Thursday, November 8, 2018

What's that coffee costing you?

On Thursdays I like to grocery shop early in the morning before work.  The crowds are smaller and it ensures I get the items on my list. 
My Thursday route has me driving by two coffee shops to get from the grocery store to work.  I am amazed at how many people are getting coffee at coffee shops this early in the morning.  I am an addict, for those that don't know I probably consume on average 6 cups a day so I get the addiction. But when you leave your home to get coffee you are wasting money.  Plus, is it safe for a coffee junkie to leave their house and operate a car before they have a mug of java?

I make a mug at home, and one for my to go cup for my commute.  Today I saw lines to these coffee shops that went to the road.  I am speechless, and spent my drive to work thinking about how much this is costing the take out coffee drinker.

You have all heard of the latte factor, but let's just think about the regular coffee factor.  Let's assume you go two times a day for a cup of coffee at the coffee shop.  I did the math in the car on the way to work.   Each cup would be $2, so $4 a day.  Let's pretend you do this each week day for a year.  That low $4 a day is $20 a week.  Over the span of 52 weeks, that is $1040.  WOW that's a big number. But hey, you need a treat and a fix I get it.

Curiosity got to me. I am asked almost daily how we paid off our house, these little things are how.  I hopped on my Ipad to my favourite mortgage calculator website.  I typed in a $100,000 mortgage, for 25 years.  I ran a one time payment of $1040 into that mortgage and wait until you see what those two cups of coffee are costing you over the term of your mortgage... $2781!!!!!  Putting that coffee money on your mortgage is going to save you $2781.  I needed to state that again.
Hopefully reading these numbers will help you see that you can be in charge of your financial destiny.

I'm not saying don't get a coffee from time to time, I'm saying cut back. I'm even going to give you permission to buy a fancy reusable mug to encourage you to use it.
It pays to be frugal. 

Organizing for supper

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