I finally switched from buying coffee on my way to work to making it at home with a $12 French press

I used to drop $5 a day at the drive-through and now I spend about $3 a week on grounds, which means I have an extra $120 in my pocket this month just from that one change - anyone else find one small swap that added up way faster than they expected?

4 comments

4 Comments

val9747d ago

I did that exact same math with my lunch habit last year. I was spending $12 a day at the deli near my office and switched to making extra dinner and bringing leftovers, now I save like $200 a month easy. The trick for me was buying a good thermos so my soup stays hot until noon, otherwise I'd get lazy and cave for takeout. Also freezing single portions of chili or pasta on Sunday means I never have to think about it during the week. It's wild how one little change like that snowballs into real savings without feeling like you're missing out.

henryr457d agoMost Upvoted

I get what you're saying @val974 but I have to disagree on this one. First off, not everyone has the time or energy to meal prep on Sundays after a long week. I tried the frozen chili thing and by Wednesday I was so bored of it I just threw it away and ordered pizza anyway. Plus the whole washing a thermos and carrying extra bags to work is annoying. For me the $12 deli sandwich was worth it because I was actually eating fresh food instead of the same leftovers three times a week. Sometimes the convenience tax is just part of your life and that's okay.

dylan_ward7d ago

Did you catch that Freakonomics episode about the "hot hand" fallacy in personal finance? It basically says people overestimate how much they'll stick to a new habit. I'm with val974 on the math but henryr45 has a point about burnout. I tried meal prepping once and by Thursday I was staring at a container of cold pasta like it personally insulted me. What actually worked for me was keeping a stash of frozen burritos from Costco at work. They're like $1.50 each and I just microwave one when I'd otherwise cave for takeout. Not gourmet but it breaks the spending cycle without requiring my entire Sunday.

davidshah7d ago

Ha, the cold pasta insulted me too! I feel like meal prep is basically a gamble where you're betting against your own future taste buds. My big trick to avoid the Thursday revolt was just rotating my frozen stash - I do Trader Joe's frozen Kung Pao chicken one day, some random burrito the next, keeps the monotony at bay without needing to be a whole chef about it. Works about 75% of the time, which is honestly way better than that 0% success rate I had with my grand Sunday meal prep plans.