Good Coffee

Admittedly, I am a coffee snob.  There is nothing better than the sound and smell of coffee beans grinding in the morning... or afternoon, or evening for that matter.  Good coffee can be hard to come by when you are trying to spend small.  It seems like everywhere I turn someone has a Starbucks or Caribou cup in their hand.  All I see are dollar signs.  I do love a splurge at Starbucks, but at three to five bucks a cup - I know why "bucks" is in their name!

On the other hand, I don't want Folgers either.  So, my husband and I embarked on a coffee journey to spend small and still live large.  Our journey ended at World Market.  They have great tasting whole bean (and ground if you prefer) coffee at a decent price.  What's more they have a terrific coffee rewards program that makes the price even better.  For every 6 bags of coffee you buy, you get one free.  Or if you really want to save, and we do, only buy coffee on Wednesdays when you get double points.  That way you only have to buy 3 bags to get one free.  They have 10% off coupons in the Sunday paper from time to time and they have coupons for your birthday when you join the rewards program.

Wednesday deal:
3 bags of 24oz at $9.99 = $29.97 (or $26.97 with coupon)
plus 12oz free
that's 84oz for $29.97 or $0.36/oz (or $0.32/oz with coupon)

Compare to:
Folgers ground without a coupon is about $0.26/oz
Starbucks whole bean without a coupon is about $0.65/oz

So, for just a little more than cheap ground coffee, we get quality whole bean coffee.  It's worth every penny.

Eat In, Not Out - Breakfast

I woke up to the smell of bacon.  My amazing husband made breakfast this morning.  French toast, bacon, fresh fruit, and coffee... delicious!  We are always looking for ways to save money and this morning was no exception.  We decided to figure out how much breakfast cost.  Here was the breakdown:

Loaf of bread - $0.65
6 Eggs - $0.50
12oz Bacon - $3.50
Fruit - $2.00
TOTAL - $6.65

It's a little more difficult to figure the exact cost of the syrup we used and the coffee we drank.  However, we figured that it cost at most $1.25 per person for our family of six.  And we had leftovers!

Consider the option of eating out.  Last week this same amazing husband took me out for breakfast for my birthday.  Being the frugal people we are, we took a coupon.  Buy one meal and two drinks, get a meal free.  Even with this coupon we ended up spending $20 including the tip.  That's $10 a person compared to $1.25.  Maybe it's occasionally acceptable for my birthday or other special occasion, but eating out often will certainly bust your budget.  To be honest, our homemade breakfast tasted just as good and for the price you just can't beat it.