This is Optimal Finance Daily, Episode 1448, the Starbucks predicament,

by Lauren Keys of Trip of a Lifestyle.com, and I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast,

Diana Mariam. This is the show where I narrate posts from a wide variety of personal finance

blogs. We cover so much on this show from saving to investing to debt reduction and more.

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The Starbucks predicament by Lauren Keys of Trip of a Lifestyle.com

When we moved back to Florida following our honeymoon in 2015, I felt rejuvenated and ready to

get back into the workforce. I spent about two months interviewing for different positions around

town before landing a pretty good gig at a local web marketing startup. At my previous job,

I never felt like an outcast or anything, but I also didn't have the best relationship with all

of the women there. Since I was the most recent hire among my new, mostly female office mates,

I was eager to try and fit in. So when I was invited to join them on an afternoon walk to get Starbucks

around the corner, I quickly accepted. What I didn't realize was just how frequent these trips

would be and how much buying even a tall iced coffee would add up. But I also didn't want to give

up the opportunity to bond and vent during these coffee breaks. Welcome to my Starbucks predicament.

Noticing the growing coffee trend. The Starbucks runs were weekly,

sometimes twice a week if a meeting didn't go well, and I was buying a drink every time,

along with my coworkers. Luckily, this job came with a pay increase compared to my last,

...