I have a confession. A big one. You people are about to get to know the real me. I’m about to tell you my biggest weakness. The one thing that I cannot say ‘no’ to if given the opportunity. Here it is. Ready?

My weakness in life has always been…

Coca-Cola Classic.

The good stuff. The classic, old school, right-out-of-the-fountain-into-an-ice-filled-glass stuff.

So far, this habit hasn’t caused too many negative health effects as far as I can tell since I don’t drink Coke all the time, usually just when I go out to eat. But I ran across this article on savingadvice.com and it got me thinking about what negative financial effects this Coca-Cola habit could be causing.

Let’s do some math, shall we?

I go out to eat for lunch or dinner two or three times a week. If they have fountain Coke, that’s what I’m having. The average fountain Coke at a restaurant is $3.00. Sometimes it is cheaper, but we’ll use $3.00 for our calculations.

Let’s say that I am eating out three times per week and drinking Coke that will cost me $3.00 each time.

That is $9.00 per week. $36 per month. $432 per year.

Wow! $432 per year could pay for a fun weekend away with the husband. Or I could use that $36 per month to add to our savings every month. If I saved that $36 every month, I would have $2,160 in 5 years!

In the article that I read, the author stopped his soda habit all together. He started drinking water and unsweet tea (what’s that?). I don’t know if I’m ready to quit cold turkey, but when I look at the money I could be saving, I’m ready to start saying ‘no’ more often.

What do you want to start saying ‘no’ to in order to spend less and save more?