Skip to main content

Coffee or Freedom?

I'm back off Dunkins. Well, sort of. Since things were going so well lately in terms of finances, I found myself getting a little bit too comfortable with my morning coffee routine. If you add it up, its about an extra 10-12 dollars per week that I was spending on my morning cuppa. Then in the afternoons, I might run down and get a starbucks as well. Another 6-8 bucks per week. All told, I was spending close to 20 dollars per week just on coffee or tea! This seemed ridiculous to me even without any of the latte factor hype.

In the end, I've decided that I will try to switch back to my old ways of making coffee at work. I use the coffee-single "tea-bag" type coffee. Its not as good as Dunkins, that is for sure. But, I think that in the long run I will be happier knowing that I didn't waste 20 dollars a week on something that I really didn't need to have every day.

I think that once I get rid of all my non-mortgage debt, I will be more relaxed about these things, but for me, getting out of debt is something that makes me much happier than a cup of coffee.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That one was a big one for my wife and I as well. We'd pick up breakfast together on the way to work at our local (and most excellent) coffee shop, Open Eye Cafe.

The problem was that we spent $12-13 a day for two mocha lattes, a muffin, bagel, and a donation to the tip jar.

$12. 5 days a week. 50 weeks per year.

THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS

We came to our senses (eventually). I bought a coffee pot for my office at a neighbor's garage sale and take my breakfast and lunch every day now.

No wonder we've paid off so much debt in recent months...

Popular posts from this blog

On Buying a Lifestyle...with a Fixed-Rate Mortgage

Despite all of the back and forth about sub-prime mortgages and the housing bubble, I am feeling just fine. The reason is that when purchasing, I followed some old advice: Don't expect to flip. In general, I've been told by many people that you shouldn't buy a home unless you plan to hold on to it for 7 years or longer. If the market does well and you decide to sell, fine. But if you want to be sure not to lose money, don't buy something that you only want for a year or two. I've been in my current location for more than 3 years. I like it. And I have no intention of leaving in the short or medium term. It seems to me, that real estate, like any asset class, has its ups and downs. But as a practical point, I don't look at my home as an asset per se. Rather, I consider it to be a fixed expense that I need to survive, much like food and water. Therefore, as long as the payment is reasonable and it functions to keep me warm and sheltered and comfortable, that is a...

Do Better With Your Time

Recently, I've been extremely busy with some work commitments. The interesting thing for me is that this increased work activity has really helped crystallize some of my feelings with regard to time. And these ideas are a critical part about my view on personal finance. I'm curious to know if others feel similarly. Time is money. That is, Time, in some way, contains energy. Money, is also energy. In the act of working, I am able to compound and increase the amount of money that I have. I am exchanging my time and effort and thought which are components of my work, for the productivity that I produce. And this production gets me money from my employer. However, the first dollars that I make each day, week, or month are the most valuable. Then the ones that I make at the end are the most valuable. (Forget about taxes for a minute.) The reason is, the first ones help me have a place to live and food to eat. And the last ones are the ones that I can use to really improve my life lo...

Quantitative Easing Round Three

It appears that we have another round of Quantitative Easing in the works. If you've been listening to any of the money shows over the past several months, you'll note that most of the major players were not anticipating that! However, a recent update from the Bernanke indicates that the possibility of Quantitative Easing Round Three (QE3) is a very real one....but not in the near term. This article from International Business Times does a good job of explaining the thought process around a possible QE3 and why the timing is not likely to be now. All that being said, the CPI is up and the price of energy is skyrocketing. It is not an easy thing for people to get to work in cars that are not efficient. However, that is not stopping people from certain segments of the political/media spectrum from announcing dirty secrets about Clean Energy . I find that Google News has a great mix of stories from all over and this story -- the increased energy costs is certainly one to watc...