Not sure how this is going to turn out, but work with me. After my initial cup of coffee in the morning and refill in the afternoon, I often go back for a cup of decaf or two and only get charged $.55. So I started to think about it on per ounce cost basis, should I just have some OTHER beverage instead? The Starbucks is $.0275 per ounce. How does that compare?
I can normally buy a 12 pack of soda for $3.50 or so. Twelve, twelve ounce cans is 144 total ounces or $.0243 per ounce....clearly a better deal. However, some days I just like the water content of coffee.
So I move on to Crystal Light. A container of Crystal Light(retailing at $5.50) has six separate tubs each of which makes two quarts of drink. There are sixty-four ounces in two quarts. That means there are 384 ounces per container of CL and a cost of $.0143 per ounce...almost half the price! Considering that I buy CL usually 2-for-1, it's only $.007 per ounce! James Bond's number. Ha!
Thanks for bearing with me on that; it's been on my mind for a while and I keep forgetting to calculate it. See what happens if you're an accountant? This is my life.
Also on the financial side of things, today I redeemed credits accrued through my affinity card. My credit card is a Micro Center card and every month they send me $25 -$75 depending on how much I charge on the card. Since the card doesn't cost me anything to own, it's basically free money. I thought about getting an airline card, but I don't travel that much and it seems like such a hassle. This card allows me to get printer ink, paper, computer equipment, pretty much anything for free. Since I was all stocked up on ink and paper, today I opted for a higher end headset for my phone at home (my other one seemed to be losing volume), a high-end surge protector with an eight foot cord to protect my electronics (had one before but it had too many things on it I think) and finally a set of active noise canceling travel ear phones to use when I do travel or go to Bears games or whenever. It should work really well with my portable DVD player. Not bad for $100, which was all in store credit. Sweet.
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6 comments:
Joe:
If weren't for the fact that I'm married to an accountant type I would make some incredibly sarcastic remark about why anyone would make the analysis that you did on what you drink in the afternoon.
a rather interesting exercise, considering you own a coffee maker but still prefer to purchase coffee daily at Starbucks in the morning. I didn't realize money fit into the decision-making process. :)
so many numbers....
The only thing I find surprising is the fact that you didn't figure that Starbucks is more expensive thank alternatives. I realize this whenever I pay $2 (or a lot more) for a cup of coffee.
It is indeed odd that I would do this exercise isn't it? However, when faced with the $.55 refill price, I wondered if I was better off just going in a different direction.
You're right Alexis, I have a perfectly good $100 coffee machine that sits idle, because I need caffeine first, but not too much. Then I don't know if I'm going to drink THAT much decaf and it just spirals from there.
Clearly dejesus, the first cup is more expensive than anything I get, but I NEED that cup, so I consider it a sunk cost. I was focused on the refills.
I guess when I'm working at home, the prospect of going out and actually seeing other humans who aren't on my two dimensional television is very compelling.
That and 55 cents will get you a cup of coffee. :-)
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