How much are you spending?

I've been getting more and more addicted to my coffee lately. When I was working in Crowsnest before, it was one coffee a day. My morning could not start unless I had a Garfish Leah made Mocha. She made the most gorgeous Mochas EVER. Everyone in the company was addicted and if she wasn't making the coffees, we wouldn't buy it. Since moving to the city, I've been searching for the perfect Mocha that can replace the ones Leah used to make. I've tried every single cafe around my work and no one can make a decent Mocha. I've resorted to drinking Lattes and have cut all sugar out of my coffees. Thinking a skim latte with no sugar can't be that bad for you (as opposed to my sugar ladened mocha previously), I've been having coffee more and more. Atleast one every morning and one at 3pm with maybe something in between.

Now being addicted to caffiene isn't much, you should've seen me in uni without a can of V. But whats really getting to me is the price to get a caffiene hit. Don't even talk about INSTANT coffee. Gees.....that really is my last resort and I'd rather have a tea or coke before I would resort to instant coffee. The only exception is when I am really falling asleep and I mix myself a Joltacino or mix about 3-4 teaspoons of the instant coffee with a shot of water and take it like its tequila. Because of my dislike for free instant coffee at work, I fork out $2 for a cup of coffee across the street. Thats a bargain right? $2!! In the city! Freshly grinded aromatic coffee turned into a espresso with the perfect layer of Crema ontop with just enough milk to make it the perfect pick me up after a long day. $2 is cheap! That is until I realised $2 each cup of coffee twice a day is $20 a week. Damn...do I really spend that much on coffee? Ok, I'll cut back.

I bought myself a jar of the Jarrah Caramel Latte powder which is low in sugar and fat thinking I can save money and have a nice cup of coffee to it. Before you scream instant coffee, the caramel in the mix hides any horrible instant coffee taste. I was explaining this to my workmate just then about how I spend atleast $20 a week on coffee and that I should start saving. This is when he replies "Yeh, thats quite alot actually. Its like $1-2K a year isn't it?".

NAh.....can't be.....but wait...$20 a week....by 50 weeks a year (52-4 weeks for annual leave + my weekend and after work coffee sessions) is......OMG! Its $1000 a year!! ON COFFEE!! Then this got me thinking.....what else do I spend my money on?

Lets see.....
Assume I have two alcoholic drinks a week (Ok I know its not realistic cos I can drink like a fish and going for drinks means about 5 drinks for me, but since I rarely go now, lets just say I have 2 a week). Each drink will cost me about $6, thats $624 a year!

Lunch.....I have my good days where I bring leftover from home or I can be bothered cooking to take something to work. But I've recently been lazy and I average about 3 times a week where I go out to get lunch. Its about $7-10 for lunch so lets go with $8.50 x 3. Thats $25.50 a week X 50 weeks a year. Thats $1275! Thats a plane ticket to Singapore!!! Its half a plane ticket around the world!!!

Then I gotta factor in the amount I spend going to the movies, or dinner or catch up with friends. 1-2 times a week, lets say I spend $70 a week since I've counted the alcohol...Thats over $3600 a year!! Holy frickin Moley!!! No wonder my money just disappears like that!!!

Plus the amount of money I spent on books and DVDs! I'm an absolute book and DVD nut! Not only do I buy heaps of them, I also buy duplicate copies of books I already have!!! Yes I know.....I don't NEED the book in small paperback when I've got it in the large paperback......but then it wouldn't go with the rest of my collection if I didn't get the small paperback version.....RIGHT? I can't have 5 small paperbacks and one LARGE paperback in the collection! What type of collection would that be!? And that secondhand copy? I don't really NEED that considering I have a brand spanking new version.....but the book is so good! And I want to lend it to other people! But what if they crease it? That would also ruin my brand spanking new book collection....I mean, my books are ALWAYS in an immaculate condition. I can read a book 3-4 times, and the cover will be perfectly brand new. The spine will never be creased and there will NEVER be any dog ears in my books. But then if I lend it to people, they won't take care of the book like I do! And if I get it back and its all creased or tattered, I'll have to buy a brand new copy at full price! Better to get a secondhand tattered copy to lend to people.....especially people like my brother who don't return books, or my sister who grabs a book and starts pressing down on the spine, highlighting paragraphs and folding dog ears in my books...I once gave a 2 day old unread book to my brother in law as a present since his wife (my sister) creased it. I ran up and bought myself another brand new uncreased copy...

With the end of financial year coming up (in our company anyway), its time to rethink my budget...actually...its time to come up with a budget!