The Plan | But first, coffee

By Contributed

Nov 16, 2022

Bean drinking coffee?: Making your own at home can save you plenty of money. Photo by Bianca Mibus

Some of us were lucky enough to find slivers of optimism among the lockdowns of 2021. For me and lots of other working parents, there was a little shred of gratitude for the slower mornings, the cancelled extra-curriculars, the chance to eat lunch together with the kids in the middle of a work day. There was a sense that we were learning our lesson, we were sure we would never return to the overly scheduled insanity of our pre-pandemic family lives. Such lessons, I determined, I would carry with me for the rest of my life.

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Ah, hope springs eternal, doesn’t it? I now type this in my lunch break at my 9-5, after which I will head home to clean up after my kids who get off the school bus half an hour before I get home, check on their homework, get dinner started, teach a singing lesson, eat dinner, then pack all three kids in the car with mozzie spray, water bottles and extra snacks before heading out to the second of this week’s seven extra-curricular activities.

Clearly the impacts of a slower lifestyle were not as lasting as I’d hoped and I am now tumbling towards the silly season at an alarming rate. I bet some of you feel the same. Most of those ‘life-altering’ pandemic lessons are already forgotten, but here’s one thing I have kept up: coffee at home.

Name pretty much any activity, and I will argue it’s better with coffee. Seriously, before the pandemic I used to buy coffee all the time. Catching up with friends, on the way to work, on the sidelines at my kids’ sports. During lockdowns when I couldn’t buy coffee, I saved an embarrassing amount of money. So much that I was able to purchase a little espresso machine of my very own. It’s called a Bambino and it’s super cute. Apparently I’m not the only one, as I read this week that Australians made 37 per cent more coffee at home during the pandemic than they did before.

It might seem a small adjustment, but even those awesome $2 cups of coffee from the servo add up to serious savings if you’re a certified addict like me. I conservatively estimate that I was spending an average of $15 a week on coffee before the pandemic, an average of $780 a year. I don’t want to admit that the real number is probably a good deal higher than that.

This year, in my quest to save $500 in 50 different ways, I have rarely purchased a cup of coffee, unless it is to catch up with a friend or a real emergency like the-kids-have-missed-the-school-bus-and-I-have-to-drive-them-to-school-and-now-I’m-going-to-be-late-for-work-anyway-so-I-may-as-well-be-a-couple-of-minutes-later-but-also-happier kind of emergency. It’s a service to my colleagues, honestly, so they don’t have to deal with my uncaffeinated attitude. I’m selfless like that.

My only expense is the organic beans I buy from the supermarket, at about $30 for a large bag that lasts me two months. So I’ve exchanged a $780 yearly habit for a $180 one, saving at least $600 in one year. This one gets a big tick.

So, if you are a coffee drinker, it could be time to experiment with a home brew and start to enjoy the savings. If you’re not a coffee drinker and you’re wondering why I don’t just quit coffee altogether, please re-read the second paragraph of this article before emailing me your feedback!

The author of The Plan has requested to remain anonymous in order to shine a brighter light on some of the more challenging aspects of their recent financial hardship.