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5 Tricks To Save Money At Starbucks (Updated)

Updated: Unfortunately, Starbucks reduced certain benefits, and is making it more difficult to find these powerful savings. I’ve changed a couple points to reflect the shift.

Starbucks is a favorite scapegoat of budget-minded personal finance gurus. Spending $4-5 on an espresso drink is unfathomable. The basic understanding is that if you spend that much every day or even a few times a week, it adds up. Spend $5 for 120 days (1/3 a year) and you’re looking at a staggering bill of $608. For someone on a strict budget that can really hamper your goals. Few people who are frugaling would argue that they have an extra $608 lying around for coffee.

Today, I’m presenting a slightly different angle. As a student, I’m often away from home for extended hours. I frequently make coffee before I leave, but I like to have a cup in the middle of the day, too. This presents a budget versus energy conundrum: To have the coffee and get my rocket fuel, or save money and feel tired.

Rather than choose one option, I’ve decided to save money at Starbucks and reduce the amount of times I frequent the major coffee chain. When you look at the prices at your local Starbucks, you probably see a variety of high-priced, calorie-packed drinks – all exorbitantly indulgent and painful to your pocketbook. But the way I see it, I immediately take 12-13% off that price – every time.

Photo: shinji_w/flickr

Here are 5 tricks for staying frugal at your favorite coffeehouse:

1. BYOT: Bring Your Own Tumbler ($0.10 discount)

Anytime you bring your own mug or tumbler, Starbucks rewards you with a $0.10 cup discount. Filling up a 16+ ounce tumbler should cost you over $2, but the discount helps keep it under that. I always carry mine around, as it’s far greener than using and throwing away paper cups every day. An added perk of using a tumbler is that it stays warmer for longer and you drink slower.

2. Use, Register Your Starbucks Card (8.33% discount)

This is pretty simple: Get a Starbucks card and register it online. Yes, you’ll sacrifice some privacy and Starbucks will have a rough estimate of every location you could possibly be in (just think how many Starbucks there are in the world). In exchange for this location information, Starbucks rewards you with 8.33% (or more) and free refills on brewed coffees.

Basically, once you register the card and start using it, you’ll collect drink points. For every 12 drinks/food items, I get a free one. When I bring my own tumbler ($0.10 discount) and use that with my Starbucks card, I’m actually receiving an additional 8.33% off the final price in the form of a future reward. The best part is that the reward can be for anything. Once you collect your twelfth bonus drink, you can use it for a venti whateverfrap at $5 or buy a bacon gouda sandwich (like I often do). These both cost more than my traditional morning/afternoon coffee, and effectively cause your total discount per order to be even more than 8.33%!

3. Order The “Short” (cheaper and you still get free refills)

What’s a “short”? Well, it’s an off-the-menu drink size that every Starbucks employee knows about. Instead of the tall size, which is 12 oz, the short is a measly 8 oz. Now, if you’re on-the-go and a regular coffee drinker like me, it’s hard to fathom drinking such a paltry sum (am I right?). But if you’ve got some time on your hands and you’ll be hanging out at Starbucks, it’s by far the best deal.

Order a short coffee with your registered Starbucks card and you’ll pay a face value of about $1.65 (depending on the location). Based on the 10% discount from before, your short, brewed coffee will ring in around $1.49. At that price, you’re likely to beget the myth that Starbucks is a super expensive coffee chain. The best part is that you can still get free refills on these drinks, too! I regularly get a refill, which effectively halves the price per cup at $0.75.

4. Use A Rewards Card To Pay Your Starbucks Card (2% discount)

I’m back to using credit cards after a brief experiment only using cash. When used responsibly, credit cards can maximize your savings for purchases you were already going to complete. When you refill/top off your Starbucks card using a rewards credit card, you still get the bonus points that the credit issuer pays out.

Let’s say I use a rewards credit card to refill my account. By doing so, I get an immediate 2% discount to the Starbucks refill/order. If you follow the previous method, you’re actually going to be paying only $0.73 per cup!

5. Buy Starbucks Coffee At A Grocery Store ($5 per pound)

This is one of the simplest methods to save when you’re out and about and need a coffee fix: Buy a pound of Starbucks coffee at your local market. On the front of every bag of Starbucks coffee nowadays should be a coupon for a free tall coffee. To be honest, Starbucks coffee is hardly ever the most inexpensive, frugal choice at the supermarket, but when you combine free drink deals and maybe a coupon from the Sunday ads, you’re in serious business.

Starbucks regularly offers a $2 off coupon on the purchase of 2 one-pound bags of coffee. Let’s say one pound is $8 – multiply that by 2 and you’ll get $16. Use your coupon and the price gets knocked down to around $14. The two bags will include two tall coffees, as well. That is a value of about $4. Effectively, this brings your grand total for the 2 bags to about $10 after all your savings ($5 a pound).

Unfortunately, the free coffee for a bag of coffee is actively being phased out. Scoop up some of the last bags with the old design, and you’ll still get a free cup!

Should You Write For Free?

By Frugaling 20 Comments

Over the last ten months, I’ve written around 175 articles of varying quality and length. Looking back on this time and effort, I’m astonished that I got through writer’s blocks, time constraints, and various personal/professional issues to keep publishing. As I quickly approach a year of Frugaling, I wonder if I should adopt the “writer” identity. It’s humbling and anxiety provoking, as I question what makes a writer.

When does one become a writer? How much should be published? What degrees/professional experience must one collect? How much money should one make? What hoops must be hooped?

All I know is that people in my life — friends, family, and other writers — are telling me that I’m well on my way. This writing journey is not simple; rather, it contains a variety of choicepoints. One of the biggest forks in the road for writers is to write pro-bono (without commission) — otherwise known as guest blogging. That brings us to the question of the day: Should you ever write for free?

Build and diversify your audience

When you have no audience, brand, and/or name on the Internet, it can be supportive and constructive to write guest articles. If you’re just launching a new website, potential readers don’t know your voice or content. Well established websites can feed incredible amounts of traffic your way, and suddenly you have diversified your early audience.

Writing is potentially one of the strongest meritocracies today. You don’t have credibility–you build it. When offering up a free guest article to another website, it’s advantageous to have a little collection of articles for new readers to see in the beginning stages. These should be strong and exemplify what they could see in the future. This is the sweet spot for new traffic and subscribers. You will gain credibility.

Early days are characterized by single and double-digit days, where it can feel pointless writing a new article. The motivation wanes and many stumble here. The traffic of a guest article is tremendously reinforcing when starting a website. Having a big influx can encourage you to persevere.

Potential opportunity to move from free to freelance

A few months into writing I reached out to a writer in the personal finance community. As a top representative of this niche, I asked him for some writing advice. He made an offer I couldn’t refuse: write a strong guest post and then we’d see about freelance writing opportunities. I immediately said yes.

I wrote my one and only non-paid story, benefited from a little boost in traffic and was offered two, paid articles at 10 cents per word. Suddenly, my free went to freelance in the span of an article. These offers do happen, and they’re essentially trial runs as you build your voice, writing resume, and experience. The important aspect was the early disclosure that this could turn into a regular spot. Without that declaration, the offer of a free article would’ve been less interesting for me.

One of the most important pieces wasn’t the money or coverage; instead, it was this blogger’s advice and experience. He taught me beginning social networking skills and carefully critiqued my writing. He was an experienced editor who gave me priceless information about what succeeds online. I should’ve been paying him — heck, many people do!

What are you worth?

NOT long ago, I received, in a single week, three (3) invitations to write an original piece for publication or give a prepared speech in exchange for no ($0.00) money. As with stinkbugs, it’s not any one instance of this request but their sheer number and relentlessness that make them so tiresome. It also makes composing a polite response a heroic exercise in restraint. — Tim Kreider, NYT

The preceding quote is from a writer that regularly gets paid for his words. He found that many people assume that good writing can be done for free. Many people take that for granted and ask him to share his wisdom for nothing. Tired of the countless asks, he decided to write a scathing critique of this ineloquent demand for more free stuff.

If you’ve been writing for years, I’d be cautious giving away your ability. If you’ve built an audience, being asked to write for free can be insulting. If you’ve honed your editing ability, another person’s perspective may be frustrating. Point is, writing a free, guest blog isn’t for everyone and it frequently comes down to timing. Where are you in your writing career and how is your website performing?

Honestly, the question comes down to your worth. Writing a strong guest post takes time away from other aspects of your life — things you could be doing. Writing 700+ words could take hours. Giving away this time doesn’t come easy for me, and I’d discourage anyone to jump at these free writing opportunities with glee and benevolence for website owner.

Strike a balance and be demanding

Writing is a difficult craft with countless critics. I frequently screen and censor comments that lambast guest authors’ and my work. It’s painful to hear the hatred and tests of ability. It hurts to hear some anonymous person rip out your soul, spit on it, and cast your work aside. There are many judgments, and few answers about the power of your work.

Early in your writing career, guest articles for other sites may build and diversify your audience. Secondarily, they may help you write better content through editing and feedback sessions. There are real reasons to share freely and write without payment in mind.

Strike a balance, and gain that traction that makes you desirable. Just know you’re worth more than $0 — I can guarantee that much. Eventually, you must demand more for your work, because you are worth it!

Some further reading on free writing (there’s a significant debate about this):
Tim Kreider: Slaves of the Internet, Unite!
Matt Cutts: The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO
Matthew Yglesias: People Writing for Free on the Internet Is an Enormous Boon to Society

Fitness Trackers Should Be Free From Health Insurers

By Frugaling 6 Comments

Fitness Tracker Photo — *The Fitbit Force is a popular fitness tracker, but pricey at $129.95.*

College campuses are hotbeds for new technologies, fads, and styles. Over the last couple semesters I’ve noticed a sizeable uptick in people wearing fitness trackers. These sleek, bracelet-like devices can track your steps, calories burned, food eaten, exercise routines, and sleep habits. Many can wirelessly sync to computers and smartphones.

Fitness trackers have long intrigued me, as a runner and frequent exerciser. Personally, I think the feedback would be helpful and encourage more healthy routines. I’ve seen both athletic and overweight populations wearing them. They seem perfectly suited to both populations’ needs. Despite these ample benefits, I haven’t purchased one because I think they should be free.

Running Budget Save Savings — *Photo: brianac37/flickr*

Insurance Companies Want Healthy Consumers

Health insurance costs escalated rapidly in recent years. Far surpassing inflation and comparable countries’ medical costs per capita, health coverage is a thorn for many individuals and small businesses. At times, the price of quality health care can be hard to come by if you’re on a tight budget.

Certain health provider groups started catering to athletes and highly-active individuals a few years ago. By developing a niche group of actuarially healthy individuals, the company could lower the cost of everyone’s premiums. Quite simply, it’s profitable for health insurers to encourage healthy choices in their clients.

Let’s Use Fiction To Inspire

Last year, Dave Eggers published his latest novel entitled, The Circle. Set in San Francisco and other parts of Northern California, the book takes the reader on a journey around a company that largely resembles Google. It’s a tech savvy, forward thinking company, that aims to collect everything and give people access to all the world’s information. Despite being insanely creepy at times, The Circle introduces some brilliant tech revolutions.

The one that is most apropos to this article is about a fitness tracker health insurance program. A free part of having this imaginary company’s health insurance is the access to one of these devices. It’s always on and managing your heart rate, calories burned, and tracking your sleep. The device is given at no cost to the employees because they can manage and encourage healthier habits – helping people live longer and cutting costs in heart-related procedures.

The Perfect Price Is Free

I have a serious bias because I’d like a fitness tracker. I think it would encourage me to exercise more regularly and eat healthier. Recognizing and tracking the strengths and weaknesses in your activity choices could positively influence much of the countries heart-related complications.

Ideally, health insurers will recognize the financial appeal of such devices and encourage certain clientele to use these trackers. By encouraging people to engage in more healthy behavior and connecting it with a financially solvent future, it may make the impetus and desire to exercise more potent.

The perfect price is free. This would eventually be a win-win for consumers, innovators, and the health insurers. This leap into technology has been stifled by prices that tend to be over $100 for trackers. As prices begin to decline (inevitably with all technology), fitness trackers may be a more easy choice for everyone involved.

Have you thought about getting a fitness tracker? Would you like your medical insurance to offer a free one?

Best Brokers For Commission-Free ETFs

By Frugaling

New York Stock Exchange NYSE Broker ETFs — *Photo: Wikipedia/Library of Congress*

Little funds, big investments

Despite great strides to make the market more friendly to those with lesser funds, it is frequently stacked against the little player. Before I was in debt, I had a paltry sum money to invest. Wanting to avoid the hassle of reporting tax gains and losses from stock trades, I decided to open a Roth IRA. There was only about $1,000 in my initial deposit.

The commissions from my initial broker made trading cost-prohibitive. Every trade was about 1% of my total account value (~$10). If I wanted to realize gains on one share of a $100 stock, I needed to wait for it to climb 20 points (ten for purchase and ten for sale). With $1,000, it becomes very difficult to invest diversely and smartly. This was a recipe for disaster, until I found commission-free ETFs.

The advantages of commission-free ETFs

For me, as a small player in the market with scarce time for research in individual stocks, it’s important to save money in trading fees and pick more diverse index funds. Mutual funds are great as a diversification strategy, but often require a sizeable sum to start. That’s where commission-free ETFs come into the picture.

In 2008, ETFs became a popular way to purchase managed (someone controls what the index is invested in) funds on the open market with live pricing; unlike mutual funds, which NAV prices update only once a day. They’re easy to trade right on the traditional exchanges, and instantly diversify your portfolio, while giving you the choice in a variety of broad-market sectors.

As the popularity rose, brokers took a keen interest in attracting new customers by offering free trades in certain ETFs. There are serious considerations to make before investing in any of these commission-free ETFs. Despite the diversification, these investments still have sizable risk and still require some research. That being said, commission-free ETFs can be a tremendous way to begin investing, diversifying your holdings, and saving money.

The Top 3 Commission-Free ETF Brokers

1. TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade offers 101 options and some of the biggest names are included: iShares, PowerShares, SPDR, and Vanguard. The list is a collection of Morningstar reviewed and recommended ETFs and most of them have small expense ratios (especially Vanguard ETFs). Account minimums and flexible investment options make TD Ameritrade a solid trading platform. Accounts include free CNBC TV, as well.

2. Vanguard

Expense ratios at Vanguard have always been notoriously low. They pride themselves on being affordable and smart for the average investor. This fairness easily makes Vanguard a great option for commission-free ETFs. Their group of about 45 ETFs are all free to trade within a Vanguard account. The only reason this doesn’t rank higher on the broker list is because TD Ameritrade accounts already have access to most of these funds.

**3. E*Trade**

E*Trade is the stalwart of online brokers. They’ve been around since the beginning. This broker offers about 90 commission-free ETFs from DB-X, Global-X, and WisdomTree. The largest concern with E*Trade is that these funds tend to have larger expense ratios. E*Trade offers an incredible mobile trade platform and terrific customer service. Opening a new account is easy to do.

Important considerations before you invest

Despite this great convenience and ease, here are three concerns to watch out for:

Some ETFs are traded sparingly. This liquidity problem may lead to great differences between bid/ask prices, and a trade that isn’t in your favor. Consider the volume traded each day in the ETF you hope to invest in.
Commission-free ETFs aren’t a good way to daytrade, as some companies (i.e., TD Ameritrade and E*Trade) charge an exit fee for ETFs held less than 30 days.
Beware of exploitative expense ratios. ETFs, like any other fund, charge a commission for the privilege of diversification and sometimes active management. These fees may add up over the long-term (See E*Trade as an example).

Have you ever invested in commission-free ETFs? What’s been your experience? Need some help further understanding ETFs? Read this book.