Coffee for 99 cents a pound? It's no java jive
Posted
Nov 26 2007, 12:37 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Yesterday I bought a pound of Starbucks coffee for just 99 cents.
You, too, can get super-cheap brew, either for gift-giving or for your own frugal morning buzz. All you need is some empty inkjet print cartridges and proximity to a Staples or Office Max.
Both businesses give $3 in store credit for each ink cartridge; certain brands are not accepted, so check each company's rules. The stores where I live let me use up to three credits, or $9 worth, per transaction. Both sell a number of holiday gift items: hoity-toity chocolates, fancy cookies, and specialty coffees, teas and flavored cocoas.
Over the weekend I shopped for art supplies for a community gift program. At Staples, I noticed the coffee cost $9.99.
I handed over three cartridges and a buck, and walked out with a penny in change and a pound of java.
Had I been at Office Max, the brew would have been from another hometown brand, Seattle's Best Coffee.
Jitter bells
This is a frugalist's dream: nearly free gifts, or nearly free morning mochas!
So save those spent cartridges, and start looking for more. Does your workplace use inkjet printers? How about your kid's school or your church/synagogue/mosque?
Ask your friends for their empties. Put a note on a community bulletin board or place an ad on Craigslist offering to "recycle" cartridges. (Be careful not to burn $2.50 worth of gas to get a $3 store credit.)
Or make this a project for your Scout or youth group: Have the kids collect cartridges and "buy" coffee for a homeless shelter, group home or senior center.
To thine ownself give brew
And if money is especially tight right now? Buy yourself some Starbucks or SBC. Collect enough cartridges and you could wind up with caffeine for months.
I'm not a coffee fan myself; the bag I bought will go in a gift basket. But I know how important a cuppa joe can be, especially if you've foregone other luxuries.
Ninety-nine cents for a pound of quality java is a screamin' deal, so invest in coffee futures.
And if you, too, aren't a coffee fan? There are always the Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
