Speaker 1: Episode how to Save money on coffee. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights,
Speaker 1: and liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: your takeout coffee addiction. That's right, you in your car,
Speaker 1: drive in with your coffee paper cup, trying to have talk.
Speaker 1: So before we get it, before we get into bashing
Speaker 1: you anymore, I know there are some people listening to
Speaker 1: this that are going to feel directly called out right now,
Speaker 1: it would be me. You wrote this episode for yourself,
Speaker 1: for sure. So but first, our sponsors our support for you.
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Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, dot com, slash shop. It was like
Speaker 1: a cheer. This episode is also brought to you by
Speaker 1: oversized sweaters. Sweaters are nice, but most of them don't
Speaker 1: cover your hands. You could wear gloves, but if you
Speaker 1: live in Florida you might not own cloves, thus leading
Speaker 1: to the overconsumption of takeout coffee to warm your chili
Speaker 1: hands no more, and to oversized sweaters. They are so
Speaker 1: long that they cover your hands completely, ending the plague
Speaker 1: of frigid digits. You'll save money and make more friends
Speaker 1: as you take your hands out of your pockets and
Speaker 1: engage with more inviting body language. Oversized sweaters. Don't buy
Speaker 1: the next size up, go for two sizes. This was
Speaker 1: such a stration, but holy smokes, frigid digits. That really
Speaker 1: got the whole point of this is so I could
Speaker 1: say frigid digits and then jump to how this can
Speaker 1: save you money? On take how coffee is really genius?
Speaker 1: I think I had to just die, like think through
Speaker 1: my headspace of like when I get like warm takeout
Speaker 1: coffee in December, like why am I doing it? And
Speaker 1: half of the reason is just to hold the warm cup. Like,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, it is so much less about the
Speaker 1: caffeine for me, I just want the feeling of safety
Speaker 1: and protection. I think coffee and well, yes, safety and protection.
Speaker 1: I have a problem with cold fingers. I think for me,
Speaker 1: it's just the ritual of it. I don't even know
Speaker 1: how much the coffee does for me. I just like
Speaker 1: having it in the morning and starting my day that way.
Speaker 1: If I am laying in bed and I think, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, it's acceptable for me to have coffee now,
Speaker 1: it motivates me to get out of bed. Yeah. With that,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe not everyone feels as strongly about coffee,
Speaker 1: but they're not listening. We assume that you are in
Speaker 1: this boat with us, and that lattes and coffee, while
Speaker 1: not preventing you from buying a home, can be something
Speaker 1: that you can minimize. I think the frequency of purchases
Speaker 1: is just as important as the amount actually cause, at
Speaker 1: least for like decluttering the number of transactions we make
Speaker 1: in a given month, which is important. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think thinking through what does it actually provide for me?
Speaker 1: Is this a value for me to be spending The
Speaker 1: amount of money that I'm spending on it, whether it's
Speaker 1: take out or at home. I mean, certainly there's ways
Speaker 1: to save money, but the amount and frequency and yeah,
Speaker 1: just overall consumption of coffee definitely a gut chat. If
Speaker 1: you think of how long you spend in like drive
Speaker 1: throughs and in lines at coffee shops. It's not just
Speaker 1: about saving money, it's about saving time. It's about efficiency,
Speaker 1: it's about starting the planet well, cutting down on paper
Speaker 1: cups and everything. So there's this whole issue in buying
Speaker 1: like too much coffee is a multifaceted issue, and so
Speaker 1: we're not like Latte effect, you know people, but we're
Speaker 1: taking on this episode because there's a lot of different
Speaker 1: facets to it. Well said. So let's get into our
Speaker 1: first article. It's from Bustle dot com and it is
Speaker 1: eleven ways to save money on your daily coffee habit. Yes,
Speaker 1: well we won't go through all eleven. You can check
Speaker 1: it out, and we bet that you could probably guess
Speaker 1: a few of these that are going to be on
Speaker 1: this art. Yeah, we'll give you some of the unique ones.
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. But I think to your point Gen two,
Speaker 1: So as you get into this article, it talks about
Speaker 1: the annual cost of what it what it is if
Speaker 1: you buy, you know, let's say four dollar lattes daily.
Speaker 1: Probably most people aren't buying, like Monday through Sunday a
Speaker 1: four dollar lattime. I don't know, maybe you are. I
Speaker 1: think I think lots are closer to five dollars. In
Speaker 1: some places that you go, you're spending eight dollars for
Speaker 1: a specialty drink, like if you're were into the more
Speaker 1: bougie spots, or you're getting a pastry along with your coffee,
Speaker 1: a pastry you wouldn't get. But I'm in line anyways,
Speaker 1: I've been in line for a while. I might as
Speaker 1: well get food to and make the most attack it on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so conservatively, that's about fourteen sixty one thousand, four intred
Speaker 1: sixty dollars a year. And I like how they encourage
Speaker 1: you to think about how this relates to other expenses.
Speaker 1: I mean that that is like an insurance cost annually
Speaker 1: or other types of subscription, what you might pay annually
Speaker 1: for Internet. Like when you kind of put it into context,
Speaker 1: that helps to think is it worth it to me
Speaker 1: to be spending this much a year on on coffee?
Speaker 1: So again, we're not like latte factor. Just stop buying
Speaker 1: coffee out and that's gonna save your wallet. Astronomically, it
Speaker 1: is this idea of where are the areas even minor
Speaker 1: that we could be cutting back, not just for our wallets,
Speaker 1: but also for the planet, for our own bodies, Like
Speaker 1: I don't think it's great for us to be consuming
Speaker 1: as much coffee as we consume as a nation. Actually,
Speaker 1: it is a diagnosable addiction within the Diagnostic Statistical Manual
Speaker 1: the DSM for those of you who are clinically familiar
Speaker 1: with that, that being addicted to caffeine is a real
Speaker 1: clinical diagnosis. So this isn't just like, oh ha ha,
Speaker 1: this is so funny, like there's something so acceptable in
Speaker 1: it within our culture and society, But there is this
Speaker 1: deeper undercurrent that's worth looking at. Of am I willing
Speaker 1: to spend this much, I willing to consume this much?
Speaker 1: I willing to have this level of impact on the
Speaker 1: environment all of these things. So I love that just
Speaker 1: overall perspective. And then from there, I think that there
Speaker 1: are some really helpful tips, just reminders, and so we'll
Speaker 1: just you know, pick a couple per person. What stood
Speaker 1: out to you, Jen, So my favor. The first one
Speaker 1: is I'll just say it's use cash instead of credit.
Speaker 1: That's a really good useful for anything across the board.
Speaker 1: But what I really like, and I think is unique,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about this before, is number three is
Speaker 1: to get creative. So if you love a really fancy
Speaker 1: coffee drink, making a brood cup of coffee at home
Speaker 1: is going to pale in comparison to what you get out.
Speaker 1: It's not going to be an equal trade off, and
Speaker 1: so it's not gonna be a sustainable change, at least
Speaker 1: at first. And so the idea of getting creative for
Speaker 1: how you make coffee is really appealing to me. So
Speaker 1: we have a friend who told me about this, like
Speaker 1: pumpkin spice, oat milk creamer at aldi, and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: that is that is fancy, and he's like, it's like
Speaker 1: my own pia, you know, pumpkin spice latte at home,
Speaker 1: like same thing. So yeah, I would have never thought
Speaker 1: to get something like that. But you can get creative
Speaker 1: and you can use like a strong browed black coffee
Speaker 1: and do your own combination of different milks or creamer's
Speaker 1: or sugars or whatever. So get creative and maybe you
Speaker 1: feel a little convicted by how much sugar and creamer
Speaker 1: and stuff you put in your coffee. But it's just
Speaker 1: kind of waking you up to like what you're putting
Speaker 1: in your body. When you're aware of all of the
Speaker 1: ingredients in the ratio of them. That's a really good
Speaker 1: gut check to say like, oh, I'm I'm okay with this,
Speaker 1: or actually for my health. Also, I want to like change. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like number five where it talks about finding an
Speaker 1: alternative for your coffee habit. So, yes, coffee provides a
Speaker 1: lot of caffeine, but they're saying there's other ways that
Speaker 1: you can get a jolt of energy. So if you
Speaker 1: are noticing, yeah, I want to cut back on coffee
Speaker 1: for whatever reason gain whether it's a budgetary reason or
Speaker 1: you just don't want to consume this much coffee, looking
Speaker 1: at well, why am I doing it? Is it for
Speaker 1: the energy? Is it for the ritual? Is it to
Speaker 1: keep my hands warm? So different things you could implement there,
Speaker 1: And they say, you know, if it is for the
Speaker 1: jolt of energy, consider exercising or eating a super food
Speaker 1: that might help energize you, get hydrated, get out in
Speaker 1: the sun early in the morning. That is Actually there's
Speaker 1: a lot of research that points to that being really
Speaker 1: effective is getting outside and getting some degree of sun
Speaker 1: in the early morning hours. I think they say within
Speaker 1: like the first thirty minutes of waking up, it has
Speaker 1: the most benefit. Even for those of you who live
Speaker 1: in the frigid temperatures, just a few minutes outside, even
Speaker 1: if it's freezing, even if it's just note, if the
Speaker 1: sun is shining, it can have an incredible effect on
Speaker 1: our ability to kind of get going and have the
Speaker 1: enter g that we need for the day. I would
Speaker 1: also say I had an interesting conversation with my cousin
Speaker 1: in law recently and she said something so simple, but
Speaker 1: I told her, like, I think this is changing my
Speaker 1: life right now. She said that her approach to coffee
Speaker 1: is like her approach to alcohol. She doesn't think you
Speaker 1: should have it every day, And I'm like, WHOA, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's so simple, right, But I felt like, oh, that
Speaker 1: makes it so much more just approachable and reasonable in
Speaker 1: my mind, like I shouldn't have either one every day.
Speaker 1: I don't have to have alcohol and coffee every day.
Speaker 1: So even if that speaks to you, that just simple message,
Speaker 1: I think that all falls under this of finding an alternative,
Speaker 1: whether it's not having it as often replacing it with something.
Speaker 1: I would even say, what about tea? You know, make
Speaker 1: yourself some tea in the morning rather than coffee, and
Speaker 1: it's also usually less expensive and you can still get
Speaker 1: the caffeine. So all kinds of ways that you could
Speaker 1: find and turnative for this habit. I have actually started
Speaker 1: drinking tea at night instead of alcohol. Me too. We
Speaker 1: didn't talk about this at all. I mean it was
Speaker 1: it was since my cousin and lamm, I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm making some changes. Oh my gosh with the girl
Speaker 1: in the mirror. Uh. Six on this list is to
Speaker 1: make coffee ice cubes. I love so as much as
Speaker 1: my digits are frigid, I drink a lot of iced
Speaker 1: coffee because you live in Florida. Yeah, so I really
Speaker 1: do enjoy iced coffee. And for a while I could
Speaker 1: not figure out how to make it at home. I
Speaker 1: was very bad at I tried all different kinds of
Speaker 1: cold brew methods, and this is a great one to
Speaker 1: make sure that your iced coffee doesn't water down with
Speaker 1: regular ice cubes. But for me, the thing that changed
Speaker 1: everything was instant coffee. So I would make instant coffee concentrate,
Speaker 1: and I do. I'll get a mason jar that holds
Speaker 1: like twelve ounces, and I'll do three table spoons in
Speaker 1: the mason jar. Fill the line up to twelve ounces
Speaker 1: of water, and that's my coffee concentrate. And I'll do
Speaker 1: a little bit of brown sugar. Just started doing that
Speaker 1: in the fall, just because it's you know, it's a
Speaker 1: little you know, special special. Yeah, But so that's my
Speaker 1: coffee concentrate. And I'll do either a regular milk or
Speaker 1: an almond milk with that, like just use two ounces
Speaker 1: of the concentrate. And it is a strong coffee. You
Speaker 1: definitely want to water it down with some water and milk.
Speaker 1: But it makes a fantastic ice latte. It is so good.
Speaker 1: Believe it or not. We're not drinking coffee as we record.
Speaker 1: We are not. We should or just to be ironic,
Speaker 1: drink tea or I mean we're drinking water. I guess
Speaker 1: that is ironic. So there are a lot of different
Speaker 1: ways to do ice coffee at home, So I would
Speaker 1: say give that a try if you have found that
Speaker 1: regular iceed coffee does not work for you. If the
Speaker 1: coffee ice cubes aren't enough. Try a coffee concentrate out
Speaker 1: of instant coffee. It is instant coffee is really good.
Speaker 1: Don't sleep on it. It is super good. Um. And
Speaker 1: you don't even need hot coffee to brew it. You
Speaker 1: can it's dehydrated coffee. Um, so it's not beans. So
Speaker 1: you can do it with like are too super inexpensive
Speaker 1: way because then you don't even need to have a
Speaker 1: coffee maker. And I would say iced coffee is one
Speaker 1: of the easiest things to do at home. There it's
Speaker 1: a lot more forgiving with what you can add to
Speaker 1: it as far as flavor goes, and usually can be
Speaker 1: very enjoyable. So if you're a little bit apprehensive about
Speaker 1: making yourself a good cup of Joe at home, start
Speaker 1: with iced coffee. Yeah. I like ten on here because
Speaker 1: it's how I choose to live life. Order a cup
Speaker 1: of black coffee, and you do drink black coffee. So
Speaker 1: there's a couple of reasons that I'm going to say
Speaker 1: for this the article isn't I don't drink black coffee.
Speaker 1: So if you're wondering which one of us is the
Speaker 1: serial killer, I won't say who, but I don't drink
Speaker 1: black coffee. I Jill drink black coffee, and I also
Speaker 1: do shady things. So first of all, just sugar content,
Speaker 1: so you're not gonna have the milk the sugar though,
Speaker 1: whatever else you add to it. If you just drink
Speaker 1: black coffee, so that's great. But also if you are
Speaker 1: ordering out many of you know black coffee is black
Speaker 1: drip coffee is going to be the least expensive thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can add stuff to it, but drip
Speaker 1: coffee is going to be the least expensive thing that
Speaker 1: you can order out at the shop. And then of
Speaker 1: course you can add things to it to make it tastier.
Speaker 1: But if you are looking for what's going to be
Speaker 1: the most cost effective, if you are finding yourself out
Speaker 1: black drip coffee, I don't think I'm ever going to
Speaker 1: be desperate enough to do that, but for me, so
Speaker 1: I equate it back to the cappuccino factor, which is
Speaker 1: something we have before, but cannot get deeper into the
Speaker 1: coffee episode without explaining the cappuccino factor. So I mentioned
Speaker 1: the latte factor, and for those of you who don't know,
Speaker 1: it's a idea. Also a book by David Bach, who
Speaker 1: is great. I love David Bach, but essentially is that
Speaker 1: millennials are not buying homes or building wealth because they're
Speaker 1: buying too many latte's. And that's a that's not what
Speaker 1: he was saying, but it's how it's been interpreted. And
Speaker 1: and so we do believe that too many mindless purchases
Speaker 1: do inhibit wealth building. I think we can all agree
Speaker 1: with that, but we've rebranded it into being the cappuccino
Speaker 1: factor because cappuccinos are typically about fifty cents to a
Speaker 1: dollar cheaper on the menu. So maybe it's not about
Speaker 1: eliminating the small pleasures of life and sacrificing those to
Speaker 1: build wealth, but just finding slightly cheaper alternatives. And I
Speaker 1: equate the cappuccino somewhere between the latte and the black drip,
Speaker 1: like I won't I won't go drip coffee, but I
Speaker 1: will go cappuccino. Hey, everyone has their boundary draw on
Speaker 1: the sand well, and I think it's if you are
Speaker 1: going regularly to purchase coffee out, you really do have
Speaker 1: to start to evaluate do I need it to be
Speaker 1: very special and very tasty every single time? Right? That's
Speaker 1: different from if you just go out occasionally and that's
Speaker 1: when you get your really great drink versus every single day.
Speaker 1: Definitely cappuccino factor or drip coffee black but shady things,
Speaker 1: shady things. Any other tips for you from this listen?
Speaker 1: So my last one is to create your own creamer.
Speaker 1: And I think there are so many great d I
Speaker 1: y recipes online for either flavored creamers or just syrups.
Speaker 1: You can make your own syrups. I found that actually
Speaker 1: TikTok is a great place to find like coffee coffee
Speaker 1: talk Um, but t Okay Coffee talk Um great little
Speaker 1: recipes for different like flavorings you can add to your coffee.
Speaker 1: And that's another way to make it fun. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you are really interesting, like if the intricate factor
Speaker 1: and the you know, the bougie factor of going out
Speaker 1: is what appeals to you, then this could be a
Speaker 1: way to make drinking coffee at home more appealing. So
Speaker 1: I think the main goal is just to find what
Speaker 1: fits for you to get you excited about drinking coffee
Speaker 1: at home. That's what I haven't boil it down to,
Speaker 1: we're not drinking coffee if that's the decision you want
Speaker 1: to make for sure. Yeah, I don't have much to add.
Speaker 1: I mean obviously on here is make make it at home.
Speaker 1: So of course that's a factor here, but I think
Speaker 1: what I would also say to that is that, again
Speaker 1: along the lines of figuring out what works for you,
Speaker 1: if you are going to make the switch to making
Speaker 1: it at home, then you could invest in maybe a
Speaker 1: nicer coffee maker or a way of making coffee that
Speaker 1: you enjoy most, and then you can get creative with them,
Speaker 1: making your own creamers or trying iced coffee. And so
Speaker 1: it doesn't just have to be all right, I made
Speaker 1: it and my Mr Coffee machine and that's it, and
Speaker 1: I don't really like it, and there's nothing special to it.
Speaker 1: Make it at home, but engage all these other aspects
Speaker 1: to it as well. That makes it fun and tasty
Speaker 1: and work for you. Absolutely. So let's talk about not
Speaker 1: drinking coffee at home, because that's also something good. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you just need to hold the paper cup you're on,
Speaker 1: you know, you're camping or something and you need something
Speaker 1: to like get you through the day because you slept
Speaker 1: through like on an air mattress that deflated. So this
Speaker 1: next article is from the list tv dot com and
Speaker 1: it is eleven places that give away free coffee and
Speaker 1: drinks perfectly. Yeah, sometimes you don't have to cut back
Speaker 1: on your habit. You just have to find creative ways
Speaker 1: to fund it. It's very true. I'll be honest, I
Speaker 1: am definitely I would fall under the category of coffee snob.
Speaker 1: So most of these places are suspect to me. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure that I would walk into half of them
Speaker 1: for my cup of coffee. That's why you drink coffee.
Speaker 1: That's why I make my coffee at all, because I
Speaker 1: think about McDonald's and that's that's not that's not where yeah, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna drip coffee and McDonald's. I'm not getting
Speaker 1: any kind of coffee McDonald's. But that's that's just me.
Speaker 1: But if if free coffee is what speaks to you,
Speaker 1: here we go. Yeah. So the first one is, of
Speaker 1: course Starbucks. And I actually had an instance the other
Speaker 1: day where I got some Starbucks, so I I like
Speaker 1: Starbucks there by my house. I don't drink that coffee
Speaker 1: like I'm a normal human being. And I will get
Speaker 1: when I get free gift cards through apps. I don't
Speaker 1: use the rebate and the gift card apps a lot,
Speaker 1: but I use them enough to redeem for some free
Speaker 1: gift cards and I will typically get them to Target
Speaker 1: or Starbucks Jill's favorite places. If you've not heard before,
Speaker 1: my unpopular opinion is that I don't care for either
Speaker 1: Starbucks or Target, but it saves a lot of temptation
Speaker 1: for me. Yeah, I wish I could be that strong,
Speaker 1: But I will use them to I will have the
Speaker 1: Starbucks app and I will get points or the stars,
Speaker 1: but my purchases are made on gift cards. I actually
Speaker 1: I did put like ten, I think ten or fifteen
Speaker 1: dollars on my card on my Starbucks app because it
Speaker 1: was like triple stars or there were some kind of
Speaker 1: bonus that if you put some money on there, you
Speaker 1: got like a bunch of stars. And so recently I
Speaker 1: needed a few more stars because I had like a
Speaker 1: bunch expiring because I don't it's not like all the time.
Speaker 1: The stars do expire. If you didn't know that, now
Speaker 1: you do. But we put this in our stories and
Speaker 1: somebody messaged me and they're like, oh, no, they expire.
Speaker 1: So there's your public service announcement. Don't let those stars expire.
Speaker 1: But I I used up my stars for a free drink,
Speaker 1: But the way I earned them was mostly through free
Speaker 1: gift cards to Starbucks, So I would definitely. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you like Starbucks, join the rewards. Don't go there
Speaker 1: just to get double stars. Like that is not something
Speaker 1: I do. But that is the danger rewards programs, and
Speaker 1: they know that that you might just go just to
Speaker 1: get the rewards, and then you might not even be
Speaker 1: saving money. But if you are already going and you've
Speaker 1: got one nearby, then sure the rewards program can be good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got a pumpkin spice latte with an extra shot
Speaker 1: in one less pump of pumpkin a mouthful. I don't
Speaker 1: know if my brain can process that alright. The next
Speaker 1: one that we will highlight here that that I can.
Speaker 1: I can stomach this Duncan Donuts. So again with the
Speaker 1: rewards program, and you'll catch a theme here the Duncan,
Speaker 1: I will say, they do pass out free coffee constantly.
Speaker 1: The t mobile app. You'll see ye cards for Duncan
Speaker 1: Nuts all the time. Yes, whether it's in a mailer
Speaker 1: or through a phone app or by being a part
Speaker 1: of their rewards program. They give out coupon Zeer Round
Speaker 1: and then you can also earn points for every beverage
Speaker 1: or purchase that you make and get free coffee that way.
Speaker 1: But of course all of these are you know, they
Speaker 1: want you to be more loyal to them in order
Speaker 1: to receive it. But I think highlighting it for the
Speaker 1: purpose of when can you get free coffee without even
Speaker 1: needing to do much or spend money, And I think
Speaker 1: that is possible with some of these places. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: next couple on the list, I think I will highlight
Speaker 1: a theory versus them themselves. But so like there are
Speaker 1: things like Caribou and Pete's and Big Bee, and we
Speaker 1: don't actually have those near us, but it's a they
Speaker 1: offer like a free coffee for joining their rewards program
Speaker 1: or downloading their app. And so I think the place
Speaker 1: of most necessity where you need to take out coffee
Speaker 1: is probably when you're traveling. And so if you're traveling
Speaker 1: to a place that has a coffee franchise that you
Speaker 1: don't live near, then it's worth checking out to see
Speaker 1: if they offer a free coffee for downloading the app
Speaker 1: or joining the rewards program. Do it before you leave
Speaker 1: um or like right when you get there, because there's
Speaker 1: usually a couple of days lag time, but you could
Speaker 1: get a free coffee. So that can if you have
Speaker 1: a travel budget while you are traveling, can cut down
Speaker 1: a little bit on that budget. Yeah. I love that
Speaker 1: tip for kind of the once off I do want
Speaker 1: to go out for coffee, I don't typically do this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's great, especially when that's all you gotta do, download
Speaker 1: the app and get the coffee, not spend any money.
Speaker 1: I will say this, this is not on the list,
Speaker 1: but Panera has been and is continuing to offer free
Speaker 1: coffee right now. So when this episode airs in December,
Speaker 1: they're offering free coffee through the end of one with
Speaker 1: their subscription. So you sign up for it, you get
Speaker 1: free unlimited amounts of coffee through the end of the year.
Speaker 1: The catches then that they're going to start charging you monthly,
Speaker 1: So the there if you don't want to continue paying
Speaker 1: for that, is to cancel that before they start charging.
Speaker 1: But that's a really cool program. Eric and I took
Speaker 1: advantage of that for also to co work. I mean
Speaker 1: both of us work from home, and so even sometimes
Speaker 1: that's a that's a thing with purchasing coffee is going
Speaker 1: out just for a place to work, which if you're
Speaker 1: comparing it to a price of a coworking space, going
Speaker 1: to a coffee shop and buying a coffee is far
Speaker 1: more cost effective than paying for a coworking space. But
Speaker 1: especially with Pinera offering this free unlimited coffee subscription, that's
Speaker 1: been awesome. So if you're catching this through the end
Speaker 1: of one, there's your little tip. Absolutely. I think another
Speaker 1: one that's not on this list. If you have wa
Speaker 1: Wa near you and you joined the wah Wah, you
Speaker 1: can get I think, free coffee every Tuesday. Yes, but
Speaker 1: they're not unique in that. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: gas stations or loyalty programs. I think at one time
Speaker 1: Duncan had it. I don't know if they still do. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: like if football teams in your area wind, they'll like you.
Speaker 1: You can get free coffee every such and such day.
Speaker 1: So maybe if you work from home, you can align
Speaker 1: that day from work to work from that place. Or
Speaker 1: you know, if you need gas at the wah Wah,
Speaker 1: maybe that's the day you get gas during the week.
Speaker 1: So it's it takes a smidgeon of extra planning, and
Speaker 1: all it is is looking this information up around at
Speaker 1: the coffee shops around you and then putting in your
Speaker 1: phone like on a calendar or an alarm to go
Speaker 1: off to remind you of your plan and then maybe
Speaker 1: it's just you know, cheap coffee drop, you know, drip coffee,
Speaker 1: but you have your d I y creamer at home,
Speaker 1: or you have your like fancy thing to spruce it up,
Speaker 1: and it got you out of the house to do
Speaker 1: something and kind of gave you a treat that didn't
Speaker 1: cost you money. So find find whatever the que or
Speaker 1: craving is for the coffee habit, and figure out how
Speaker 1: to meet that and how free avenues can also meet it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's not all about drinking coffee at home, but
Speaker 1: just creatively meeting our needs and sometimes changing those needs
Speaker 1: if needed. I also love the tip that's kind of
Speaker 1: embedded in what you're saying earlier with if you are
Speaker 1: a person who does some of these different rebate apps
Speaker 1: for shopping, it's not a ton of money that you
Speaker 1: get back on gift cards, but to put it towards
Speaker 1: coffee would be a great reason to do something like that.
Speaker 1: If you are a person who goes out for coffee
Speaker 1: often to do like I bought a things like that
Speaker 1: where you can rebate key, where you can get the
Speaker 1: gift cards and then just put it towards that that
Speaker 1: low cost coffee purchase. Yeah, I think Fetch and I
Speaker 1: bought a are the ones I bought. It actually gives
Speaker 1: you cash, though, so I don't typically put the cash
Speaker 1: towards your grocery, right. I think Fetch is the biggest one,
Speaker 1: and I actually have some from Bucks, But I think
Speaker 1: that comes from being a blogger and having like a
Speaker 1: really old like blog post that has a lot of
Speaker 1: traffic too, So I don't think I could share that tip.
Speaker 1: But Fetch for sure. And if you haven't signed up
Speaker 1: for Fetch Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Fetch, I
Speaker 1: think you get like an extra five or ten bucks
Speaker 1: for signing up through that link. Noise putting it in
Speaker 1: the link? Good? You know the show notes? You know
Speaker 1: what else we're going to put in this show notes?
Speaker 1: The bill of the week. That's right, it's time for
Speaker 1: the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
Speaker 1: was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid
Speaker 1: off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy
Speaker 1: to not have to pay that bill anymore. To bills,
Speaker 1: Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: So I was watching the Frugal Summer video with Lisa
Speaker 1: and I believe Jenn mentioned that it doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: very many people know bills, so I thought I would
Speaker 1: go ahead and submitable of the week. I haven't done
Speaker 1: it before. I have not one, but two uncle bills.
Speaker 1: One of my mom's sisters married to Bill, and one
Speaker 1: of my dad's sister is married to Bill. So that's
Speaker 1: my bill of the week. My double uncle bills, double
Speaker 1: uncle bills. Wow, this is one of my this is
Speaker 1: going into topics. Amazing, not one but to bills, two
Speaker 1: bills of the week of a lifetime. I love it
Speaker 1: when the bills are people. I do too. I wish
Speaker 1: one of them was Bill Curtis, but I'll forgive you.
Speaker 1: If one of your uncle's is not Bill Curtis, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But somebody's got somebody's got to know Bill Curtis. Somebody
Speaker 1: will find them. We will find them. What is it
Speaker 1: like six degrees of separation between you and everyone in
Speaker 1: the world. I mean, we're both one degree separated from Adele,
Speaker 1: So I feel like we could find Bill Curtis. Like,
Speaker 1: how how hard is this got to be? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. You digress though, because she's got double
Speaker 1: uncle bills and that's that's good enough. I'm so sorry. Well,
Speaker 1: if you have uncle's named Bill, or know anybody named
Speaker 1: Bill Curtis, then submit your bill of the week to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill to leave us
Speaker 1: yours and now it's time for rightning ground. So today
Speaker 1: we are going to share our drinks of choice coffee
Speaker 1: drinks of choice, drink of choice and general coffee drink
Speaker 1: of choice, Jill, and our frugal coffee drink of choice.
Speaker 1: I think, I guess maybe we can share our frugal
Speaker 1: and our splurge. I love it, Okay, Okay, Jill, you okay.
Speaker 1: I really like coffee. I look forward to it every day.
Speaker 1: It is a ritual. It does get I. It not
Speaker 1: only gets me out of bed, it puts me to bed.
Speaker 1: As in, every night, without fail, I get excited for
Speaker 1: coffee the next morning. It probably is a problem, I
Speaker 1: keep saying, Eric, like I have had coffee for like
Speaker 1: maybe decades at this point. Gosh, I'm getting old, and
Speaker 1: it never fails too. I look forward to it so lovely.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't even know why. It doesn't do
Speaker 1: anything for me. If I don't have it, I don't
Speaker 1: get a headache, like I'm not it's I think it's
Speaker 1: for me, it's the ritual. So we make coffee at home,
Speaker 1: like literally every day we work from home, So that
Speaker 1: doesn't it's easy. I'm not passing shops. It's not a
Speaker 1: temptation for me. But because of that then we have
Speaker 1: placed value on it and we buy generally nice coffee,
Speaker 1: and we'd have a poor over set up. So now
Speaker 1: that we've got are set up down, it's we get
Speaker 1: whole coffee beans we grinded ourselves and it makes really
Speaker 1: amazing coffee. I will say this has been a frugal
Speaker 1: choice for me. Recently, we did have a coffee subscription
Speaker 1: with a local coffee company from where we're from, backup
Speaker 1: in p A. And a friend is the head roast
Speaker 1: Backyard Beans. I'll give them a shout out there in Landsdale, Pennsylvania. Amazing,
Speaker 1: amazing coffee. But just starting to realize that I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is what I want to be spending
Speaker 1: monthly on. They have a reasonable coffee subscription, but we
Speaker 1: did realize that the whole bean dunkin Donuts bag we
Speaker 1: actually don't mind as much as of a coffee snob
Speaker 1: as we are I'm like, this is this is actually
Speaker 1: just coffee and with a good pore over setup, it's
Speaker 1: real decent. So that is now what we're on right now,
Speaker 1: and it is freeing up more money for our renovations.
Speaker 1: So that's my frugal is whole being ground up ourselves
Speaker 1: pour over and it really is a very simple, inexpensive setup.
Speaker 1: You've got with the pour over and the little heated
Speaker 1: craft so you can put it in that and then
Speaker 1: just pour hot coffee whenever you want it stays hot.
Speaker 1: I am always impressed by your coffee set up. Thanks Jen.
Speaker 1: It's it took a lot of iterations to get there,
Speaker 1: and we do have a box full of alternative coffee methods,
Speaker 1: including a coffee maker and a French press, and we've
Speaker 1: gone through so many different things, but this is where
Speaker 1: we've landed. And yeah, it does save us a ton
Speaker 1: of money over going out. My splurge is I would
Speaker 1: say about once a month I will go to a
Speaker 1: nice coffee shop and a cappuccino and that is like
Speaker 1: a very special reward for me. I love cappuccinos. You do,
Speaker 1: you are the actual creator of capino factor. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: cappuccino factor. I got like my first cappuccino because of you,
Speaker 1: and that is how we came up with the factor.
Speaker 1: I got my first rath I r because of you.
Speaker 1: Sweet serve each other in that way. It's such an
Speaker 1: equal exchange that I love that about us. What about you, Jen?
Speaker 1: So my frugal coffee is definitely the instant coffee. I
Speaker 1: came into it from last year's TikTok craze with the
Speaker 1: whipped coffee, and it was too much work, and I
Speaker 1: was like, what if I just made and then it
Speaker 1: would melt anyways it would go And I was like,
Speaker 1: why am I giving this extra step to this coffee.
Speaker 1: I'll just make the instant coffee and I did and
Speaker 1: it was life changing. And so a big thing instant
Speaker 1: coffee for me is ten bucks and it lasts so
Speaker 1: many months because it just makes this uh really great
Speaker 1: concent concentrate. Yeah, and you can add whatever you want
Speaker 1: to it. I'll typically just add almond milk, and I
Speaker 1: don't like almond milk in hot coffee, but it is fine.
Speaker 1: It's masked by the coffee concentrate. So really I've tested
Speaker 1: it with regular milk and almond milk, and I can't
Speaker 1: really taste a difference for me. Maybe it's just because
Speaker 1: I've become so used to the taste of the concentrate
Speaker 1: and I drink it really strong. But and I also
Speaker 1: will do that same set up with my um morning
Speaker 1: protein shake. So I'll just do two ounces of coffee concentrate,
Speaker 1: six ounces of almond milk, and then a scoop of protein.
Speaker 1: Pattern just shake that together. So that's my daily protein. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's the frugal and I decided this year, I
Speaker 1: was like, I got several cold brewis and iced coffees,
Speaker 1: and I went back and forth of the summer like
Speaker 1: with just different iced coffees that uh coffee shops, and
Speaker 1: I hate them all is compared to the coffee concenterate
Speaker 1: that I make good job. So I'm a frugal is
Speaker 1: the best way. But you'd never know that. I would
Speaker 1: have never known that if I wasn't trying to like
Speaker 1: repurpose the product. I already had to reduce my food waste.
Speaker 1: So that's my frugal choice. And then my expensive choice
Speaker 1: is typically a nice latte because I just I was
Speaker 1: buying iced coffee to be more frugal, but realized it's
Speaker 1: fruit more frugal, but I don't enjoy it as much,
Speaker 1: so what's the point. But I do still enjoy iced latte.
Speaker 1: Espresso really gets me, and that's the thing. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I found a nice espresso maker that's hard to recreate
Speaker 1: at So I do like an iced latte and if
Speaker 1: I go to the Italian market, I will get a cappuccino. Oh,
Speaker 1: we need to do that together. Yeah. I have a
Speaker 1: great Italian market near us in St. Pete. It is wonderful.
Speaker 1: So it'll be my monthly thing. That is that is ours.
Speaker 1: So thank you for listening to this episode. I hope
Speaker 1: that if you are a coffee drinker, whether you are
Speaker 1: just loving the experience of coffee or you are a
Speaker 1: true connoisseur of the coffee bean, I hope that you've
Speaker 1: got something out of this and realize that it is
Speaker 1: it's less about cutting down the spending um but finding
Speaker 1: creative ways to save and decluttering the number of transactions
Speaker 1: you make every month. Oh I like it worded that way,
Speaker 1: decluttering your transaction because it can be overwhelming to see
Speaker 1: so many transactions every month, and it's it's more cumbersome
Speaker 1: to budget and to reconcile your budget when you have
Speaker 1: so many transactions, so we're also trying to do that
Speaker 1: as well simplify our spending in all of these ways.
Speaker 1: But we love coffee and we'd never tell anybody to
Speaker 1: stop drinking coffee. Unless you want to, then I support you. Yes,
Speaker 1: unless you want to, it could be good for you.
Speaker 1: So thank you for listening, and thank you for your
Speaker 1: kind reviews on Apple Podcasts like this one from Jamie
Speaker 1: Nellenson Amazing podcast Just Happens to Be five stars. Jen
Speaker 1: and Jill are so inspiring and I learned so much
Speaker 1: from them both. They feel like close friends I've known
Speaker 1: for a long time and I look forward to when
Speaker 1: I have new episodes to listen to. We we love you, Jamie.
Speaker 1: You are a close friend, A long time close friend
Speaker 1: that's so great never met. Thanks for listening, Jamie. We
Speaker 1: also want to thank our friends who share these episodes
Speaker 1: on social media, So when you share the latest episode
Speaker 1: on Instagram, we're adding you to our monthly draw. For
Speaker 1: every five tags and reviews we get each month, we're
Speaker 1: giving away fifty dollars for you to spend in the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Shop. We've got a shop. I know it's fun,
Speaker 1: so we don't have a drive through, but it is
Speaker 1: a shop. You will not have to wait in line.
Speaker 1: You keep leaving us reviews, will keep giving you podcast
Speaker 1: episodes and send the screenshots of those reviews to Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast at gmail dot com. And don't forget to
Speaker 1: tag us on social and you could be getting some
Speaker 1: free stuff from our new Frugal Friends shop. See you
Speaker 1: next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian. I
Speaker 1: cannot drink coffee in the afternoon. I only drink it
Speaker 1: in the morning. How about you. I can remember that
Speaker 1: time I came over and I like, I need some coffee,
Speaker 1: and like, are you worried for me? And I asked you,
Speaker 1: I think like three times, are you sure? Are you sure?
Speaker 1: Are you sure? Because it was seven thirty or eight
Speaker 1: o'clock at night and you were very tired, and You're like,
Speaker 1: can you make me coffee? I'm like, I can. I
Speaker 1: am physically capable of that, and I have all of
Speaker 1: the tools and resources to do that for you. However,
Speaker 1: are you sure this is a good decision? Will you sleep?
Speaker 1: Because I can't have caffeine past two thirty without it
Speaker 1: messing up my sleep that night? Yeah? Yeah, my body
Speaker 1: does has never reacted very sensitively to caffeine unless it's
Speaker 1: a very strong cold brew or something that's just like
Speaker 1: death defying. I can pretty much drink it at any time,
Speaker 1: but I also don't want to take advantage of that,
Speaker 1: so I do not do it often. There are some
Speaker 1: times where all it'll affect to me. So I know
Speaker 1: that I'm as I get older, my body is not
Speaker 1: like it was in college. But yeah, I can still
Speaker 1: drink coffee in the evenings and go to bed. Fine,
Speaker 1: Yeah that's great. Yeah. So, And but that it reiterates
Speaker 1: is that I don't really need it in the word,
Speaker 1: it doesn't do much for me, but it is that
Speaker 1: ritual that I love. Yeah, I do love it, And
Speaker 1: I think that helps too. If you even limit yourself
Speaker 1: to a certain time of day, that's that's a whole
Speaker 1: other tip. Yeah, cheers, Let us know your coffee tips.