Hi, my name is Brian and I'm addicted to Monster energy drinks (or any energy drink). Or, should I say, I was addicted. Well, I am probably still addicted, but it is a habit I have kicked... I think. I have tried multiple times to stop drinking them, but I was never able to. My old job had me sitting in a tiny cubicle for 8 hours-a-day and had those drinks in a vending machine for easy access. Needless to say, I accessed them. Every day, to be honest. I would suck those back like water and watched as my money was being flushed down the toilet. I didn't just drink them on weekdays while at work, I drank them on the weekends. Sometimes, I would have two drinks in one day. It's sad, really. It's sad I didn't give up a stupid addiction to caffeine or even replace it with something much cheaper like coffee. I am ashamed to admit how much money I wasted on this little habit.
I figure, that every year I spent roughly $900ish PER YEAR on energy drinks for the last 3 years I have been drinking them. That's me drinking 1-per-day for the whole year at $2.50/drink. I bet, though, that the number is closer to $1000 as I had more than 1 in a single day on multiple occasions. See, I always get trapped in the "it's only a few bucks" mentality. I don't buy big things, but I do buy a million small things. I nickle and dime myself to death. It's pathetic. I am incapable of seeing the big picture... or I should say I WAS incapable.
I did the math. If I stop drinking energy drinks between now and November 2nd, 2013 (our target for paying off our debt), that will save me about $1275!!! That's a lot. I have avoided those drinks for a few days now and my wife is holding me accountable. It also helps that my new job doesn't have a vending machine stocked full of energy drinks.
Also, I reviewed by bank statements since the turn of the year from all the times I used my debit card, I spent $581 on eating out. Now, I use cash a good amount of the time and I never keep receipts so it's hard for me to know the exact amount I spent on eating out. However, I think it's safe to say that number is closer to $900!!!! That's too much. In 6 full months, that is $150/month on eating out. I am ashamed of that number. Even if it's less than that, I know I eat out WAY too much and that is a terrible habit I must change. If I continue eating out at that rate, between now and November 2nd, 2013, I will have spent close to $2500 on eating out!!! I am not going to let that happen!
Finally, Stephanie and I have decided on cutting out our LA Fitness memberships (savings of $26/month) and to reduce our Netflix package to JUST the streaming online version (savings of $8/month). We are doing a great amount of praying and thinking about what else we can do without in order to reach our goal! It is kind of liberating to cut out crap you don't need if you want to know the truth.
This is an on-going process for us. We know that this goal may seem unreachable, but we don't care. We want to live a life of devotion to Jesus and cutting stuff out that we don't need is a great way to remove distractions. I'm not saying that having an gym membership or eating out is wrong. I'm simply saying that we are trying to ask ourselves, "Is this really something we need?" on a more regular basis.
Thank you for reading and for your support!
-Brian
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