“A cup of coffee from a cafe costs $5. If you buy one each day, that is about $150 a month which adds up to $1800 a year! That’s why I have never bought coffee as I think it is just stupid…”
This is part of the conversations that I overheard in a lift at my office. Actually, this is not the first time I have heard such thing; sometimes we can also find such topics online such as this. Therefore, I got the inspiration to write this post.
As an accountant, I totally agree that buying coffee every day is an invisible financial burden over the long term. Yet, I don’t think this is a stupid nor bad thing.
For me, it is merely a different personal choice of lifestyle and resources allocation.
I developed a ‘coffee habit’ about 2-3 years ago in New Zealand where the coffee is so great. I can’t claim that I drink coffee every day, but my consumption of coffee has definitely become much higher than in the past and I find myself spending more money on it.
Nevertheless, I am not really a big spender. I don’t spend money on branded kinds of stuff; I don’t normally use makeup, and I don’t even use handbags (maybe I am not a woman? 😂)… All I want is the little 15 minutes of mental break each morning… before a long day begins. It is something that I look forward to that motivates me to get through each day, and I am willing to pay for it.
Maybe I am just looking for excuses to make myself feel better for wasting money and to mask my addiction to coffee? Maybe. Sometimes I do feel bad too. But as I said, it is merely a personal choice.
I asked Ben if we should buy a coffee machine instead, but what he said next has enlightened me. We both love coffee because we like the feeling of going out for coffee and sit in the cafe. If we bought a coffee machine, we would get lazier and just stay at home all the time. Perhaps, it is the feelings of ‘convenience’ and ‘consistency’ that has made us addicted to coffee. By the way, we both have an excel spreadsheet to keep track of our spending, so it is very unlikely for us to break the bank because of coffee.
Some people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on branded clothes and beauty products, while some people choose to use the same amount of money in exchange for a year of coffee.
Everyone is different. If one can afford and find joy in doing something, there is nothing wrong with it. Just because someone likes something doesn’t mean other people want to do the same. I wouldn’t say someone is stupid for spending hundreds of dollars on a small bottle of face cream, because it is their choices. 🙂
It may be wise for not spending money on coffee, but may also miss one of the joys of life. ☕
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