One Less Night in a Hostel Somewhere
by Mike Richard
I’m still having a hard time grasping that one more $4 coffee here at home means one less night at a hostel somewhere in the world. And I’m having an even harder time completely severing the Starbucks umbilical cord. I’m down to one or two a week. I can quit anytime I want. No, really. I’m in control.
Four bucks for a damn coffee? How do the Starbucks big-wigs sleep at night? Very comfortably, that’s how. In big, soft, fluffy beds.
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About the Author
Vagabondish editor, Mike Richard, lives in Rhode Island - a spit of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person.
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May 22nd, 2007
[...] what we can sacrifice to make sure we have enough money to get by in Europe for a few months – Vagabondish is having trouble giving up Starbucks, as he ponders how his iced-mochachinowhatsit costs him as [...]
May 22nd, 2007
Kick the habit! There’s better (and cheaper!) coffee out there
May 22nd, 2007
I think I need to join a support group!
I usually make my daily coffee @ home, as I did today. But every now and then, I like something different. Unfortunately there are no mom-and-pop cafes near me so my choices are Starbucks or … [ugh] … Dunkin’ Donuts. My tastebuds shudder at the latter; my wallet shudders at the former.
May 22nd, 2007
okay mike, here’s the unpopular opinion. indulge once or twice a week. you know where you are skimping, saving and sacrificing and you can’t live all your joy in the future. It took me 2 years to get to the point where I packed everything up and headed out and for sure I stopped spending up at the bars/restaurants, etc. but I didn’t totally deprive myself. So…you are concious of the $4 mochawhatevertheheck and what its costing you, but also focus on the 2x per week you get to enjoy the fruits of your life and labor. IF of course you are cutting back and skimping in other areas. And for the record…i loathe starbucks so its not a plug for that burnt tasting coffee.
May 22nd, 2007
Great advice, Funchilde, and I’m already onboard with everything you’ve said. The idea of not living “all your joy in the future” is spot-on. I could certainly be saving more than I am now – a great deal more as a matter of fact – were I happy to bike to work, live out of a dumpster, and eat canned tuna three times daily. But where’s the fun in that? So I’m compromising – I’m saving what I can now without sacrificing my sanity or my health.
May 22nd, 2007
I agree. It’s important to live your life in the present even when you are saving for the future. Go ahead and splurge once in a while, and when you do, enjoy it fully, otherwise it’s a waste.