Beverages
I don’t know about you but I LOVE caffeine. I tend to have an addictive personality, meaning once I like something I just keep going back to it and using it. No, I’m not a lab rat hooked some crazy substance hitting a button all day long for more. I just know what I like and continue to use it. I’m sure you have something like that too. For the rest of this post I will refer to this beverage as POP. I’m from the midwest and we call it POP. You may call it Soda, Pop, Soda Pop, Coke, what have you. I’ve been all over the country and sometimes have been laughed at for ordering a Pop. Oh well, this is my blog and we will use POP!!
Enter the Diet Dew
Diet Mountain Dew is one of my best friends in the world. I drink at least two 20 ounce. bottles a day during normal working hours. When I deliver pizzas on the weekends I tend to suck down even more. I usually only start drinking pop after 10am in the morning. I reserve the early hours for my other friend, coffee. My name is Jeff and I’m a caffeine addict. The good thing about being budget minded is the ablity to look for cheap ways to finance my habit.
The Cost
Around here, the average cost of a 20oz. bottle of pop is $1.40 each. A 2 bottle a day habit results in a cost of $19.60 per week at 7 cents per oz. That will be $1,019.20 per year just in pop.
My frugal hack is to buy 2-liters of pop instead of single 20oz bottles. The costs are greatly reduced. I will use 64 oz to represent a 2-liter for easy math, yes a 2-liter really has 67.6 ounces. A two litter of pop costs $1.79, or 2.8 cents per oz. Doing the math we can purchase 5 2-liters a week for $8.95 and pay $465.40 for the year. That works out to a 54% savings just for buying the larger bottle.
Tricks of the Trade
The best trick is to surf the sale papers on Sunday and Monday to locate the best deal on pop. Once a month my local grocery store sells Diet Dew for 89 cents. I buy the limit of 10 bottles and store them at home. Another store has the same sale 2-weeks apart. I buy the limit of 10 bottles there as well. As a result I get my weekly requirement of 5 bottles for $4.45 or 1.4 cents per oz. Using this hack I can spend $213.40 for an entire year of pop, that’s a 77% savings over buying the pop from the vending machine.
Fluid transportation tricks. You can use the frig at work to keep your vice cool all day long. I like to take used bottles from my co-workers and toss them in the dishwasher to reuse. We have the 10 cent bottle return policy here in Michigan so nobody throws them away. I know it sounds gross, but it works. I also have a travel cup that I use to drink “the nectar of Gods” with. I keep at two liter at the pizza job to charge up while delivering. Yes the 2-liter is not as easy to work with, but saving $787.80 is well worth it.
Next week we’ll be investigating the frugalness of Home Brewing beer. The Dad from ClimbingOut suggested this topic so I will use him as a resource for the post.
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Article by Jeff Kosola
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Ah the never-ending homebrewing cost-savings debate. I brew all the beer we consume. I will add my take when the article comes.
My mom has same addiction you do but for diet pepsi. I always used to laugh when my dad would come home with 20+ bottles at once because they were on sale!
Katrina,
Do you have good “tricks of the trade” you’d like to send along to be included next week (jeff at deliverawaydebt com)? I’ve never brewed beer before, but I LOVE to learn new things.
I see your Dad did the math on pop as well, good for him
LOL. Katrina, you dad sounds like husband. If something says 10 for $10, he buys all 10 even though he can still buy 1 at the sale price.
Jeff, 2 20oz bottles of MD per day???? Crazy sugar rush! Luckily, I am not addicted to pop. I rarely drink the stuff. Well, sometimes I will treat myself to a cherry Coke. Mmm…
But my aversion to keeping costs down? I drink lots of tea. Tea bags in large quantities are rather frugal efficient. Not to mention I love the taste.
Money Funk´s last blog ..Could I be cutting myself short?
Christine,
I love tea too, but usually at home. And that was Diet Mountain Dew 0 sugar. Mmmmm I like Cherry Coke once in a while too.
Your going to have to instruct your man about reviewing the sale price on items
It would be more frugal, not to mention healthier to drink water …
but I’m addicted to Diet Mountain Dew too…
I paid an astronomical amount to buy a 12 pack of cans at CVS a couple weeks ago – only to get to work, open one, take a sip … and realize it was EXPIRED. In all my years of drinking pop I don’t think I ever realized it could go bad – but yuck, those were. Luckily, CVS was good about exchanging the opened pack but gag- that helped slow down the addiction a bit I admit.
Megan´s last blog ..Help for Haiti
Megan,
Water is good and all, but it just doesn’t taste like Diet Dew. Sorry about the CVS problem. I’ve had expired pop times and it’s not fun.
I checked out your blog and noticed you’re from the D. Nice to have another local reading my blog, thank you very much.
I never really was a soda guy. Maybe because my dad was ceo of a Coca Cola bottling plant when I was a kid. Coffee really is my downfall… a 16oz mug on the way to work, 3 or 4 8oz cups during the day… awful, I know.
@Katrina, let’s talk homebrew!!
the Dad, Climbing Out´s last blog ..Let Me Get this Straight Razor
Well at least we can agree on coffee as a wonderful drink. I believe coffee to be the 2nd nectar of the gods. Since I quit drinking alcohol I have to bump beer down to the number 3 nectar of the gods.
It’s soda out here in the West, but my family in the Mid-West calls it pop. And yes, I’m an addict. I can’t even say it’s to the caffeine since I drink caffeine-free so I can sleep at night.
I’m addicted to the fizz and love diet coke. However, I do mix it up with diet orange or root beer once in a while.
Being married to a fellow soda addict, we stock up on our brand at the sale so now have five 12-packs in our garage which is a low supply. Two-liters haven’t been on sale lately.
Bucksome´s last blog ..Smaller Isn’t Always Cheaper
Bucksome,
I’m so use to caffeine now that I can drink it right up until bedtime and still sleep. But if I ever go a day without it, look out because I get a little cranky. I’m glad to know there are 2 soda addicts in the West. Good luck working those sales…FYI I read your Smaller Isn’t Always Cheaper post just before I started writing this one, they are definitely along the same lines and in my case smaller is not cheaper
I love love LOVE pop. And yes, I also call it pop and have been laughed at on airplanes for ordering it
But I am all about Mountain Dew so I totally hear you on that one.
My friend and I used to get 2 liters all the time because they were the same price as a 20 oz and last a few days. Great deal!
David´s last blog ..Sleeping At Last Sing-A-Long
Great job on getting the dealz. I think its the only way to go if someone is trying to save money. I’m also glad I have another “Pop” person out there.
I buy Kroger brand diet (Code Red). It is so good! I am addicted as well but I hate buying even the sale price regular brand sodas. (I do but only if they are .99) We never see soda sale priced at .85 though. That’s pretty good.
@moneyfunk – LOL I am the same way sometimes so my wife laughs at me. It’s not that I think we need the full amount to get the discount I am just so used to how things used to be. If it said 3/$5 you used to have to buy all three to get the discount—not anymore though. LOL
Nice tip Jeff! I’m liking the new series and am adding this post to my roundup going live tonight some time.
Brad´s last blog ..The 50 Plates In 50 States Project
I like Code Red too, but I never can find it at our Kroger. Oh well, I’d probably spill the red nectar everywhere and cause stains all over my car and all over the house.
I’m glad you like the new series, Its very fun to write.
What a great example of not sacrificing quality by creatively adjusting quantity. Good example of little changes that can make a difference.
You are right Ken, those little changes can really add up. It follows the lines of the Latte a Day plan, but much easier to follow since you can have your cake and eat it too.
I case anyone is wondering if I follow the Pop and Ramen plans, I’ve attached a picture of my lunch today
http://yfrog.com/4e21bwj
Dude, do you know how bad diet soda is for your body? I’m not one to talk because I’m a recovering Diet Dr. Pepper fanatic, but aspartame can have some pretty horrible side effects. Definitely look into it. A more frugal tip would be to give up soda completely.
Red´s last blog ..Honeymoon: Expenses report and photos
Thank Red, but I’m going to take my chances on this one. We’ll just call the diet pop my only vice, since I quite smoking, drinking, and using caffeine. Oh yeah, I’ve switched from Diet Dew to Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi. I’ve never heard of anyone dying from diet pop yet, who knows I could be the first.
Thanks for the concern Red, I’ll check it out
It’s great that you’ve given up caffeine since this post, but the aspartame found in diet sodas have 92 health side effects. Check out this website to read about them:
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html
Red´s last blog ..A summer for movies
Well I finally reached this post whilst going through all 96 posts on your mega Yakezie post… Getting there
Forest´s last blog ..Is Minimalism a worthwhile form of activism?