Mmmk I need to confess: I LOVE MOCHAS. I mean, that is NOT a surprise to any of you who know me in the real world. And I LOVE stopping at coffee shops. In fact, I once had a dream of opening a coffee shop. Dreams change, but my love for mochas remains the same!
Now, I dream of remaining debt free, retiring in 15 years and living life on the open road in my RV. Dreams can change, but today I am working to make them happen. And part of that is simply cutting superfluous expenses, like mochas.
My mother bought me a Ninja Coffee machine thing. I had been coveting it for several months. I would put it in my amazon cart, then remove it. Put it back. Remove it. I asked for nothing for Christmas except a set of sheets for my bed and the rest to be donated to St. Joe's Children's Home. Instead, I opened a Ninja Coffee Machine. I can't say I am sad.
I can't believe I am going to admit this, but I had gotten to the point of making 3-6 coffee shop stops a week. Sometimes twice in a day. Mathematically that ends up being about $1,250 with an average of just under 5 visits a week at $5 a drink. O. M. G. That's a lot of money! In fact, because I am a budget-nerd, I used the SEC website to calculate that I would be saving approximately $24,000 from now until I plan to semi-retire in 15 years if I cut out ALL coffee shop stops. (I am not going to do that, mind you, but the numbers are staggering...enough to get me to cut them down to one a week.) Here is the website to calculate savings: Savings Calculator. I did a basic web search for best 10 year CD rates (I know, I can get a better interest rate with a different form of investment) for 2.45% APR. This is a modest ROI. Fairly modest.
So now what I do is for every day I WANT a latte or mocha and yet am able to skip the stop I put that $4-5 (Lattes: $4; Mochas: $5) in an envelope. Every month I am going to take half the contents of that envelope and invest it into my newly-created acorn account (If you click this link and sign up through me, I get an additional $5 and YOU get an additional $5 FROM acorn. $5 free, that's a mocha y'all! Here is the link: Join ACORN, Save Money!) I am going to put it in a moderately aggressive investment strategy because if I had bought all those mochas...well, I would have lost that $5 anyway at least this way I have a chance of getting a higher return! I make my first investment this month and I am really excited!
So on to the good stuff...one way I talk myself out of mochas is by making them myself. I used to use hot cocoa mix, but now I kinda want a little better on my palette so I make my own chocolate syrup (of course, like who doesn't?). It ends up being about $1.50 per batch and it makes PLENTY of mochas. I also have extra for ice cream topping, hot cocoa, waffles, you get the drift...
Here is the recipe I use, courtesy of The Genius Kitchen:
1 Cup Cocoa
1.5 Cups Sugar (I used just a little more than 1C, cutting almost half a cup out)
1 Cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla (I mix 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon mint extract)
Mix cocoa and sugar, add water. Heat over low, mixing until water is fully incorporated. Bring to a gentle rolling boil while stirring constantly. Boil 5 minutes (recipe says 3, but I like mine thicker). Enjoy hot or wait til it cools. I store mine in a mason jar in the fridge.
I will make one in the morning and try to post a pic. But seriously, even if you don't make mochas this chocolate syrup is the bomb! In my opinion, it is superior to the stuff you get in a can.
...or at least that's my 26.2 cents worth anyway.
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