Back in the early 1990s, I was an original subscriber to The Tightwad Gazette newsletter run by
Amy Dacyczyn. I still have all of my original newsletters, which I keep stored
in three, three ring binders.
One day last week I had a substitute job that required me to
have a lot of free time and so I took one of my binders to work with me to
reread some of Amy D’s original material.
Sometimes, when you read something for the first time, the
information may not strike a chord with you simply because it may not be essential
to your life at the moment. Then, when you read the information for a second
time, you realize the information has become useful. I know that has happened
to me with The Tightwad Gazette on several occasions.
Last week while I was rereading my newsletters, I came
across the article Amy wrote about comparing beverages by the gallon.
Here is a
picture of that section of the newsletter:
Since I had the time, I decided to “do the math” on some thoughts
about drinks I had been mulling over lately.
Since my daughter started attending high school this year,
most of the students bring coffee drinks to school or they can buy them in the
Coffee Café the Business Department set up to teach the business students how
to run a business. My daughter tried the coffee, but decided it was not for her,
but she wanted a drink to fit in with her peers.
One day, on our way to school, we stopped at the local convenience
store because she wanted to buy herself a drink. She ended up buying a 20 ounce bottle of pop
for $1.83.
I was shocked at the price of $1.83 for a bottle of pop. When did these get to be so expensive? I can remember when I was growing up when a 12 ounce can of pop was
25¢. The price of this "convenience" item is getting very close
to $2.00, which is just unbelievable to me. Of course, many restaurants
charge more than $2.00 for drinks, which I always thought was a lot of
money for a drink.
Let’s do the math on this bottle of pop.
One gallon is equal to 128 ounces.
When I divide the cost of $1.83 by 20 ounces it comes out to
9¢ per ounce or $11.52 a gallon.
Ouch!
We went to Sam’s Club a couple of weeks ago and compared
prices. They were offering eighteen 24 ounce bottles of pop for $15.50. This
works out to 4¢ per ounce or $5.12 a gallon.
I compared the price of 6 bottles of pop offered for $3.50
at our local grocery store. This worked out to 3¢ per ounce or $3.84 per
gallon.
Are you shocked?
If you are a regular reader, you know that I’ve written before about saving money on beverages.
I can
make a gallon of sweet iced tea or Kool-Aid for less than 50¢ in my frugal kitchen or we can even
drink water for free. This is much easier on my budget than paying the expensive prices for beverages at a convenient store.
As for my daughter, I am still working on her. Sometimes she will refill her bottle with drinks from home and I like that she does try to save money at times. I know she is more thoughtful and careful when it comes to spending her own money, so I take that into consideration as well.
Once again, this goes to prove that you can save so much
money by cooking from scratch and making your own beverages at home in your own
kitchen.
Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
