on time, the outcome is always the same. You start to get annoyed.

3. Friends are not friends forever.

Conflict is inevitable when multiple people share a space. It’s one of the things we never grow out of. Eventually, you or one of your friends/roommates will get so annoyed at something that you hit the breaking point. This is when things can get ugly, and many times, this is where friendships end.

4. It gets boring.

If you’re lucky enough to make it through the conflicts that arise without destroying the friendship, then you face another challenge — boredom. It can get boring when you see and hang out with the same people everyday, so you start to branch out by hanging out with new friends, creating another source of potential conflict.

5. It’s like getting married (without the sex).

Living together is a big commitment. It’s kind of like getting married, minus the sex, or exactly like it if you’re in a sexless marriage. With approximately 40-50% of marriages ending in divorce these days, it makes me wonder if the stats would be similar for friends who become roommates.

I don’t know about you, but I’m counting down the days until I get to stuff my belly full of turkey and trimmings. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite times of the year. It’s hard to beat good food and a long weekend, but there’s more to that than Thanksgiving. In fact, I’d argue that Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year, and here’s why.

It’s non-religious.

My friends and family come from a variety of races, ethnicities, cultures, and religions, but none of that matters at Thanksgiving. It’s one of the few holidays that everyone can celebrate without people feeling uncomfortable or left out.

It doesn’t involve gifts.

There’s no pressure to buy a bunch of gifts for everyone and no need to practice your fake excited face for when you have to open another horrible gift from your aunt and uncle, who have a knack for giving you gifts that would have been cool five years ago.

It’s all about the food.

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. That’s just the starting lineup. I haven’t even gotten to the bench. What other holiday can even come close to a lineup like that?

It’s really all about being with family and friends.

Food is great, but it’s even more enjoyable in good company. Thanksgiving is really a celebration of having the opportunity to be together with your family and your friends.

It has something for everyone.

Whether it’s catching the Macy’s Day Parade, watching football all day, preparing for Black Friday, or eating and drinking so much that you pass out, everyone can find something to enjoy during the Thanksgiving holiday.

How far would you be willing to go to pay off your student loans?

A 22-year-old Sacramento State grad seeks to pay off her student loans by auctioning off her virginity at the infamous Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Nevada.

Using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan, the 22-year-old virgin is ready to sell her virginity to eliminate her student debt and to finance grad school.

“I think empowerment of women is picking yourself up and doing something on your own to better yourself,” says Dylan.

Natalie Dylan’s stepfather allegedly applied for student loans in her name and then ran off with the money, leaving her with the debt. After earning her bachelor’s degree in women’s studies at Sacramento State, she plans to get her master’s degree in family and marriage counseling beginning in January, but she needs a way to pay for it.

From a purely financial point of view, I must admit — this plan is brilliant. From a moral point of view, it’s debatable, but don’t be too quick to judge her. Natalie says her virginity won’t simply go to the highest bidder. “I’m looking for intelligence and an overall nice person,” says Dylan.

“When I was younger, I wanted 100% romance, possibly even wait for marriage. But as I grew up, reality kinda hit. And I think its a capitalistic society, and I want to capitalize on this,” explains Dylan.

With bidding up to $250,000 already, it looks like she may be well on her way to capitalizing on her 22-year-old virginity. I think it’s time to update my list of 25 tips and ideas for paying back student loans and unusual ways to get money for college.

For more details on the story and to watch a video interview with Natalie Dylan, check out: Sac State Grad Selling Her Virginity For Tuition