Java! Beer ! Spirits! All the Goodness of Your Favorite Beverages (Without the Cost)
A great cup of coffee is worth the money, right?
Well, that all depends.
There’s a good chance you justify paying top-dollar for your favorite coffee because you don’t have to make it yourself. There’s the investment in the equipment and syrups. Or, spending that time just doing it. Being able to drop into a local coffee shop (or drive through) sounds good when you’re craving some java.
The True Cost of Your Favorite Cup of Joe
But… let’s do some math.
Like how you hear with personal finance-type posts, spending the $4.45 on a venti Vanilla Bean Crème Frappuccino at Starbucks each day of the work week quickly adds up. Take the 260 average workdays in a year and you’re spending $1,157!
That’s a mortgage payment and then some for a lot of us!
Compare this to buying a modest latte machine on Amazon (under $200) and some vanilla coffee syrup to make your own drinks at home. Heck, you could throw in the paper cups (about $10/12 pack) and still make out like a bandit.
That’s not all.
Your average wait time in a Starbucks drive-through is about 4 1/2 minutes. Tack on however long it took you to get there (or diverge from your commute) and before long you’re at maybe 10 – 15 minutes. Factor how much your time is worth — let’s say hourly wage — and that cup of Joe might have cost a theoretical $7-$10 if not more!
And that’s just … Read More ...