For the Price of a Cup of Coffee....

Have you heard this before? For the price of a cup of coffee you can rescue an orphan, save for retirement, eliminate your debt, etc.

Every time I hear this, I just want to strangle those coffee drinkers. How could you possibly have so much dough just falling out of your pockets that you could save the whales with the cost of your luxoriously overpriced coffee?!?

I don't drink coffee, or alcohol, for that matter. I don't have cable, or a lan line. I've already shopped around for better car insurance for our one and only Ford Taurus. I turn off the lights, I cut coupons, I feed my baby (gasp) store brand formula. I have health insurance for my husband and I because our school requires it and because the premium is (believe it or not) less than our medical expenses this year. Henry does not have health insurance, and I'm considering taking him to the free clinic for his vaccines rather than face another pediatrician's bill. We don't go out to eat (unless it's with my parents), we don't go to the movies, we don't go on vacation (again, unless invited by the family). I have even been known to return a gift someone gave me to get something more practical. (EXAMPLE: $200 digital photo frame that we took back to Costco and got groceries for like a month) I don't have a gym membership, subscribe to any newspapers or magazines, I steal my next door neighbor (my sister's) internet connection.

So I think I may be almost at the bottom of what I'm willing to do to come up with some money. My "cup of coffee" is going to be pretty hard to give up. I guess I could try and quit my diet coke habit. (Deep waves of terror just coursed through my body). Well it's going to have to be something really drastic if I want to save an entire whale.