I've been rereading the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, and it got me thinking. I've been considering my finances in general the past several months, and honestly, I've not liked where my thoughts were going. I was thinking about the common- but undeniably good- advice of examining your spending. I hear examples of people stopping every day to get a coffee and a pastry, and I think to myself "That's not me- I don't do that. I wouldn't waste my money on a pastry everyday. I don't even get a coffee every single day". And then it hit me right between the eyes yesterday as I was driving to get my coffee- "That is me! Shit." Because so what if I don't get a pastry with my drink? That's just denial, avoidance, and me completely missing the point. And I do get a coffee drink every day, or close enough. So I had to really acknowledge that to myself, and admit the sheer amount of money I was spending on my coffee habit. Ouch. Combine that with sitting and figuring out exactly what I owe and at what rates, and working out the interest charges per year, and I have found my tangible motivation to get out of debt.
That's what I was missing before- a tangible motivation. Sure, I told myself that I want less stress, more comfort, more vacations, and to be easily able to both retire and still send my kids to college if they want- or at least not leave bills behind when I'm dead. But those were too abstract and too far off. I'm 24; retirement is easy to consider, but hard to really get a handle on. And so I buy coffee.
Of course, figuring all this out (finally- what the hell took me so long?) leads to more questions. I know I'm not willing to completely give up coffee. Maybe if it was choice between coffee or my family starving. To death. Otherwise, I'm keeping my coffee. I am going to cut back though. I'll go back down to 1-2 coffee drinks per week and 1 pot a day. It'll save cash, gas, and calories, and help my wallet, the environment, and my waistline- and that's what I need to focus on. And I'll start today, because otherwise I won't start at all.
I've been trying to get some more money coming in, and several things are coming together at once.
All in all, I'm glad I figured this out now. Spring is coming: that wonderful time of renewal,and dropping utility bills. Hopefully I can make some progress while the bills are minimal and have an easier time of the higher heating bills next winter. Either way, I'll keeping reading up and working on it, and I know I'll make progress. I found 2 quotes that I particularly like, so I'll close with these thoughts:
"The bottom line of procrastination is a fear of failure." Earma Brown
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
--Winston Churchill
Okay, you're going to call me insane, but I don't think now is a good time to buy Starbucks. Take a look at the stock chart... Its at near record highs, this isn't to say it won't go higher -- Starbucks has been on a up trend for quite some time. I'm waiting for some analysts to say something stupid like "They only grew their same store sales by 6%!" then watching the stock drop, and buying some... Don't do what I did with Chiquita, get all excited about the company at the same time as everyone else and buy in, then watch yourself sustain some hefty losses when something bad happens. (CQB=29.9% value loss currently.)
The key to investing is finding something that is valuable that other people don't see as valuable, or moving in the opposite direction of the herd. (Recent good bets for me: US Airways=43.56% gain, Netflix=175.33% gain, Apple=61.99% gain. Boneheaded losses: (Lying with figures here a bit) Cincinnati Bell=56.77% loss, Amazon 17.2% loss.)
Stocks aside, I think budgeting is a bit like dieting. Everything in moderation, and you've gotta track it. I track my Starbucks habits separate from everything else, its a big enough expense. Set yourself a dollar limit to spend on coffee -- this way you won't be "well I'll get a pound every two weeks" then splurge on the Black Apron coffees that cost 2x..