Every afternoon at work, you grab yourself a 75 cent soda to help get you through the rest of the day. No need to give the purchase much thought since you’re not really spending that much, right?

On the surface, you’re right, it really isn’t much money. The problem is, this isn’t a one-time purchase and is probably something you buy relatively frequently.

If you’re buying a 75 cent soft drink each day over the course of an entire work year (let’s say 250 days) you end up spending $187.50.  That’s a pretty big difference from just 75 cents, right? Not to mention the problem only gets worse if you buy two or three soft drinks each day.

So, from here you can do one of two things:

1. Stop getting soft drinks at work
2. Bring your own drinks from home

If you follow the first item, obviously you’re going to save $187.50 per year, which is a pretty good amount of money.

However, if you follow the second item decide you still need to get your caffeine fix from drinking soda, you can still save yourself some money.

If you buy your soda on sale at the supermarket the cost per can should be about 20 cents per can, assuming you picked up a 12 pack for $2.50 You can probably get the cola for even less per can if you purchase the generic stuff or bought the “regular” cola in bulk, but those tips are for different articles.

By paying only 20 cents per can, you save 55 cents per can by not getting your soda from the vending machine. This 55 cent savings spread out over the entire year ends up being $137.50.
Obviously this frugal anti-vending machine tip isn’t restricted to just soft drinks. Bottled water, candy, chips, snacks all come into play.

Long story short, don’t raid the vending machine and instead bring your sodas and snacks from home because you’ll ultimately save a lot of money.