Well, a month ago, I decided it was time to try to save a little money and live healthier... maybe only a little bit healthier. See the past post. The goal was to make a thermos of coffee every weekday morning instead of buying cups of coffee elsewhere. The cost of brewing coffee at home is less than 8€ for the month. On the weekends, I limited myself to one trip to the coffee shop spending about 3€. So for the month of August, I spent about 15€, at most, on coffee out. This is a dramatic difference from my previous habit of spending more than 50€ on coffee every month. Thus, I managed to cut my coffee expenses by 50% and there is still some room for improvement.

Since I gave away the punchline, perhaps I should step back and explain why I am trying to change my personal and spending habits. I spent more than ten years in university, and for five of those years I used student loans to pay for tuition/living costs. Great. The debt load is not too onerous, tuition in Canada is generally much less than that for universities in the US, but I want to kick the crap of this debt and pay it off sooner than later. So for now, I am looking to change my habits to save money here and there to help me with that goal. Yes, I know, saving 25€ per month is not going to change anything overnight, but it is a start. It is not a bad start either, as an extra 25€ per month could mean my debt is paid off a number of months sooner.

So that is the why, now the how. I worked on changing my habits 30 days at a time. For 30 days, I keep track of my coffee purchasing and brewing. By writing down how much I spent, and reminding myself that spending this money is counterproductive to my goals (can you say guilt trip?), then I push myself to make my own coffee. I just had to remember not to try to justify buying coffee out with some excuse. For example, if I buy a Starbucks coffee then I contribute to stimulating the global economy :P. So, I spend one month like this, focusing on my goal, and changing a habit. Better yet, by the end of the month, I don’t really think about brewing coffee at home, it is now part of my morning routine, along with bringing a thermos to work.

There is nothing particular smart or original about my process. I have read blog posts elsewhere using this kind of theme, change your habits or life in some time. And, at least for something small, it worked for me. Next step is to move on to big stuff, and other changes I can make to save more money and gain more control of my finances.