MONEY SAVING TIPS - The Beverage Edition.

1) Make Your Own Coffee.

Let's do some math. I get plain coffee, so if I went to Starbucks 6 days a week, that would be $2/day so

$12 a week.

$48 a month.

$576 a year.

And that's just coffee! Who doesn't go into Starbucks on a Friday and grab a pastry too? Or a breakfast sandwich? It really starts to add up. I usually buy a pound of coffee on sale for probably $6 at the grocery store. We buy coffee pretty frequently in my house because my mom also drinks it. And guys, that $576 is just for plain coffee. If you're drinking lattes, you could be spending $960 a year.

2) Make Your Own Iced Tea.

I don't know about you, but I drink a ton of iced tea. It's calorie free (No sugar!), has caffeine, and is a nice change from water. I drink a glass of iced tea a day and sometimes more. In my family, we just make gallons of it and keep it in the fridge. My mom drinks it. When people come over, they love the option. We just bought 48 large tea bags for approximately $5. Now, if I went out and bought an iced tea everyday before work, I would be spending $3/day, $15/week, $60/month, $720/year. And we just cut that cost by spending $5 for tea that will probably last us for the next month or so.

3) Water Down Your Juice.

This is a weird one, but I really love juice. However, I think most juices are just too sweet. The sugar is over-powering. There are so many calories that I'd rather just skip it. But it's so good that I can't quit it. So, I water it down. I usually do about 25% juice and 75% water, but that's me. This helps not only with calories, but the juice lasts so much longer and you get so much out of it. 

4) Refill Those Gallons of Water

My mom keeps gallons of water until they break and we just constantly refill them. We do big trips a few times a week because we're honestly drinking that much water (Hey! We live in the desert!). 25 cents instead of paying for a new one everytime doesn't seem like a lot, but it definitely adds up.

5) Reusable Cups.

My favorite cup in the entire world is my Starbucks reusable tumbler. I take it everywhere -- to work, to the gym, running errands. This way, I'm not tempted to buy a water bottle if I'm out because I can usually just ask places for water and keep it in my cup. The only downside to these are that I have a bad habit of breaking them ... 

If you were expecting some alcohol saving tips, wrong place. I wish I knew how. Pregame before the bar? But then that takes all the fun out of it. Maybe with all that money I'm saving from making my own coffee it's okay that I like to drink at the bar. Or, not. 

Pumpkin Spice VIA.

Fall is my favorite time of year, even though I live in Arizona and I don't get to see the leaves change colors. But, I do get to enjoy all things pumpkin. Pumpkin coffee, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin cider, pumpkin bagels. I love it all.

Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice lattes are my favorite, but I can only get a few because they're so expensive. This year, Starbucks introduced Pumpkin Spice VIA - instant coffee. It recommends you use hot milk, but hot water works just fine. And, it's a lot cheaper than the Pumpkin Spice latte.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still be splurging on a few Pumpkin Spice lattes this fall, but for a cheap, pumpkin fix, I love the VIA.

weekend review.

This was a rare weekend - I was off for three days. And I fell into a Pinterest blackhole and I don't know if I'm ever coming out.

Basically, I love all things pumpkin. I made a skull shirt. And, I dyed my hair dark again and put it in a sock bun.