A Grande Starbucks Caffe Latte costs $3.00 – and has 11 grams of fat and 234 calories. If a person drinks a latte every morning on their way to work, it adds up to approximately $765 per year – not to mention 2805 grams of fat and 59,670 calories!

Think about how often you buy magazines, fast food, bottled water, and so on. Don’t even get me started about the yearly cost of cigarettes. These little costs add up, and before you know it, you’re barely making your rent.

There’s a term for this phenomenon: financial wizard David Bach calls it “the Latte Factor.” Yep, he’s even trademarked the phrase “Latte Factor” and he’s got a book out about how to get out of debt by ditching the little purchases in your life. The weight loss is merely a wonderfully positive side effect.

If you’re nickel and diming yourself to death, STOP! David Bach suggests tracking your expenses for a week to identify your personal Latte Factor – the thing that chips away at your bank account, day after day. Once you’ve identified your Latte Factor habit, you can cut back or eliminate it 100 percent.

If you take that money and sock it away in a savings account – or even your sock drawer – you’re going to be well on your way out of debt. Kick that Latte Factor in the butt, and start paying off those credit cards.

I’ve linked to David Bach’s Latte Factor Calculator on the left. You can use it to easily identify those things in your life that are dragging you down. Hey, who knows? You could quit eating Twinkies, lose a few pounds, and start saving for a yacht.


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