How to save $220 a month without even trying

No, this is not an advertising feature for the next big u-beaut savings scheme. Like I’d know anything about that! This is a tried and nearly true method to accommodate your next big fashion spend. Although I must warn you, if you are a coffee maker or manufacturer then this is probably not for you. So, there I was a couple of months ago enjoying a good coffee with DH - universal forum speak for “dear hubby” - about my need for a new pair of slacks for work. In an effort to provide a positive solution while still pointing out my insatiable desire to spend, DH suggested I give up coffee and instead put the money toward said trousers. I nearly choked on my regular decaf soy flat white, my coffee combination of choice and stared at him as though he had suggested that I give up shopping altogether. What did he mean give up coffee? Coffee is nothing, a small daily indulgence that was at best a teeny tiny kink in the monthly budget. It had got me through the first three years following BB1 - universal Milla speak for Beautiful Baby #1, and had been keeping me relatively sane six months post BB2. It was my upper in the morning and prevented me from crawling into a corner and falling asleep in the afternoon. Was he mad? After all, I am just your average, run-of-the-mill coffee drinker. Two a day on most days, sometimes one, very rarely three. At an average of $4.00 per coffee, it seemed inconsequential in the grand plan at the time of purchase. Then I started to do the sums.

$4.00 a coffee is $8.00 a day: $56 a week: $224.00 a month! Oh my god that is a new pair of shoes and a clutch from Wittner right there. He was right.

I decided to test this and drop my coffee intake to one cup a day. Using my theory of averages, I put the remaining $4.00 into a jar each evening. Within 4 weeks I had saved over $150 and paid off BB2’s glamour portrait collection I‘d commissioned on credit (!) the month before. Not only was I surprised at how quickly the dollars mounted up without even knowing it, but I was shocked and speechless when I realised there were days I didn’t drink coffee at all!!! I know, can you believe it.
So the next time you reach for that loyalty card, just remember. If you stopped drinking coffee and put $8.00 away every day and you did this for 12 months, then that gorgeous hot pink quilted chanel handbag could really be yours.