The Latte Factor

When awoken at the unGodly hour of quarter till 6 in the morning, I was unable to go back to sleep... I started by reading cook books, but I just keep drooling on my pillow, so I switched to a book that was DEEP inside my night stand and rather dusty. Its one that some very kind soul at the bank gave me called Start Late, Finish Rich. The no fail plan for acheiveing ginancial freedom AT ANY AGE!

I thought OK... cool... sounds like a good read, and randomly flipped it open... the first page I came too was the beginning of the chapter called "find your double latte factor". Thinking to myself, I could seriously use one of those right now, I started in on it.

The chapter goes on to describe societys "latte factor". Essentially we are programmed to spend, spend, spend, wheather it be sales, or that little extra treat that we have for ourselves, like a monthly manicure, pedicure, or daily latte, we are constantly spending. The book went on to talk about how everyone thinks that by recieving a raise, or even winning the lottery and getting more money will solve the problems. Thats not so. Most people dont even notice the difference when they get a raise. Simply because when they realize that they will have a little more that month, they do that much more shopping, eating out, etc.

That brought the chapter to its "climax" using Sharon. Sharon apparently went on Oprah to talk about the debt that her family had amounted on credit cards. She always thought that with her, or her husbands next raise, (now she was making about 60 grand a year by herself.) Oprah and whoever she had on her show as a money manager, (I think it was the author) went on to tell her that if she stopped spending JUST her manicure and massage money (that amounted to almost 250$ a month (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I wish...) she would save by retirement, over $200,000. :-O

This made me think about what I spend things on. I certainly make enough to live on (I only have a car payment and insurance, because I still live at home and my parents dont charge me rent.... yet). But I always find its tight at the end of the month. The more I thought of it, the more I realized that it was because of my Latte Factor. The little things I buy, like that pair of shoes that are on sale, that extra something to munch on while on break. uh... Garage sales... (although I am happy to report I have only gone out about 3 times with my mom this year) etc, adds up to a LOT....

That got me thinking some more... (I was really surprised that this worked so well for this early)... What if, for TWO months, I ONLY spent what I needed.... So gas, insurance, cell phone bill, tithes, necessary groceries... and 50$ on other things because I know that I will probably fail otherwise.... What would my bank account look like? How much better off would I be, financially?

So I'm proposing for myself, and anyone out there who is up to the challenge, for the months of September and October, quit your latte factor. Take out 50$ a month in cash, and hide your credit card... if your like me and need it to pay for gas and such then just keep it out of sight...

and see what happens. Maybe that trip, house, debt reduction, whatever, is a LOT closer than you thought it was!

And anyways, who NEEDS more shoes... ;-)