I am a coffee lover – so much so, that when I find out I will be staying in a hotel room without a coffee maker (gasp!), I seriously contemplate leaving other travel essentials at home in order to take my own along. And I, like everyone else, bought into the fad of spending $3+ on a cup of specialized coffee. Maybe more than once a day. It was my break, my little treat, something I deserved.
Fortunately, or unfortunately for the neighborhood barista, one day I woke up in the middle of the night and did a little calculation in my head. Let’s say I averaged nine coffees per week. I rounded down to $3/cup. Okay, that means $27/week. Which means $108/month. And that quickly adds up to about $1,300/year. Hmmm, how much are those coffees really worth to me? $1,300 out of a paycheck after taxes (about $1,650 before)?
Let’s say you make $40,000/year in salary. Which equates to $20/hr for a 40 hour work week. That means a little over 80 of your work hours (or two entire weeks of work) are completely wiped out by your coffee breaks. Egad.
Two easy options:
- Brew your coffee at home – if you are going out, buy a great travel mug and you can feel better about your environmental impact as well! Love those fancy lattes, mochas, etc? I do have an awesome Krups Coffee and Espresso Maker
that I have used religiously for the past 7 years. One thing I don’t like, however, is to clean the milk steamer/frother. I fixed that little problem by getting this Latte Frother
– turns out that milk froths better cold and then you can throw it in the microwave for a minute to warm it up. Then add to espresso. You can add chocolate syrup, other flavored syrups, fresh ground nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. Yum!
- If you work in an office everyday and can’t stand the office coffee, invest in a French Press
and brew your own. It still gives you the feel of that coffee break and if you just need to get outside, bring a travel mug and take your fresh brewed coffee with you for a 5 minute walk. No standing in lines wasting your break. You can also add the use of the frother above to create lattes, etc. It still works with French Press coffee. Seem like a bit much? Just keep that $1,300 in mind. 45 seconds to heat, 5 seconds to froth, add coffee/espresso.
PS. The frother is such a great gift for anyone – it can be used to make stellar hot chocolate as well! I give it as a wedding shower gift all the time! Everyone loves it!
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