The Convenience Tax | A 365-Day Savings Challenge

Day 2 was much harder than Day 1. I almost asked my daughter to get me a coffee, but then caught myself — that’s still a convenience. If she offered on her own it would be a treat, but if I’m paying her to go get it, that’s delivery and against the rules. I made my coffee at home.

I read my Day 1 post and want to clarify something. It might sound like I’m describing a normal thinking pattern — you’re doing something and a thought pops into your head like “it would be nice to have a blah blah.” But that’s not what was happening. I would have headed straight for my computer to order a travel mug, a sun tea jar, a glass pitcher, and I would have at least taken a look at Nespresso prices on Amazon and possibly purchased one. All of that just to avoid making a plain cup of coffee at home.

I also want to define how I plan on tracking my savings. It doesn’t make sense to guess what I might have spent on things I only thought about buying. Instead, I’ll add up my convenience spending from the same week last year and post that total at the end of each week — an honest apples-to-apples comparison.

One more thing worth noting: I don’t expect to never break the rules. This isn’t a sobriety counter. If I go through a drive-through or break down and order pizza delivery, the challenge isn’t over. This is really about comparing 365 days of trying my best to stick to the plan, then adding up the savings at the end.

Whether you’re a stranger who stumbled across this or someone I roped into reading it, I hope it’s worth your time — and maybe a little eye-opening.

I’ll post a weekly money-saved update every Saturday. Come back and see how the numbers add up.