I love Starbucks coffee.  Actually, I take that back–I don’t drink their coffee.  I drink their lattes, their macchiatos, their iced concoctions… like crazy.  In fact, almost every day I’ve lived in New York for the past two years, I’ve probably had at least one drink from Starbucks.

(My usual is a “triple-grande-caramel-macchiato.” Perfection.  Anyway)

However, I am trying to quit Starbucks.  A few months ago I was having lunch with my friend Cathy Wasserman, a life coach, and we got talking about how bad Starbucks is for your budget.  She was telling me that when Suze Orman examines women’s spending, she advises that Starbucks should be the first thing to go.  I got thinking about it, I realized that if I had never had Starbucks, I could have bought myself a trip to Paris or a really, really nice coat with all that money.  In fact, let’s look at this equation:

The price of a triple grande caramel macchiato seems to vary depending on the Starbucks I’m in, but it seems to hover around $4.60.

Now, for the sake of getting a modest guess, let’s say I have said drink four times a week.  

$4.60 X 4= $18.40 a week on Starbucks

$18.40 X 4 weeks=$73.60 a month on Starbucks

$73.60 X 12 months= $883.20 a year on Starbucks

As such, in my two-year New York tenure, I’ve spent $1766.40 on Starbucks… and that’s the modest estimate. (That’s not including the muffins, the water bottles, the Doubleshots and the internet access I buy there, but whatever)

So, say I had $1766.40 to spend on whatever I wanted.  Here’s what I would buy:

One-month time share in Boca Raton

Vacation to Paris

Fur coat

… and more Starbucks.

Like other addictions, attempting to quit Starbucks has been extremely difficult and most unfruitful, given that I’m writing this from my local Starbucks, triple-grande caramel macchiato in hand…