I'm taking a huge risk here covering this topic early on, but I think it's more important than people realize. The cost of a cup of coffee from food chains across the country vary significantly, but they're not cheap. Factor in the specialty coffee shops that have become so popular these days, and the average cup of coffee is likely in the $3 range. That means that on the lowest end, people are spending more than $500 a year on coffee outside of the house. On the high end, well I don't even want to think about it.
Realistically, the cost of coffee is relatively insignificant compared to other major money mistakes we tend to make. However, I'll be talking a lot about priorities on this blog, and I think most people would agree that if I gave you $500 right now, very few people would choose to spend it on coffee. Yet, everyday across the country we see the drive thru at our local fast food restaurants backed up onto the street as our co-workers stop for their first cup of the day. For most people this won't be their only coffee outside of the house on any given day, and most have no idea what the financial cost really is.
Now $500 a year really isn't that significant for most people. But when you choose to waste $500 on coffee, what are the chances that you're not wasting more in the rest of your financial life. Counting the pennies, (how much longer will we be able to say that), is unlikely to help anyone in the long run, but paying attention to the details will help you to avoid making more and greater financial mistakes. We will all make mistakes, intentional or otherwise with our money, but the goal should always be to limit those mistakes and their effect by learning from them and growing for the future. If we can focus on the small stuff, the big stuff will follow and that $500 in spending on junk will net savings in the tens of thousands.
