How the ‘OLLY’ approach could help you save for a home.

There’s nothing better after waking up bleary-eyed than sitting with a cup of hot coffee, smelling its delicious aroma and sipping its milky goodness. After a shot – or two, on most days – of caffeine I feel like a different person, ready to face the day.

Aussies love a good brew, with nearly half of our population consuming the beverage according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Research from Skip, a food and drink ordering app, found the favourite type of coffee in New South Wales was a flat white (with cappuccino a close second), while Victorians are partial to a latte. You don’t have to completely give up your habit, but you can start by swapping a takeaway coffee for a homemade cup.

Your reluctance to give up coffee is understandable but if you’re trying to save it’s going to be one of the easiest costs to cut back on. A small cup of takeaway or cafe-bought coffee is at least $3.50, and if you want a medium size it could be up to 60 cents more. That means conservatively, if you stop buying one coffee a day you’ll save $1277.50 a year.

That’s more than $100 a month you’re spending on just a drink. And it’s not even one that will quench your thirst.

I see people juggling their flimsy disposable coffee cup on the train to work in the mornings – presumably having found somewhere to grab one on the way – along with their bag, phone and other items, and I don’t understand the fascination. Apart from the fact that it will likely spill and you’ll end up smelling like you’ve doused yourself in a coffee perfume, you also have to lug around an empty cup and find somewhere to dispose of it. Is it all really necessary?

If you must take a coffee with you on the way to work, why not invest in a travel flask – for less than $10 – filled with a homemade coffee?

You can make an instant coffee, or if you prefer something more gourmet there are plenty of pods or beans and fancy coffee machines – you’ll just have to do the sums to make sure the investment is worth it. But if you’re spending upwards of $1277.50 per year on takeaway coffee, I’m sure it will be.

You might be disgusted to read this, but personally, I love instant coffee – I don’t get the whole coffee connoisseur thing; café-bought coffee all tastes the same to me. I drink Moccona, which isn’t the cheapest brand, but if I buy it on sale (which I always do) it costs me around 9 cents a cup, plus a little extra for milk and sugar.

Let’s say a cup of homemade instant coffee costs 20 cents (very conservatively), that’s at least $3.30 less than per cup than you’ll pay at a cafe, a saving of more than $1200 a year. That’s huge. This way you can still have your daily brew, and save too.

If you really can’t part with your cafe-made coffee, then consider cutting back to one a few days every week – perhaps partaking in a social coffee outing in the office every other day – or reducing the size you buy.

When doing your budget, look at where you can make up the money you have spent on your OLLY. Perhaps it’s as simple as refraining from buying an item of clothing or walking home instead of catching the train. Every bit counts.