How to save at Starbucks

If I had to pick a guilty pleasure, it would hands-down be Starbucks. I don’t smoke, rarely drink alcohol and I even gave up soda a year ago after years of downing diet coke like it was water. But my morning dessert has been harder to shake. I literally buy my favorite – a grande, non-fat, upside-down (basically means stirred) caramel macchiato – every morning at $4.01 a pop after tax. I once did the math and to my horror, figured out that means I spend nearly $1,500 on coffee each year! <gulp>

When you put it in those monetary terms, it sounds like an absurb amount, but that grande cup of goodness makes me happy and I will probably continue to go every morning until God-forbid Starbucks goes bankrupt. With that in mind, I’m always on the lookout for ways to save on this daily expense and recently I found two programs that may help me save quite a bit:

Starbucks Gold Card: Available for an annual membership fee of $25, users of this card receive 10% off most purchases (excludes gift cards), perks such as a free drink the day you buy the membership and on your birthday, and up to two hours free Wi-fi in stores. After the discount, my drink is $3.60, saving me $0.41 each day.

Starbucks Gift Cards at Costco: For a limited time, members can buy five $20 Starbucks cards at Costco for $79.99. I used to belong to Costco, but found that purchasing in bulk wasn’t the smartest idea for a single girl who doesn’t cook often so I canceled it a year ago. Luckily, I have helpful friends who were more than happy to purchase these for me.

Recap of my first month’s savings:
Free drink with membership: $4.01
10% discount: $12.30
Free Costco gift card: $20.00
Membership fee: -$25.00
TOTAL: $11.31

And my second month savings will be about three times that amount! While the above doesn’t make sense for the casual Starbucks drinker, those of us who visit once a day (or more) stand to save a pretty penny…nearly $400 a year if the Costco offer continues throughout 2009.

$aver in the City Tip: If you do end up taking advantage of both of the above offers, be sure to call Starbucks customer service at (800) 782-7282 and have them add the five gift card balances directly to your Gold card for the maximum savings benefit.

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The dreaded “Check Engine” light

Earlier this week, the “check engine soon” light in my car came on suddenly and without warning. Of course these things usually happen without warning, but that doesn’t make it less annoying or inconvenient. I really can’t complain, though, since my car has nearly 95,000 miles, is paid off and has given me very little grief over the past six years (knock on wood). So while I’d already planned to bring my car in for an oil change, I found myself needing to do this more immediately to fix the “check engine” light issue before it became a bigger problem.

Like most of my female friends, I dread having to take my car in for repairs and maintenance. Not because it’s a hassle, rather because I always feel as if the workers sense that I have no idea about cars and they take advantage of that fact to sell me unecessary upgrades and services. Yesterday was no exception. I went into Jiffy Lube with a coupon for a $19.95 oil change and left a half hour later with a bill for $121…and that represented a $20 discount because the cashier said I had a nice smile!

For the record, $aver in the City does not encourage using feminine wiles to secure a discount on anything, but on my honor I didn’t ask and I didn’t do anything to encourage him to give me a discount. In fact, I left feeling a little bad because my attitude turned from pleasant to somewhat bitchy when I learned they had to do a radiator flush for $79.99 to get the light to turn off. To their credit, the light did go off and they were still very nice even after I told them point blank that I felt like mechanics take advantage of customers’ lack of knowledge about cars.

Yes, in hindsight, not the best idea to accuse the person fixing your car of dishonesty – especially when they’re holding your car keys – but hopefully the smile made up for it and my car continues running long into the future!

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My first Black Friday foray

I’ve always believed someone is either a shopper or not, and until recently I wouldn’t have hesitated to put myself firmly in the former category. After all, I can happily spend a Saturday afternoon foraging through the racks at Marshalls and Ross in search of the perfect find, while many of my friends would consider a root canal much more enjoyable. So although I’d always heard the hype about the craziness of Black Friday, I figured I was up to the task…after all, I was “a shopper.”

The Date: Black Friday 2008

The Mission: Buy inexpensive, good quality sheets for my bed

The Target: 500-thread-count cotten sheet set at Walmart…a steal at $20!

The Synopsis: I’d noticed these advertised a week ago in a leaked circular and although I wasn’t necessarily in need of sheets, I liked the idea of having another set since I often find myself too lazy to wash my sheets between housekeeper visits. With that in mind, I set my alarm for 5am, thinking I would try to buy them online and then head to the store if necessary.

5am, sleepy but determined – log onto computer and Walmart.com with anticipation only to see a “Sorry, we’re conducting routine maintenance” message. Note to Walmart IT Guy…hi, um, perhaps you could’ve chosen another time for this? Wake up a bit more and deduce that the routine maintenance is probably them updating the site with all the yummy deals for Black Friday. So I sit there and refresh every few minutes until getting bored and deciding to take a shower.

5:25am…mildly annoyed, but now clean and still determined – refresh again, only to see same message. Begin to feel sorry for Walmart IT Guy because he may not have a job after today’s web snafu. Leave computer with a huff to get ready since worst case scenario I’ll visit the store.

5:45am…v. annoyed, but clean, ready for work and still determined – refresh and voila! the website is up and I’m ready to purchase my sheet set. Quickly navigate to bedding site and click on desired sheet set only to see horrible message saying that the sheet sets are sold out online! Okay, if the website has been down for “routine maintenance” then how the freaking heck was anyone else able to buy my sheets???

5:48am…pissed off and driving like mad woman to local Walmart – On my way to the store, I pass a Target and turn into the parking lot only to exit two seconds later after 1) seeing the packed lot and 2) deciding my current mission is more important than roaming the aisles aimlessly at Target. I get to Walmart and to my surprise, people are already streaming out with shopping carts filled to the brim. I’d heard about these people who wake up at the crack of dawn to stand in line at the stores, but deep down I truly thought they were a myth – like unicorns and leprechans. Hmm, may now have to rethink stance on unicorns and leprechans…

Anyway, I rush inside to the bedding section and after unsuccessfully finding the sheet set on my own, I track down a Walmart employee for assistance. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the 500-thread-count sheet sets are?” I ask, trying to appear nonchalant (after all, don’t want to be associated with the crazy people). “You mean the one that was advertised?” In the brief pause that follows, I see the helpful expression in her eyes turn to one of pity and I feel the first prickle of awareness that I may be out of my element. Confirming my thoughts, she says, “Yeah, those are all sold out.”

For God’s sake people, it’s 6am and it’s a sheet set. I can understand the bargain-priced televisions, cameras and laptops, but a sheet set?!? Conveniently I’ve forgotten that I was up an hour ago frantically trying to purchase said sheet set online, but since I came up empty handed, I justify my incredulity and annoyance.

The Result: Mission Failed

So now I’m at work early, without a new sheet set and forced to rethink not only unicorns and leprechans, but whether or not I can truly consider myself “a shopper.”

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Giving Thanks

I can’t help but feel it’s fitting that this blog officially launches on Thanksgiving day since part of my purpose in starting it is to share more of myself with others. I am so blessed in many ways and yet I tend to be selfish in what I give – whether my time, resources, emotion, money, etc. My hope is that this blog becomes a place where I can give back by sharing experiences, opportunities, advice (usually learned through my own mistakes), perspectives and humor. So to start, below are just a few of the things I’m thankful for this year:

• A wonderful family that loves me and shows me that in so many ways
• Friends who put up with me, faults, quirks and all!
• My health and the health of my loved ones
• In this economy, a job that is relatively secure and that still excites me after three years
• A roof over my head, and a home that is worth more than I paid for it
• That I have money saved up for emergencies when others have to worry about getting by day-to-day
• The goodness of others. I’m not able to spend Thanksgiving with my family, but I had several people invite me to share their meal, which really touched me.
• And finally, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie…YUM. Seriously, I look forward to this meal every year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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