LIM College

At first glance, the average person would never guess I’m a college student living on a tight budget.  Five days a week you can spot me exiting the 47-50 Rockefeller Station toting a Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag, fingers adorned with coordinating Marc Jacobs Daisy Ring texting on a HTC Touch Pro 2, early morning sunrays blocked by Versace shades. Yet taking into consideration that my incoming cash flow has severely plummeted, I’ve now placed myself on a budget tighter than my leather leggings.

I was in the habit of consuming two large cups of Starbucks Tazo tea five days a week. In monetary terms that’s approximately $4.00 a day and $20.00 a week, which adds up to $440.00 for the semester. Currently I have managed to cut my $20.00 a week addiction to a $4.00 a week addiction.  

Then it struck me that Starbucks uses two tea bags and two cups for each order of large tea.  When I place my order, I kindly tell the Starbucks associate “large passion fruit tea, second tea bag on the side.”  One order of tea now lasts me two days. Before I even remove my coat, I separate the two cups and quickly remove the already used tea bag and place it on the lid.  By 12:00 p.m. my craving begins to surface, so I recycle the first tea bag for my second cup of tea. The following day I put my unused tea bag and cup to work.        

This adjustment has brought my semester tea expense down to $88.00 from $440.00. Now that’s a bargain. Two tea bags were always a bit strong for my taste buds anyway.

--Athanaelle Paul

The Wall Street Journal reports that market researchers see a serious long-term serious trend of fashion lovers spending less.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/05/11/from-fashionista-to-frugalista-the-next-generation-of-female-spenders/

Follow Natalie P. McNeal of The Miami Herald, a well-known frugalista on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/frugalista

Practical tips from Businessweek on how to save money every month:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/08/0804_cheap/index.htm