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Results of my Coffee Experiment

February 2nd, 2016 at 01:06 pm

February already?! Sheesh...

Things are going relatively well this week - I had a shoot rescheduled from yesterday, which was perfect. Because I was going to have to miss half of my acting class that started last night, but the client was unable to do it. So I got to go to the whole thing! And it went really well Smile

Yesterday was a no spend day. I'm on day 3 of my writing challenge, and it's going fantastically.

Added my debt to my mint account this morning - so far I had only linked our joint account and set up our budgets. But now there's a bit more of an accurate assessment of things. Just need to get DH to link his CC and investment accounts so we can get a crystal clear picture. And close my PNC account.

***

I finished out the coffee I had bought from Trader Joe's, so I have an accurate understanding of the cost savings. I went through and made a little spreadsheet to make some comparisons.


So the Aldi K-cups are what we've been using since we replaced our Keurig machine. This experiment was originally intended to see if I made any cost savings by getting the reusable cup and filling it with the delicious Trader Joe's coffee that I grind in the store. So all of the cost savings comparisons are to the Aldi K-cups (in the first column). Ct for the ground coffee is based on the volume I used over the course of the experiment. Savings per year is per cup x 365 days. Per month divides that by 12. At 2 cups a day doubles those figures, and would be what we would save if DH and I both made the change.



Some observations:

- I don't save *much* by going with the Trader Joe's coffee, but it is about $0.11 a cup better, so that's something. Not bad for the coffee being much more delicious and using the reusable cup is better for the environment.
- We would save considerably more by switching to the preground Dunkin Donuts coffee (DH's fave) or Folgers (which wouldn't be my first choice, but it's good to see a comparison). Both would be purchased in larger bags online.
- I included the DD K-cups and the Keurig Brand Donut K-cups to basically see how much I'm saving by getting them at Aldi. It's amazing to see how much more expensive it is - even making the coffee at home!
- The Vue cup comparison shows how much we're saving now that we switched from the Vue machine (which was purchased for us as a gift) to the newer model that takes regular sized k-cups. That $300 we save over a year more than pays for the new machine!

So basically, I'm not saving thousands by any means, but when every little bit helps, it's interesting to see. I think I am going to buy that big bag of Dunkin coffee - because DH might actually take the effort to use it. I may also keep drinking my Ethiopian coffee as well, at least keep it around for the days I want to have something a little more special.

I'm also going to add $4.62 to my savings/snowflakes to reflect the $0.11 per cup I saved by making the switch this time Smile

Hope you guys found my nerdy exercise to be as interesting as I did! haha.

3 Responses to “Results of my Coffee Experiment”

  1. livingalmostlarge Says:
    1454432264

    Cool! I like this comparison. We have a senseo pod machine which is very expensive to run, but I got for free years ago. But the senseo pod coffee is way better than k-cups all reviews say and my DH notices. But we save because as the solo coffee drinker it's much more cost efficient to make him one cup a day than a pot that we would waste. I am a tea drinker so I never touch the stuff. We have a pot for when we have guests but otherwise his pod is 25 cents and well worth the savings over buying a cup or even making a pot and using 1/4 if the smallest is 4 cups.

  2. Ima saver Says:
    1454438817

    I enjoyed the exercise. I like to see people experiment on ways to save money. I do it all the time. (However, I don't drink coffee and we don't even own a coffee maker.)

  3. Kiki Says:
    1454442348

    How hard were the cups to fill with your own coffee?

    And what grind settings do you use?

    I use a Keurig at home and was recently given a second which I placed in my office. They also gifted about 300 k-cups in blends I don't enjoy so I set them out for anyone who wants coffee to have them.

    It has been a big hit at the office to have a "coffee bar" all set up. I brought in sugar and non fat powdered milk (which is what I use as creamer as I hate the fake creamers) and others have brought in their favorite coffees from home to use the machine.

    All I request is if they use it they must fill the reservoir and the bottle of water I keep for the machine (from the filtered water).

    It is nice for the camaraderie but I told them it is a bit like flying: please don't linger by the cock pit (e.g. in the office - make the coffee and go). I can't waste time chatting all day. It has been well received so far.

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