In the last twelve months I have spent a whopping £539.35 in coffee shops. Which, when each £2.15 or so is added up, is a huge amount to spend on cups of coffee, I am sure you will agree. However, I cannot be without my daily caffeine fix, as it gives me space to think as well as a jolt to get on with the things I want to achieve each day, it is also a good reason to get out of the house and go for a walk. So I have devised a new plan which I hope will see me through the next year and one which will hopefully wean me off the craving I have to visit coffee shops altogether.
So, for the next 12 months I pledge to spend nothing, that is correct, exactly zero pence, in coffee shops (take-aways included).
This morning I have been to the supermarket and bought some fair-trade coffee for my cafetiere, (of which I have two; seldom used apart from at Christmas time). The total cost of the coffee was £2.99. Rather than heading across the road to the local coffee shop after my supermarket trip, as I usually would do, I walk back home and set up my cafetiere to brew. I also make a small toasted pitta bread, (from things I already have in the fridge) and put everything on a nice tray, along with my notebook and pen and head out into the garden.
We recently took home an old wooden bench, which had been sitting for years in my parents-in-law’s shed, and put it in the corner of our garden, where it looks really characterful surrounded by a mass of pink hydrangea flowers. The bench has been in the garden for two weeks and this morning is the first morning I have properly sat down on it, which says a lot about my life at the moment.
It is a lovely day and the sun shines on me, I soak up the rays and enjoy the warmth they provide. I press down the cafetiere plunger and pour my hot coffee into my cheerful, smooth, Mr Bump mug. I take a sip and it is as good, if not better, than the coffee they serve in my local cafe. I take a bite of my freshly made pitta with cottage cheese and quorn ham and sit back and relax. Bees, hoverflies and the occasional wasp buzz around me. The birds twitter away. The guinea pigs are sleeping off their belly full of grass and I think that this is actually much more pleasant than sitting in a coffee shop with no view. I look around at my garden full of plants and feel pleased that it is taking shape this year and my usual coffee-time thoughts of what I would like to be getting on with that day come to mind. I finish my pitta, top up my cup and take out my notebook to start scribbling.
As I finish up my coffee, I think that maybe I have missed people watching and hearing the half pieces of conversation that I find so interesting, along with the accompanying musings about what the people are up to, or what they are like. I also wonder about meeting up with friends and what I am going to do about that... I will cross that bridge another day. For today the plus sides are clear, I am relaxed, I am at home and so can immediately get on with the jobs I want to get done, like writing this piece, and I have saved myself a minimum of £1.94, (if I work out that the coffee cost me 11p per cup, plus 3p to boil the kettle and 7p for the milk), compared to the £2.15 I would have paid at the coffee shop.
Will my new found enthusiasm last? What about rainy days and trips out, will my thermos mug be up to the job?! There is only one way to find out; onwards!
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