Coffee Addiction

source: http://www.spiralpocus.com/

Let's face, it most of us sleep deprived college students cannot go a day without coffee. The amount of money I spend at Starbucks or Dunkin Donut was absurd. I'm a proud owner of a Starbucks card and I must confess that I had a set goal last semester to earn gold member status at Starbucks. That meant purchasing at least 30 drinks within 3 months. Another confession: I had program my card to be on auto-load, which meant I always had money on my card. The main motivation for the auto-load was to avoid the utter shock and guilt I got from noticing how fast I went through $25 worth of coffee.
Let's do the math: 1 cup of coffee / 6 days a week for a $4 cup of coffee comes to approx. $1,152.00 a year.
Yes, I'm on a student budget but I can't survive without my daily dose of caffeine.

Solution = Purchase a coffee maker! There are many options to chose from:

For those living in a dorm and don't have a stove

• On the expensive end there are counter-top espresso makers or a coffee pod machines like the Keurig.

• You can also use a french press and an electric kettle. All you have to do is boil the water, pour it offer the coffee and let it steep for 5 min. 

For those living in an apartment / house

• Invest in a percolator. This is the most used appliance in our apartment. There are several sizes from ones that produce 2 shots of coffee to up to 6 shots. We own one that makes 4 shots. This means that my roommate and I can both have a double-shot cup of coffee, which is the equivalent of a Grande drink at Starbucks.

The cost of buying a percolator or french press is around $20 and a bag of Starbucks ground coffee is $9.59. A 12 oz. bag between 2 people lasts us approximately a month. That averages out to $115.00 a year between the two of us ($57 per person) for espresso add some extra for the cost of milk and sugar bring the cost $200 per year / person.

Total Savings: $952 per year x 4 years of college = $3,808