What's Your Coffee Costing You? - Refresh Financial

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What’s Your Coffee Costing You?

What's your coffee costing you?

I’ll never forget when frequent coffee customers that I served while in university, stopped coming in for their extra large caramel macchiato every day. When they suddenly appeared a few weeks later, I asked them where they had gone.  They replied, “we looked at what we spend per month on coffee and realized that if we stopped we could save that money and go on a nice vacation every year!”  Wow, was that ever a lesson in saving for me.

Did you know, the average North American spends nearly $1,100 per year on coffee? Pretty crazy right? Imagine if instead of buying cups of coffee, you invested that amount each year for ten years. At 6% interest you've set yourself up with just shy of $14,500! We all know that cutting out coffee can be like deciding to push your car to work instead of turning on the ignition - you need the fuel. But if you're in debt, you need to make wiser decisions than Starbucks and even Tim Hortons. You're not buying coffee from them, you're buying convenience.

A home made cup of coffee costs up to 25 cents a cup to brew. Freshly ground, organic, fair trade beans can often be found from a local roaster in your neighbourhood and they can give you tips on what might be your favourite type of beans. Meanwhile, your local coffee shop wants to charge you $2+ for one scoop of beans brewed to perfection. Why? Because it's a convenience for you. It doesn't have to be this way.

What you can do

First of all, this is one place you need a budget. If you use mint.com, make sure to start tracking your coffee spending. If you want to spend half the average consumer, limit yourself to $10 a week for coffee, which should be enough for a good quality pound of beans.

Second, take a look at what type of coffee makers there are out there. We love stove top espresso makers that can be found for under $30.

Lastly, turn your focus onto the art of enjoying the freedom of brewing your own high quality coffee for a quarter, instead of the prison of convenience when you pay $2-3 for a to-go cup. And don't forget to use the thousands you'll save over the coming years to pay down debt and save for tomorrow.

Michael & the team at Refresh Financial

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