Does anyone actually get Starbucks every day?

[Anonymous]

"You can't latte yourself to bankruptcy. The bladder won't stand for it" - Katie Porter in Helaine Olen's Pound Foolish

I'm generally a pretty frugal person and avoid unnecessary expenses, including Starbucks. But I can't be too judgmental on those who choose to indulge. If your morning latte is the thing that gets you through the day, or one of the few things you reliably enjoy and look forward to, I don't think it's nearly as destructive as some people imply.

Let's say you spend $5 at Starbucks every day of the year. That's $5x365, or about $1,800 per year, or about $1,300 if you only go on weekdays. I don't want to imply that's a trivial amount of money. But it's not going to make or break your household finances. It's the big lifestyle decisions - car, houses, vacations, schools - that determine your big picture finances. Latte's aren't quite small enough to be dismissed as a rounding error, but they're definitely at the margins of your financial health.

[Anonymous]

Ugh- I do both. I used to get Starbucks 2-3x/wk but now it's turned into a 7 day habit I am pregnant and something about their lattes just settles my stomach and my whole day is thrown off if I don't have one before I eat breakfast. Is there a way to make lattes at home?

[Anonymous]

as a black coffee drinker, I can't tell you how much i hate SB's coffee. it tastes like tar!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh- I do both. I used to get Starbucks 2-3x/wk but now it's turned into a 7 day habit I am pregnant and something about their lattes just settles my stomach and my whole day is thrown off if I don't have one before I eat breakfast. Is there a way to make lattes at home?

Google espresso machines. Most of them will have milk steamer for lattes.

[Anonymous]

I used to get Starbucks *at least* once a day and buy my lunch out back when I was working. We were approx $200k HHI at the same. Very minimal other expenses though because we were DINKs. I also worked a gazillion hours so I needed the caffeine.

[Anonymous]

When I worked full time I used to go out to lunch every day - I'll round up to $10 a day - so that was $50 a week or about $2500 a year. If I could have all that money back I would use it to go out to lunch a bunch of times. Which I continue to do most days I am at home with my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to go to Starbucks every afternoon on my way from work to pick up the kids at the preschool- I was exhausted and needed it to get through the afternoon/evening with toddlers. I didn't care how much it was.... Now that kids are older, I get a Starbucks maybe once a week.

You did not "need" to do this. Put coffee from work in a thermos, drink on the ride home. Or set up home coffee in morning, hit start at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You can't latte yourself to bankruptcy. The bladder won't stand for it" - Katie Porter in Helaine Olen's Pound Foolish

I'm generally a pretty frugal person and avoid unnecessary expenses, including Starbucks. But I can't be too judgmental on those who choose to indulge. If your morning latte is the thing that gets you through the day, or one of the few things you reliably enjoy and look forward to, I don't think it's nearly as destructive as some people imply.

Let's say you spend $5 at Starbucks every day of the year. That's $5x365, or about $1,800 per year, or about $1,300 if you only go on weekdays. I don't want to imply that's a trivial amount of money. But it's not going to make or break your household finances. It's the big lifestyle decisions - car, houses, vacations, schools - that determine your big picture finances. Latte's aren't quite small enough to be dismissed as a rounding error, but they're definitely at the margins of your financial health.

Two issues with this:

1. Anyone who spends $1,800 a year on crappy coffee is probably throwing money away on other pointless extravagances.

2. $1,800 a year *is* a lot of money when you think about the opportunity cost. It's a good chunk of an extra mortgage payment, a pretty nice vacation, or a meaningful contribution toward college/retirement. Versus time lost standing in line and a whole lot of pee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"You can't latte yourself to bankruptcy. The bladder won't stand for it" - Katie Porter in Helaine Olen's Pound Foolish

I'm generally a pretty frugal person and avoid unnecessary expenses, including Starbucks. But I can't be too judgmental on those who choose to indulge. If your morning latte is the thing that gets you through the day, or one of the few things you reliably enjoy and look forward to, I don't think it's nearly as destructive as some people imply.

Let's say you spend $5 at Starbucks every day of the year. That's $5x365, or about $1,800 per year, or about $1,300 if you only go on weekdays. I don't want to imply that's a trivial amount of money. But it's not going to make or break your household finances. It's the big lifestyle decisions - car, houses, vacations, schools - that determine your big picture finances. Latte's aren't quite small enough to be dismissed as a rounding error, but they're definitely at the margins of your financial health.

Two issues with this:

1. Anyone who spends $1,800 a year on crappy coffee is probably throwing money away on other pointless extravagances.

2. $1,800 a year *is* a lot of money when you think about the opportunity cost. It's a good chunk of an extra mortgage payment, a pretty nice vacation, or a meaningful contribution toward college/retirement. Versus time lost standing in line and a whole lot of pee.

And a thicker waistline from sugary drinks!

[Anonymous]

Yes, not me but a friend of mine. And it's always a venti sized drink. I don't know how she can afford it especially when she'll go 2 or 3 times a day sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to go to Starbucks every afternoon on my way from work to pick up the kids at the preschool- I was exhausted and needed it to get through the afternoon/evening with toddlers. I didn't care how much it was.... Now that kids are older, I get a Starbucks maybe once a week.

You did not "need" to do this. Put coffee from work in a thermos, drink on the ride home. Or set up home coffee in morning, hit start at home.

Correct- there is very little that I actually "need", so please put "wanted" in for the word needed. I wanted the coffee and felt the cost was worth it.

[Anonymous]

My DH does this. He commutes by Metro and refuses to carry anything with him. He won't ever pack a lunch or bring in his own coffee. He goes out to lunch and picks up Starbucks afterwards every. single. workday. He used to go to Starbucks more than once a day. My pleading with him at least got him to cut back to once a day. Whenever I bring up packing his own lunch, he actually tries to tell me other people don't carry lunch bags on the Metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to go to Starbucks every afternoon on my way from work to pick up the kids at the preschool- I was exhausted and needed it to get through the afternoon/evening with toddlers. I didn't care how much it was.... Now that kids are older, I get a Starbucks maybe once a week.

You did not "need" to do this. Put coffee from work in a thermos, drink on the ride home. Or set up home coffee in morning, hit start at home.

Correct- there is very little that I actually "need", so please put "wanted" in for the word needed. I wanted the coffee and felt the cost was worth it.

Good that you understand the difference.

[Anonymous]

I get it every weekday. Yes, it's an expensive habit, but we have a comfortable HHI and have our finances in order. It brings me joy and allows me to start my mornings off on a nice note before the day gets crazy with meetings and emergencies at work.

[Anonymous]

My daughter does. Often twice a day.