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Millennial Money: Drink up savings at Starbucks

By COURTNEY JESPERSEN

NerdWallet, via AP

One Starbucks grande Cold Brew with Salted Cream Cold Foam, please.

Even if your order sounds fancy, enjoying your coffee shouldn’t have to put you over budget.

Whatever your drink of choice, following these tips could help keep you from overspending at your favorite coffee spot — without giving up your habit.

WRITE A MONEY RECIPE

First and foremost, recognize your Starbucks purchases as a part of your actual budget.

“I prefer that people be realistic with themselves and say, ‘Listen, this is a habit that I’m not going to give up. It makes my day. It makes me happy,'” says Marianela Collado, CEO and senior financial adviser at Tobias Financial Advisors in Florida.

“Then it should totally be a line item. If you take $5 a day for 365 days, that’s almost $2,000.”

Those who utilize a budgeting system like Mintor Quicken should create a “coffee fix” category in their budget, Collado says. This would fall under the “wants” section of your budget, much like an entertainment or beauty category. And be sure to set a monthly spending limit.

KEEP YOUR DARK ROAST

OUT OF THE RED

Then, make some trade-offs. For example, Collado says she’s noticed that some members of her team regularly splurge on their afternoon lattes, but bring their lunches to work instead of going out to eat.

They value getting coffee out more than they value eating out.

If you’re not sure if you can hold yourself accountable on your own, don’t discount the ability of a gift card to keep your spending on track. Using a gift card as your payment method is actually a forced budgeting technique, according to Tracie Fobes, founder of Penny Pinchin’ Mom.

She recommends loading a Starbucks gift card onto the Starbucks app with your coffee money allotment for the month. Then don’t reload the card again for the next 30 days.

“You put $40 on that card, and when that $40 is done, guess what? Your Starbucks run ends for the month.”

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