Canadians Advised To Make Coffee at Home

Americans are used to hearing about the economy and what should be done to save money or to change spending habits. We’re not alone. Take our neighbors to the north, who are going through the same challenging times. After a summer survey revealed that they were spending more on leisure items such as meals and coffees out than last summer, they were given some unsolicited advice on how to save. Yahoo Finance reported that activities such as eating out and socializing increased this year, with the biggest rise being an eight percent jump in dining out. Most other items, including buying morning coffee out, went up from between three and five percent. A Bank of Montreal VP used the survey to proffer her advice on how families could save money instead of frittering it away on unnecessary items. For example, she stated that if people spent $10 on lunch out every day, by bringing a sack lunch from home they could save $120 a month. Bringing a sandwich from home is one thing, but she also suggested they could save $3 every day by preparing their coffee at home. Her suggestion could make a true coffee lover wince when she said they could use instant coffee at only $5 a jar. Instant coffee? How in any way does that compare to a latte or espresso from a café? Surely she could have suggested that any at home coffee preparation will save money, but the coffee can be specialty brands and the coffee maker can be anything from a French press to an automatic espresso machine. That would certainly broaden the appeal to consumers to save. The banker did have a point; we could all target a few unnecessary expenses and decide to go without the items. However, drastic cutbacks in quality of life might not be called for. With many great coffees being available at a little over the $5 a jar, and a good variety of coffee makers available at low prices, coffee drinkers can still save money while continuing to enjoy quality coffee. If you’re spending $3 a cup daily on coffee, it will take less than a week to buy a French press with the savings, and within a few more days, you can save enough for a pound of gourmet ROASTe coffee. Brew on, frugally but deliciously. Speaking of savings, here are some great deals.