By: Kenny Louie
I really hate the ‘latte factor’.
We were talking about this at work the other day, and I pointed out that I don’t drink coffee, so it’s an instant turn-off.
‘So what would you cut back on?’ I was asked.
Truth is, I don’t have an equivalent. I don’t regularly spend on anything. I don’t have anything I could easily or obviously cut back on like a daily coffee. Most of my days are no-spend days.
For me, it’s always been about the infrequent but big ticket buys. Mostly travel, with a bit of a concert-going phase.
I am in the same boat. I don’t drink coffee or smoke or have any daily vice that would be easy to cut out in a bid to save more money. When Tony & I were saving for our RTW trip, most of the areas where people found the most extra money were in areas that didn’t apply or were things we already did (e.g., only having one car, packing our lunches, not having cable, having friends over for dinner rather than going out to eat, etc.,).
Probably the closest equivalent for us right now would be our online subscriptions to services like Netflix and Apple Music. We could cut those out and save a wee bit of money BUT we actually share our accounts (and, therefore, the costs) of these services with family members, so each one amounts to about $5/month, which hardly seems like an exorbitant amount to spend on “entertainment/general life enjoyment”.
Same.
None of the things I could think of are every day–maybe once or twice a month:
Specialty Groceries. Takeaways. Delivery. Moustache cookies.
And Uber & Cityhop. 🙂
Stuff that makes my life easier and delicious. I consider them pure luxuries, though, not necessities. I don’t take them for granted, and I enjoy every second of the indulgence. I could get by without them, however, as long as I have room in the budget, why not? But they’d be the FIRST to go if I needed to cut back.
It’s all about perspective.
Spotify Premium. If forced to, that’s something that I’m able to cut back with ease (but that’s on a monthly basis). On a daily basis, I can’t think of anything else. Coffee used to be my vice in college, but I’ve reduced the amount of consumption after its weird effects on me.
Fancy food and eating out, hands down.
Generally I’d say fast-food is mine, but I’ve been really good with not buying it lately. Although, I should be upfront and say the biggest reason I haven’t been buying fast food is because I couldn’t afford it. Like, I’ve been making part-time, minimum wage income where there is no room for extras! (It also helps a lot that I live with a cook.)
Eating out and alcohol, no question. We’ve managed to get our eating out down, but there’s something about sharing a bottle of wine at the end of the day that’s hard to pass up. We do purchase cheap bottles of wine, though, so at least that is something.
I also spend on big ticket purchases. My New Years resolution the past two years has been not to travel. Despite travel hacking I typically spend thousands on travel each year. Luckily it’s been a New Years resolution I’ve never kept because I get the itch to travel around April and book trips. I went to Ecuador last year.
I’m the same, it’s usually the once-in-a-while-but-expensive purchases that hurt my savings. I don’t go shopping regularly but I like bags. I really like bags. I thought I was over them but I recently discovered I might not be. Not yet, anyway.
Completely agree, we don’t really have a latte factor either. It used to be weekly takeaway food, but we’ve stopped doing that too!
Tristan
It’s always struck me that this idea of the ‘latte factor’ was created by the disconnected and well-off to convince everyone else that they could be more comfortable and successful with a bit more austerity. The closest thing I can think of are the writing contests I enter with some regularity, but which I pay for with extra income I get from rebate apps and other money-savers. So, that’s my grumpy old-lady millenial rant for the day.