Wake-Up Call: A Price Comparison of Popular Coffee Options

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Wake-Up Call: A Price Comparison of Popular Coffee Options

A daily Starbucks habit seems to have become a universal symbol for financial wastefulness. As such, it seems every mommy-on-a-budget or personal finance blog has covered the ditch your daily coffee shop habit topic. Yep, it's true—a daily tall Starbucks coffee will cost you $733.65 a year, not to mention the travel expenses you incur driving to and from your local Starbucks. Here are some general tips on how to cut down on your coffee expenses, both at home and at the coffee shop:

• Instead of buying expensive flavored coffee, make your own by adding ingredients like orange peels, dried blueberries, cocoa, nutmeg, and cinnamon to unflavored coffee grounds.
• Remember, higher priced coffee doesn't always taste better. Perform a blind taste test using a variety of coffee brands with varying price points—the results may shock you!
• If you use a drip brewer (a traditional coffee pot), brew your next pot of coffee using a mixture of half leftover grounds sourced from the last pot of coffee's coffee filter and half fresh grounds. You may not even be able to tell difference between your "recycled" coffee grounds mixture and a completely fresh batch of grounds, so it's worth a try.
• If you're drinking coffee solely for the energy boost, look for natural ways to increase your energy such as eating a balanced diet, meditating, and exercising.
• If you're still having trouble saying no to the white cup with the green lady on it, buy yourself a $25.00 Starbucks gift card and make that the only form of currency you allow yourself to spend at Starbucks for the next three months. You may even be able to purchase such a gift card off eBay or Craigslist for less than its face value.
• If you love lattes, it's typically cheaper to order a single shot of espresso in a tall cup and then add in milk from the carafe at the self-service milk and sugar station. You can then ask the barista to heat up your drink for you in the microwave.
• Some coffee shops will give you a discount if you bring your own coffee cup.
• If you're on the road and need a coffee, remember that a small cup of McDonald's coffee is less than half the price of a tall Starbucks coffee (and if you're a senior citizen, remember to ask for the senior discount at McDonalds). Gas station coffee is normally pretty cheap too—a small coffee from 7-11 is just $0.79 in my neck of ...

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