On the back of an envelope

I am not a big drinker but I do like a good beer or whisky once in a while, so when I was considering a diet, I was a bit relieved that both my doctor and my dietitian did not try to ban alcohol all together. Even though a healthy diet ideally doesn't contain alcohol at all, one or two consumptions over the weekend is considered ok. However, recommendations are generally stated in 'units', roughly equivalent to a small glass of wine or a glass of beer. Now I don´t drink wine, but I do like both beer and whisky, so one of my friends suggested that a diet might benefit from staying with just beer, as 'hard liquor', or 'spirits', contains a lot more alcohol. Does this advice make sense? It may sound like it does, but let's look at a small list of alcoholic beverages, both beers [see note 1] and hard liquor. Brand Type ABV % Heineken Pilsener lager 5.0% Lagunitas IPA IPA 6.2% Chouffe blond 8.0% Rochefort 8 dubbel 9.2% Westm...

We’ve all been there: standing in the kitchen, smelling that heavenly aroma of a fresh loaf, and wondering—is this actually saving me money, or am I just paying for a very delicious hobby? I decided to do a quick "back of the envelope" calculation to see if my bread machine is a financial hero or just a countertop ornament. The Baseline: The Supermarket Loaf Let’s look at a budget supermarket staple: a nice, full-size Waldkorn (whole grain) loaf . Weight: 800g (approx. 500g of "solid matter", see notes at end). Price: €2.49 The Home-Baked Contender In my bread machine, I make a slightly smaller loaf (375g of dry ingredients) using organic ingredients from a local mill. Here is how the grocery list breaks down (buying in 5kg quantities, prices rounded up to nearest cent): 175g Waldkorn Mix: €1.12 200g Regular Flour: €0.32 7g Yeast: €0.10 Ingredient Subtotal: €1.54 The "Honesty" Tax: Power & Equipment To be fair, we have to account...

Hi, the idea of this blog is to verify day to day assumptions with simple back of an envelope calculations. Those assumptions could be anything from "I save a lot of money collecting rainwater in a butt", to "Isolating the outside wall of my kitchen reduces my gas bill". We might also tackle some not-so-straight-forward questions like "How to count vehicles per hour passing a point" based on counting vehicles coming towards you while driving a car. So yeah, it could go anywhere really 😀 Any calculations will be presented in a manner that is easy to understand, and I will link to sources so you can check my calculations. Be aware that I am based in the Netherlands so when I talk about prices they may be completely different for you (and will be in Euros)! So don't assume that any conclusion I might draw from my back of the envelope calculations equally apply to you. Verify, and draw your own conclusions is probably the best bit of advice I can give. An...