Are You "Coffee Poor"?

Much as I do to my kids, I could bore you with stories of yesteryear about buying a hamburger, fries and a Coke for less than a dollar and using the spare change to go to a movie — but that gets old fast.

It’s fresh on my mind, however, as we were just reviewing the family budget and realized we have an additional car payment-sized line item called “telecom.” You know the deal — multiple cell phones, Internet, cable, in-game purchases for mobile games like Roof Runner and Dragon Bane. The list goes on. We pay more than $300 per month. That’s a car payment — and not just for a Yugo. A real car — for life — just with no car to show for it. But what are we going to do, go without cell phones and Internet?

Another area where we contribute quite a lot out of our budget is, believe it or not, coffee. And in my world, with my responsibilities, coffee is a necessity. I just simply cannot afford to pay $4 or $5 at a national chain for a cup served by some barista kid with a philosophy degree and an enormous beard. Realistically, that could add up to $1,400 a year and a lot of stories about Nietzsche.

So yes, it’s hard to admit, but the family is both “telecom poor” and “coffee poor,” so I am going to try to cut the coffee bill a lot by making the coffee myself. That way, the money can get redirected to other “mom therapy” essentials … like day spas and wine.