Anonymous wrote:Never mind the money, who has the time to go in (or wait in the drive thru) before work? It's so much faster at home! I need 15 more minutes of sleep more than I need Starbucks!

Anonymous wrote:I started bringing lunch when I went on Weight Watchers because the only compliant foods in the cafeteria were $12 salads. I stopped Starbucks because the work coffee is fine. So far I have lost 9 pounds and am saving at least $250/month! That pays for 2 extra house cleaning sessions so we have weekly cleaners. And it has made me become more frugal in general.

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.

It kills me to see my millennial staff do this. They are in their mid-20s and that $1300 put into an IRA would be worth so much in 10, 20, 30 years!

I was talked into EE savings bonds in my 20s for $50 a pay period or $25 a week. 15 years later I cashed them in and was able to buy a house because I had the down payment. A small amount of money saved routinely and dollar-cost-average invested over time with compounding is like magic.

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.

Anonymous wrote:Often times budgeting advice here is to skip the extras, like cable, or the Starbucks habit or some other supposed daily expense. Does anyone out there actually do that kind of stuff daily -- get Starbucks or like buy your lunch? Really? If so, how much do you spend?