Sometimes Getting Your Finances in Order Does Mean Fewer Lattees
At some point, I may seek out Suze Orman’s “Young, Broke, and Fabulous” and do a proper book review, but when I read the back cover a few years ago, the summary turned me off rather strongly. One thing I felt was an outright lie was the book claiming that getting your finances in order didn’t mean fewer lattees, because sometimes that’s exactly what it means.
But before you think I’m just randomly picking on Suze Orman again, this is really a self check. I have not been very thrifty this summer. To a degree this is okay. I took on a part time job, which has given me some extra cash and allowed me to make a lot of purchases that I had been holding off on for the past few years (I’ve been making significantly less than minimumwage). Some were altruistic; I filled four shoe boxes with gifts for Operation Christmas and bought my brother a couple pieces of furniture. Some were practical; I bought new shoes and a couple outfits for interviews. Some were bucket list splurges; restaurants I wanted to try, places to go (Dollywood and that big pyramid in Memphis), and I bought a hamster (which I’ll cover in more detail in another post). And some of it was a lot little splurges, eating out with the nephew and/or friends, buying snacks, sodas, and knick knacks, etc.
My spending spree was not a complete loss of reason. I made a list and prioritized it. I bargain hunted. One of the furniture pieces was a large display cabinet I found for less than $20 at a thrift store. I got the new clothes off Goodwill’s dollar rack. We used a coupon for the Dollywood admission. And the stop in Memphis was part of a business trip.
But I have hit a point where I realized I’ve been spending too much and need to reel in the spending and focus more on savings. I don’t have any guilt about my bigger, planned purchases. They were things that significantly improved my life or someone else’s. But I regret letting my spending on small items start to build.
Lattees specifically aren’t my weakness. But sodas and snacks, little after school dates with my nephew and the occasional restaurant, individually were not big purchases, but they were adding up and burning through money that should have been directed to my savings account. I am going to use lattees as an example of how these little purchases can eat through your income.
Let’s say your lattee of choice is a $4 drink at your favorite coffee shop. You could probably duplicate a similar drink at home for 50 cents, so let’s look at the price difference over time.
Cost Per Year
5 per week
2 per week
1 per week
1 per month
$4 Dollar Lattee
$1040
$416
$208
$48
$0.50 Home Version
$130
$52
$26
$6
Skip it
$0
$0
$0
$0
But before you think I’m just randomly picking on Suze Orman again, this is really a self check. I have not been very thrifty this summer. To a degree this is okay. I took on a part time job, which has given me some extra cash and allowed me to make a lot of purchases that I had been holding off on for the past few years (I’ve been making significantly less than minimumwage). Some were altruistic; I filled four shoe boxes with gifts for Operation Christmas and bought my brother a couple pieces of furniture. Some were practical; I bought new shoes and a couple outfits for interviews. Some were bucket list splurges; restaurants I wanted to try, places to go (Dollywood and that big pyramid in Memphis), and I bought a hamster (which I’ll cover in more detail in another post). And some of it was a lot little splurges, eating out with the nephew and/or friends, buying snacks, sodas, and knick knacks, etc.
My spending spree was not a complete loss of reason. I made a list and prioritized it. I bargain hunted. One of the furniture pieces was a large display cabinet I found for less than $20 at a thrift store. I got the new clothes off Goodwill’s dollar rack. We used a coupon for the Dollywood admission. And the stop in Memphis was part of a business trip.
But I have hit a point where I realized I’ve been spending too much and need to reel in the spending and focus more on savings. I don’t have any guilt about my bigger, planned purchases. They were things that significantly improved my life or someone else’s. But I regret letting my spending on small items start to build.
Lattees specifically aren’t my weakness. But sodas and snacks, little after school dates with my nephew and the occasional restaurant, individually were not big purchases, but they were adding up and burning through money that should have been directed to my savings account. I am going to use lattees as an example of how these little purchases can eat through your income.
Let’s say your lattee of choice is a $4 drink at your favorite coffee shop. You could probably duplicate a similar drink at home for 50 cents, so let’s look at the price difference over time.
Cost Per Year
5 per week
2 per week
1 per week
1 per month
$4 Dollar Lattee
$1040
$416
$208
$48
$0.50 Home Version
$130
$52
$26
$6
Skip it
$0
$0
$0
$0
As you can see cutting back or finding a cheaper substitute can make a huge difference in your spending and saving power.
And I know I've done some similar examples in previous blog post, but it helps me to see it like this and be reminded. I hope it helps you too.
P.S. If you'd like to support my new creative project I'm editing, check out the Tomato Slices facebook page.
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