Life on a Budget

If you are one of the many millions of people who stop off at the local coffee chain on your way to work, and/or when you drop off the kids, and/or to pick up the kids, and/or just about any time you leave your house, you may want to consider brewing your own cup of Joe before you leave the house.  Not only are you likely to get a better cup of coffee, you are also likely to see a lot more money in your bank account at the end of the year.  Let’s take a look at the numbers:

Home brew

The cost of brewing your own coffee at home has so many variables that I’m not even going to try to break out all the scenarios. But I can say that it is cheaper than buying by the cup. One trick to getting a great cup of coffee while saving more money is to get a bag of your favorite premium blend and mix it with a cheaper blend. You’ll be surprised how the premium taste shines through and how long the bag of premium blend lasts.

Coffee chain

A medium cup of regular coffee at my local coffee chain is $2.

(plug in how many cups you buy each day) X avg $2 price of coffee X 7 days in a week X 52 weeks = cost per year

How much money can you save?

Cutting 1 cup a day = $728 a year
Cutting 2 cups a day = $1456 a year

Cutting 2 cups a week = $208 a year

A fancier cup

If you find that you have a taste for the fancier drinks like lattes, mochas and espressos then cutting back even one cup a week may help you stay within your budget since these tend to run $4-$6 a cup.

Avg $5 a cup X (plug in how many you buy per week) X 52 weeks = cost per year

How much money can you save?

Cutting 1 drink a week = $260 a year
Cutting 2 drinks a week = $520 a year

If you were to buy one of these fancier cups of coffee every single day you would spend approx $1800 a year!

If you just cannot make your own or cut back from buying a cup of coffee then try ordering a medium instead of a large or a small instead of a medium.  Not only will you save a little bit of money, you may even start to see your waistline decrease also!