Starbucks Economics

Holy moly.  

Check it out guys: I've been doing some mad reflecting on my addiction to Starbucks and I can officially say I'm not excited about the finances I brew up for my caffeine vice.  It's always been acceptable for me to succumb to laziness and instant gratification in the coffee department once in awhile, especially to grab a few more Zzz's in the morning.  But, lately I've really just been taking a closer look at my expenses and realizing my laziness = dolla dolla bills y'all.  It's time to trim the fat. 

This morning my bill at Starbucks was 40HKD.  Now, let's be real: 40HKD is not something to be upset about spending.  It equates to roughly 5.71 USD and for most of us fortunate enough to say this, that's chump change.  In America five bucks can only go so far. You can grab some tacos (GAH I miss tacos), a beer maybe, a coffee, a gallon of gas, a quarter pounder with cheese.  You know, small things here and there.  BUT here in Hong Kong, five bucks has a way of covering a lot of ground.  Everything here is ridiculously cheap, unless you are buying foreign.  

To put things into perspective: with my 40HKD that I spent on an espresso and a piece of toast, I could have instead bought five loaves of bread.  That's seven HKD per loaf at seven pieces of bread, yielding thirty five pieces of toast. That could either last me a week, or feed a family of seven breakfast.    

Let's pretend and say, hypothetically, I bought an espresso everyday at twenty HKD a pop.  That accumulates into 7,300 HKD a year, or 1,042USD. Or in Suz terms: a ticket to Paris or a month of rent.  

Lean in close guys, I'm about to tell the doctor how often I really drink (it's not just socially anymore):  the drink in my hand when I walk out those glass corporate doors on a daily basis is never just an espresso.  It's either a triple espresso at twenty three HKD a pop, or a grande tall black coffee at twenty six.  That's also not including the fancy coffees I willingly shell out thirty five to eighty HKD for on my days off, or the second round of coffee on days that require a little extra TLC via the coffee bean.   

Wanting to explore my opportunity costs of buying coffee a little further, I took to the streets to suss out just what exactly I could score for forty HKD.  I have to say, the results not only surprised me, but inspired me to live a little off the beaten track. 

Let's take a look see:

Meals

Top pic: a common lunch of mine, ten dumplings, a bowl of soup all for 32HKD.  Both the meals on the left and the right cost 35HKD at any local Chinese eatery.  Cheap, good, very filling.

In every part of town there is a cooked foods center.  These typically are where locals eat many of their meals due to a lack of kitchen space and time to cook. Eating out on the reg. is cultural and cheap.  The above menu was for a Thai stall in the center in Sheung and the entire menu was 38HKD.  Eating here also takes a little mental preparation on my part as I would than likely be the only foreigner there.  

Street Snacks

Eggs cooked in vinegar are six HKD each and not bad, although it looks like something resembling a witches cauldron. The little, round, wooden containers hold the gold of delicious dim sum snacks: dumplings.  Four for sixteen HKD. I could get 8 and get stuffed.

If you go to various markets or heavily populated areas (where isn't it heavily populated in HK)  there are plenty of other street snacks for equally low prices like: waffles, fish balls, various things on a stick including veggies, tofu, and entrails.  

Transportation

Transportation here is pennies on the dollar.  With 40 HKD I could ride the bus to or from work four times, or at 2.3HKD per ride on the tram, one can get on and off 17 times.  Riding the tram is one of my favorite things to do, other than taking the star ferry which will give you a stellar view of the Hong Kong skyline for 2.2HKD. I could also take a cab to SOHO (the going out part of town) and back for forty dollars, although it is pretty much guaranteed I'll be spending much more than forty while I'm there. 

  

Quick Eats

Fast food here is cheap, just as it is in 'merica.  One can get a footlong at Subway for 35, some sushi at Park 'N Shop for 39.8, or tear up the dollar menu at Mickey D's and get three hamburgers some fries and a coke.  Gross.

Produce

Produce at wet markets = cheap.  These bananas up top are 8HKD for a bunch.  Therefore, I can walk in with my 40HKD and buy the whole banana wall and have a banana monopoly.  I could also buy five bags of carrots or forty eggs.  Or.... I could just be a normal person and buy a variety of produce for forty bucks.  That's how Hong Kong and wet markets roll.

While at the market....

Why not just plant my own living things? Tomato plants are 28HKD and the plants in the middle as you can see are two for forty.  Or I could buy four new friends for my brand new fish tank since keeping a cat or dog here would just be cruel.

ETC

There is a little used book store by my work that has buy one get on free sales.  Forty HKD could potentially get up to four books.  That's hours of entertainment, or great bookshelf fillers to make you look well read.  I could also get in my co-workers good graces by bribing them with cakes at ten for forty.  With cheap postcards for sell and forty HKD, I could keep up with at least five people.

Are you exhausted from all the possibilities of things one could purchase with forty HKD???  I am.  I need a coffee.  Which- I will be making at home in coffee pot for awhile now that I know the buying power of forty HKD!

These guys are out of our budget at 90HKD.  BUMMER.