"Hershey Chocolate Syrup" copycat

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.

 

Weekly Savings Challenge, Remix!

Weekly Savings Challenge

Many of us have seen that weekly savings challenge. On week 1, you save $1, week 2 you save $2, and so on. And several of my friends have tried it. I have started it three times and successfully completed it once. One. Single. Time.

That was the last time I attempted it and I want to share what worked for me. I didn’t stick with “the plan” as outlined! I admit, I am not the most organized, stringent, to-do list oriented person. I probably wouldn’t even remember to put into my retirement account if it weren’t for auto-transfer! And yet I also realize the importance of saving on a routine basis (again, thank you auto transfer !!). This envelope system, though, is a great way to become more disciplined in saving and can help with holiday spending, too! So here is what I did:

I gave myself permission to skip around. Face it, come November, few people have an extra $48 to save but maybe you do the week you get your tax refund? So put your $48 in the week you have an extra $48. And color the box in! What box? You may be asking…simple, I created the grid below, cut it out and taped it to a brown envelope. As I put the weekly savings of my choice in, I colored the box in. This way, when you need a smaller dollar amount to save—you can STILL stay on track to intentionally save. More important than that, to me, was getting in the habit of saving SOMETHING each week, the discipline of saying, “ I am going to look at my budget and put something into savings.” Then the behavior side of savings comes into play. I mean, I am pretty sure most of us are aware that saving money is probably a good thing to do. So why don’t we? In the two failed attempts, when I had to skip a week, I felt like I had fallen off the plan and failed. So it was less likely for me to put in the next week. Which created this downward spiral. By giving yourself permission to save the amount you can, you allow yourself to continue to be rewarded and keep at it the following week. Plus, I will admit, it was pretty gratifying to see my grid get colored in solid!

This year, I created a few extra squares—a bonus square and some partial squares. I have a son now and I have NO clue what extra expenses may come up throughout the year. There may come a week when I’ve already put my $1 in and I don’t have enough to put a full amount. So I will put in a partial amount, color that square in and keep at it! The point is to get into the habit of saving weekly.

I hope this helps you save for whatever financial goal(s) you may wish to achieve. I plan to stop the savings in December this year and apply it towards my Christmas spending. Because that is my plan, I give myself permission to deviate from this system. What will you do with the extra money you save?

Weekly Savings Challenge

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	Partial:	Partial:	Partial:	Bonus:	Bonus:	Bonus:	Bonus:	Total: