Monday Motivation #2

A new week, a new you. Well, sorta. You’re a little wiser this week, (hopefully) than you were last, a little older, and a if things are on track; a lot better. I wanted to make a post about a money-saving hack I’ve been implementing lately into my budget. My good friend Pat is notoriously known for his thrifty ways. He is a master of frugality, and has an eye for savings. Wherever he goes in life, he upholds the honor of making smart purchases, and thus showcases his mastery of self-control. Something that I think all of us can strive to work towards.

A good trick that has stemmed from my money-saving Jedi apprenticeship with Pat is something that I like to call “Don’t fucking spend money on coffee every morning.”  Good name right? I used to go to Dunkin’ Donuts every single morning on my way to work. I’d buy a medium iced Caramel Swirl with one cream, at a whopping $2.53. I did this faithfully for about 6-8months. Now, here’s some math that will really bake your noodle: that comes out to $12.65 a week, $50.06 a month, and a whopping $607.20 a year. Thats a lot of casheesh bro. Hell, I only get mediums too. I know many people that typically get larges or whatever the hell the next one up from that is. For the past several months I’ve been following a rule of thumb as to drive right past Dunkin’, and deflect it’s whispering temptations. I try not to make a single coffee purchase between Monday-Thursday and instead reserve Friday mornings for my Caramel Swirl mouth-orgy. At first it doesn’t seem like much right? Well, it starts to add up if you take the $40.48 a month that you’re saving from only buying your coffee on Fridays, and throwing it into your savings account. All of a sudden it’s December 2013 and Daddy wants a new Xbox 720, well good thing you read this blog post because when your other friends are complaining about the price of their new gaming mistress, you’ll be sitting pretty thinking, “Glad I made that tiny adjustment to my budget and now had the money saved for this potentially relationship threatening purchase.” You get my point.

So it’s a new week, let’s try to be more mindful of purchases this month. Even doing something as little as waiting until Friday’s to buy your morning coffee and sucking up and drinking the toxic sludge coffee at work thats free, will seriously start to add up over time. It’s just a tiny adjustment, but one that is significant towards conserving your money towards things that you otherwise have no room for in your already tight budget. Ya know…like Xbox’s and an iPad. Shh shut up just pay your student loans.

Thanks for reading,

-Steve