Maybe because I live in Seattle and there’s a mass community of coffee lovers, I find that it takes considerably less time to make a pot of coffee than to wait in line to get one! Most of the coffee lovers in my office have their own coffee press. I have one too, and I never had as good of a cup of coffee at the coffee houses as fresh ground Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in a french press. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is definitely not a cheap ground!

My reasons for visiting the coffee shop these days is more social. A couple of coworkers and I take a moment to walk to the shop to chat outside the office. I don’t feel guilty or fret about $3-5 coffee. There are some things that have value that are greater than monetary. If you find the coffee shop to be a moment of luxury and relaxation in your busy life, then it has value.

I guess where I say I disagree with Ramit is that I got the impression he doesn’t think it will help someone with debt problems to cut out the barista made coffee. I believe that it was part of the formula that worked for me. Making coffee at home was an easy and inexpensive way for me to enjoy coffee everyday, and still enjoy an occasional Saturday morning with a book, espresso, and pastry in a coffee shop.

I would rather spend $5 on a latte, and then jump into 2 additional $100 hours than spend my energy making coffee to conserve the $5. Could I do both? Not sustainably. At a certain point, the energy and attention spent on frugality plans and activities has to come from somewhere else.

I think as someone who “made it”, I can vouch for the quality of Ramit’s advice. If you follow his plan, you have a solid foundation for getting out of debt, and good skills to stay out of it. There are a number of different approaches, and I agree with him 100% – do what you feel comfortable with, and who cares if it’s the ‘optimal’. The details of what worked for me may not work for everybody, however, the concept is inherently the same – save more, spend less!

I’m on the “next stage” which is optimizing my investments and savings. I thought his chapters on investments were very good, and I’m going to do more research.