Hands up who is guilty of overspending? The trouble is, you seem to buy stuff and never seem to know where your money has gone, it’s not like you’ve bought anything major. But it’s amazing how even the smallest of purchases can add up, and you may not even realize how much you are frittering away each month. It is easy to do, and there are lots of people who are guilty of not being frugal enough when they are always short of readies.
Image by Lena
If you have a habit of eating out a lot or buying drinks and snacks on the go, then you know how pricey it can get. Sure, you don’t mind paying over the odds for a truly spectacular meal at a fancy restaurant. But paying twice the price for an average bottle of water at a gas station is just exploiting the consumer. It goes way beyond fair pricing, but that’s another whole blog piece in itself! Don’t even get me started!
One of the biggest spends that we don’t often realize we are wasting so much cash on is coffee. Oh yes, coffee. There are so many of us addicted to our super skinny whip caramel latte to go. But there’s a reason chains like Starbucks turnover millions and millions in profit every single quarter. We’re all in love with the fancy coffees they and their other high street counterparts dispense.
So, why is that? Coffee was made hip again by the coffee chains in the nineties and since then our love affair has done nothing but grow. That magical dark liquid from the mystical roast bean is something caffeine addicts can’t get through the day without having. And do you know what? It’s not all to do with the taste!
Coffee shop culture was partly responsible for the coming together of many bands that became the famous grunge scene in Seattle. Groups like Nirvana used to hang out and strum their guitars in the cafes of the American city. Move on a few years, and you’ve got one of the most successful sitcoms ever, Friends, centered around an NYC coffee shop, Central Perk. It’s ingrained in modern culture, and coffee stays on the hip lists year in year out. Coffee is always cool.
There’s also a lot of psychological theories on why the western world is hooked on their fancy brews. In a world where we often have to cut back on our spending, spending four bucks on a coffee seems frivolous and unnecessary. And that’s exactly why it is so appealing to our inner ego. Buying a large, expensive coffee is almost like a status symbol. Their bespoke nature and how easily you can customize them makes us think we are worth the extra effort. Even the to add perceived value to your overpriced purchase. “Grand” “Tall” and “Double” tell our subconscious that we are getting something special. It’s far more exotic sounding than a word as overused as big!
But, as clever as all this marketing is, and the tactics really are ingenious, they’re all just designed to part you with your cash. And leave you (possibly) with an addiction to caffeine. A craving that can only be filled with a double macchiato with a caramel drizzle. Yes, they are nice, and yup, they sure are tasty. However, you could be spending over a hundred dollars a month just on your coffee habit alone, if not even more.
If this is just too much for your already strained budget, then there are alternatives. You could just give up your fix and go cold turkey, but that is pretty unlikely to last. You’ll be back on the lattes in no time at all and return right to square one again. What a waste of time that is, don’t you think?
You can buy many high street brands drinks in capsule form now. All you need is the right machine to put them in! If you think about it, it works out cheaper in the long run, and you can enjoy your favorite drinks at the push of a button. Have a look at http://www.cafepod.com/ for ways to make it even less expensive! They’re pretty much mess free and taste pretty much the same as you’d get in the shop. Surely that’s a winner all round. Okay, it takes a bit of an initial investment, but overall, you’re going to save money even if it takes some time. You’ll still have to have discipline. Even if you manage only to buy one or two shop made coffees a month, you’ll soon have your initial spend back, and then some more!
Of course, if you’re a purist coffee drinker these machines aren’t going to cut it for you. Nope, not a hope. You’re going to want to make a brew from freshly ground beans, flown in from some obscure coffee growing region that no one’s ever heard of before They need to be picked my elves and roasted in a magic fire. That may sound precious, but there really people out there who are a bit like that! A reliable home barista machine is what you need. If you’re looking for the creme de la creme, then do yourself a favor and get all the info at http://bestespressomachinehub.com. You’re going to need something with a decent bar pressure to make a comparable cup of coffee to your favorite cafe. A milk steamer is essential too, so you can steam and smooth your latte ‘til your heart’s content.
The final piece in the puzzle is the all perfect drinking vessel. A travel mug is perfect, so you can have your drinks on the go. Many of your favorite chains make their own you can buy to keep. It’s a lot more environmentally friendly than using up all those paper ones; that’s for sure. They do biodegrade but the plastic resins used means it takes a lot longer to break down than regular cardboard. Check out these travel mugs at http://www.embertech.com. Durable, sturdy and built to last, the initial cost may seem expensive, but you’ll be saving money and the environment. It’s win-win all round!