Ah, fall. Leaves change colors, temperatures start to drop below 60° and high school students trade their Starbucks iced mochas for Starbucks hot chocolate.
Starbucks consumption is a year-round affair in TC. In the summer, it’s used as a way to re-connect over cold drinks. During the school year, it’s used to shock us awake for the ridiculously early periods we face. As the weather gets colder and zero period remains the same unflinchingly early time, more and more students see a steaming cup of Starbucks as a basic necessity of life.
But that attitude drains wallets. Whether their draught of choice is coffee, boba or slurpees, many students spend too much money on unnecessary drinks. Take my sister for example. Last year, she went to Starbucks three times a week, which might not seem excessive or out of the ordinary at first glance, but that’s 156 Starbucks transactions a year.
Given that she bought around $4 worth of foodstuff on a typical trip, I calculated that she spent around $624 on Starbucks last year. However, when I asked her how much she spent on Starbucks in that amount of time, she guessed between $180 and $360. That’s half of what she actually spent; a rogue $364 missing from her bank account!
It’s easy to lose track of your money when you’re throwing it at an ever-expanding snowball of innocuous purchases. When you do tally that snowball up, however, you’ll be enlightened.
Think about what you could buy with that money. Is the fleeting pleasure of a few sugary sips worth more to you than $624?
If you want to start stockpiling savings, all you need is some restraint and moderation in consumption. Being aware of how much money you part with, along with making fewer trips and ordering smaller sizes are the first steps to curbing a superfluous spending problem. Consciousness of your purchasing habits, good and bad, is the key to a secure, debt-free consumer future.
Remember, the next time a chill wind urges you to Starbucks, that the even colder winds of college and financial responsibility are coming. In a few years you won’t be deciding between an iced macchiato and a pumpkin spice latte, you’ll be deciding whether a few temporary indulgences are worth a pile of student debt. Winter may be coming, but so is your bill.