No More Starbucks

My Pledge to Cut Down on Starbucks

In an effort to save money, I made myself a goal of reducing my Starbucks consumption to 0 until I have some more money to spend. This was obviously unrealistic. I am a habitual Starbucks patron. By habitual, I mean daily. I love the experience of walking into a nicely lit store and being greeted with pleasant aromas. I used to sit everyday in Starbucks and write; it was just so relaxing.

No more. I kept track of my number of trips to Starbucks over the last 2 weeks. 4. Those days were probably just because I had a craving or was in a bad mood. But I did make a point to change my order from a Venti Iced Costa Rica to a Grande Cafe Verona. That saves me about a dollar per trip. I know that it's a downgrade and the coffee doesn't taste the same, but all people see is the cup, they don't know that I'm drinking a cheaper blend.

On the plus side, I think that I'm starting to appreciate things a bit more. I was so happy to actually go to Starbucks because it actually felt like a special occasion. But I'm going to try and cut back even more. In the next two weeks, I'm going to try to go to Starbucks at most twice. I think that I can do it.

How I Became Poor

From Burberry to Broke

The story of my life as it currently stands is a bit unfortunate, but it may also be a blessing in disguise. For most of my life I have gotten everything that I wanted and much of it was provided through my own work. I grew up in a wealthy town with wealthy friends and I never imagined a life for myself that didn't include organic raspberries. I am a 20 year old gay man with a strong craving for all that is material in the world, but something has changed. It's my senior year of college and I have run out of money for the first time in my life. 

To be clear, I am not the prince of Monaco nor am I the beneficiary of a wealthy grandparent. I just happen to be from a white upper class family living in suburban Massachusetts. My parents had enough money to buy my siblings and I nice things and take us to nice places and I was able to save up a lot of money before I left for college. The money that I started off with wasn't enough for extravagance; I never rented suites when I travelled and I would only buy items from Club Monaco that were on sale, but if something cost less than $75, I would barely think before buying it. And to be fair, I was able to secure some lucrative intern positions during my summers that were able to bolster my spending. But now I am entering my senior year and I realized that I am dead broke. 

Well, dead broke is a bit harsh I suppose. I am not living in abject poverty; I happen to be slurping down the last of my flaxseed smoothies. But the money that I do have will cover my rent, my car payment for the new car I bought last year and little else. I may even need to stop shopping at Whole Foods. Thankfully my prospects for after graduation appear bright, but for the first time, I will be temporarily poor. 

In order to make it through the next nine months without crashing my credit scores, I need to seriously adjust my lifestyle. My boyfriend advised that I should stop beginning every day with a trip to Starbucks. I will have to drink Dunkin Donuts instead, but I bought one of those reusable Starbucks cups to put it in so that nobody will know. 

Stay tuned as my life unfolds.