How Much Can You Save by Cutting Sugary Drinks
I can think of many good reasons to cut sugary drinks out of your life. And honestly, I can’t think of any good reasons to keep them. Sugar is bad for your health. It’s often bad for your mood. Moreover, those sugary drinks cost a lot of money. I personally cut sodas and most juice out of my life a long time ago. It’s not easy but it’s worth it. Let look at how you can save by cutting sugary drinks.
Average You’ll Save By Cutting Sugary Drinks
Money Ahoy did a report about how much you can save by cutting sugary drinks. They found that the average American drinks 44 gallons of soda every year. That’s just soda – not juice, lemonade, cocktails, and other sugary drinks. They calculated that this comes out to about $657 per family of four per year. Therefore, if you’re an average American family of four, that’s how much you can save by cutting sugary drinks. Well, just soda.
What Are Sugary Drinks?
Obviously, every individual is different. Maybe you don’t drink soda at all. However, you love sugar-rich coffee drinks. Those usually cost even more than soda. Perhaps you like to buy juice. Juice can be healthy at times but processed juice is often rich in added sugars. Or maybe you’re all good with tea and water until the end of the day when you enjoy a sugary cocktail. You have to think about what constitutes sugary drinks in your life.
Calculate How Much You’ll Save By Cutting Sugary Drinks
With all of that in mind, you can calculate how much you’ll save by cutting sugary drinks out of your life. Track every single sugary drink you consume in one month. Make sure you note the cost of every single one. At the end of the month, you’ll know how much you spend monthly. Multiply that by 12 to determine approximately how much you can save by cutting sugary drinks for a full year.
Additional Cost Factors to Consider
There are some additional cost factors to take into consideration:
- Do you also pay for additional ingredients? A soda is a soda. But if you like to mix juice with sparkling water then you have to consider the costs of both beverages. When it comes to cocktails, you have to add in the booze costs.
- Are there soda taxes in your state? Some places have them. Therefore you probably pay more than the average American for your sugary drinks.
- What will you replace your sugary drinks with? If you’ll replace them with water, then you save the entire amount. However, replacing them with other healthy beverages means you have to consider the offset of those costs.
- Are there health benefits to cutting sugary drinks out of your life? Almost everyone would argue yes, especially if you replace those drinks with water? As a result, you might see long-term savings. For example, someone with diabetes who is able to get their illness under control by giving up sugar may spend less on medication and doctors.
Are you still drinking sugary drinks? What’s the one you have the most trouble giving up?
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