Coffee, the economy and foreclosures

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Neither my wife nor I have ever been big Starbuck’s fans. That does not mean we have never been there. It just means it is a rare occasion for either of us. It’s just not our thing. Oh, we both like coffee… we just like our own better than Starbuck’s. We buy coffee from Cosco. Typically a 3 pound bag for $11.00. That lasts us a month, and we make a 60 oz. pot every day. OK, time to do the math. This is going to be easy. Let’s just divide the $11.00 by 30 days in a month. The result is .37. So it costs us just 37 cents per day for our coffee habit, or a bit less than 19 cents each per day. On a per ounce basis that is not much. You can do that math. Since Starbuck’s gets $1.80 (or thereabout) for a 12 oz cup (I think) that is 15 cents per oz. Clearly my cost per oz is no where near that. In fact it is just a bit over ½ cent per oz. So… Starbuck’s coffee costs 30 times what it cost me to make my own at home.

Bear in mind I get 60 ounces for 37 cents. So I get 5 times the coffee that Starbuck’s gives you for the $1.80 you give them. Let’s assume you buy one cup each day at Starbuck’s, but only 5 days a week, in the course of a year you will have spent $468.00. While I would get 5 times the amount of coffee, way more than I can drink, and it will only cost me $132.00 per year. And the $132.00 provides all the coffee that TWO of us want. So Starbuck's coffee costs at least 10 times what mine does, but I get 5 times the amount.

In view of the economy you might consider making your own coffee at home. For some people this can be quite an annual savings.


Government's mortgage relief program gets few takers

The federal government's Hope for Homeowners program launched Oct. 1 was initially projected to help as many as 400,000 struggling borrowers avert foreclosure over the next three years. But fewer than 100 homeowners applied for the program in October, and the Federal Housing Administration now projects that just 13,300 will be helped in its first year. An FHA official said at a mortgage industry conference recently that one large lender had reported that in a group of 23,000 troubled borrowers only 1,200 would be eligible for the program.

So it seems that the answer for homeowners in trouble won’t be the federal government.

Remember, I provide foreclosure prevention and loan modification services. If you know a homeowner in trouble on a mortgage, suggest they call me. You will be doing them a favor.

Be blessed,
Wayne

Love all – Trust some – Harm none


www/Capstone-Ministries.org