Recently, I decided to stop drinking (and buying) soda.  And, when I say “recently”, I mean “today”.

In a few minutes I’m going to head to the grocery store.  For the first time in years, I will not be purchasing sodas.  I thought it might be interesting to run the numbers and see just how much I’ll save if I stick to my plan.

I’m embarrassed to admit that usually consume a 2 liter of Diet Mountain Dew every three days.  Yikes!  So, if we consider than an average 2 liter costs $1.25, and I purchase roughly 120 Diet Mountain Dews a year.

Wow.

I’ve been spending $150 a year on soda.  And, that doesn’t include the sodas that I purchase when I eat out.  For calculations sake, I’ll assume that I drink a minimum of 2 Diet Cokes, each week, when eating out.  That equals, 100 Diet Cokes @ roughly $2 a piece.  That’s another $200 I’ve been spending on Diet Cokes.

If you add all of my soda consumption costs, the total would be $350 a year!

Or, to put it another way -

$350 a year for 30 years, compounding at 4%, equals more than $20,000!

Wow.

Well, off to the grocery store.