Coffee

I've spent a lot of money on coffee. There is a Starbucks across the street from my job, a Mcdonalds across the street from my house, a Keurig inside my office, and even some stray five hour energy drinks just in case. Where I live, in Washington DC, a cup of coffee at McDonalds costs $1. A cup at Starbucks costs $1.50. At least, it used to. http://www.smartmoney.com/news/on/?story=ON-20120103-000322&cid=951
On Amazon, I can get 50 K-cups for $30 ($0.60 per cup). Also on Amazon, I can get 5 hour energy drinks for $0.62 per serving. I buy Peet's Coffee, which is not the most expensive, nor the least, for 8 dollars per 12 oz bag. You are supposed to use one teaspoon per cup of coffee. 6 teaspoons to the ounce means there is about 72 servings of coffee in my bag of Peet's. So, at 8 bucks a bag, that's 11 cents a cup. In summary:

Starbucks: $1.50
McDonalds: $1.00
5 Hour Energy: $0.62
K-Cup: $0.60
Brewing at Home: $0.11

So, brewing at home is 5 times cheaper than the next best alternative. If you go to Starbucks once a day, 5 days a week, you are spending over $350 dollars more than you need to on coffee per year. Under the same conditions at McDonalds, you're spending over 200 dollars more than you need to. It gets worse if you order complicated or bigger drinks, or if you buy more than one cup a day. It gets to be a better deal if you buy store brand coffee, like Safeway Select or Trader Joe's coffee, which is generally cheaper than my Peet's.

I know there are excuses: I don't have the time to wait for coffee to brew. Buy a coffee maker with a timer. I don't like hot coffee. Brew it the night before and refrigerate it in a tumbler. I hate the taste. Milk and sugar. In the end, even buying coffee from Mcdonalds should be considered a luxury, given how much more money is spent on a yearly basis on coffee at Mcdonalds than would be spent brewing similar coffee at home.