Alotting Starbucks into My Monthly Budget

The problem with coffee, (other than the teeth staining and the awake-all-night effect, that is,) is that it's addictive. Or, I should say, the caffeine in it is addictive, and coffee happens to be the most popular and tasty way to get this morning drug of choice. Now, this wouldn't be bad, if you can restrict your coffee junkie habits to a few come brewed cups in the morning in your own kitchen. But the espresso café is the daytime equivalent to the cocktail lounge: yeah, it's more economical to mix a martini at home, but it's more fashionable, and more fun to go out. It's as if the "getting coffee" lifestyle is as addicting as the coffee itself.

Last month, I went way over on my budget. I sat around, pulling my hair, trying to figure out where I went wrong. I didn't shop at all, didn't travel, and hardly even went out at night. I lived the lifestyle of a cheap and thrifty twenty something, trying to pay off student loans and exorbitant rent on a crappy paycheck . So why didn't I have the money to pay my phone bill?

Starbucks happened. I got this new job, and it's all about meeting at the Starbucks. It's like my employers are somehow in league with the good people in Seattle (which is funny, because I moved here from Seattle and had been to Starbucks, like, twice.) They always treat like a novel idea: "Hey let's discuss this over a latte," or "You know, let's go over this new assignment outside the office. Do you feel like coffee?" or, "we need to work on this late, so let's get a pick me up at Starbucks." I find myself there morning, noon, and night, working and wasting my money on milk, brewed bean juice, and sugar. And you feel like a boob not ordering anything, and then using a coveted table in the Starbucks dining room to conduct business- after all, it's not a convention center, despite popular opinion. It's not the company's fault that everyone seems to gravitate there, and I don't want to offend all the nice baristas. (Whatever you think about Starbucks, you have to admit that their employees are always really friendly, no matter how many jerks are barking out order for 275 degree split shot something or others at them.)

The worst thing about places like Starbucks is that you eventually discover that you don't really even like coffee. You try a mocha or a caramel macchiato, and they are so much better that the coffee now tastes like rank dish water. It's tough to go back to. Unfortunately, the improvement comes at a price: the "luxury drinks" are four bucks a pop, on average. Not terrible, but if you're going "out for coffee" a couple of times a day, and you're like me and still eat a lunch, it starts to get expensive. Worse is when you get in the habit of taking lunch in the form of a Starbucks pastry, out of convenience. Now, not only am I addicted to chocolately (but skim!) mochas, I also like my chocolate with a side of chocolate (espresso brownie!) or a buttery muffin, or a sugary scone topped with more sugar, with a few pieces of sugary-berry things inside. You would think that as a result of my coffee habit, I would be flushed down to a size zero or so, but thanks to the added sugars of my mochas, and a diet composed of almost no nutrients, I am the same old me. Although my sleep deprivation does make me look slightly heroin chic.

Looking over my budget now, I can see that Starbucks was my "x factor." I didn't figure the ten or so dollars a day I spent there during the work week into my budget for groceries. This is nobody's fault but my own, but I can't continue to keep espresso dates as a part of my job. And so this week, when my coworker wanted to meet at our local Starbucks, I felt happy to see that he had ordered both a scone and a latte. That way, I didn't feel bad sitting at his table without having purchased anything.

He stared at me for awhile. "Aren't you getting anything?" he finally asked.

"Not today," I said frimly, and pulled my brown sack lunch out of my bag, along with my notebook.