Sil select said

2016: How Much will you spend on tea this year?

It’s that time again, a new year and a new thread for us to track our purchases, or lack of purchases :) Because someone had to!

Either add to your comment throughout the year, or add a new one for each month. Anyway you do it is fine!

189 Replies
Sil select said

Figured I’ll kick things off.

In 2014, I spent roughly: 1320.42 USD 320.18 CAD which is about 135 a month. In 2015, I was trying to spend less but had an impromptu trip to Paris so instead I spent roughly 1075.10 USD 206.21 CAD. Technically less, but not as good as i wanted to do. In 2016, I’m going to try and spend at most, 500 USD and 500 CAD – which is roughly 40 a month in both currencies.

January: 33.87 CAD
February: 17.41 CAD
March: Zero
April: 4.12 CAD 46.40 USD
May: 11.11 CAD 42.00 USD
June: 31.40 CAD
July: Zero
August: 36.98 CAD 26.50 USD
September: Zero
October: 35.32
November: 55.79 USD

December

Running Total: 170.21 CAD; 170.69 USD

Sil select said

Realised this morning that it’s April tomorrow and i somehow managed to get through the month without spending a thing. Crazy!

Dexter said

50.00 though three months is amazing. Great job!!!!

Sil select said

thanks Dex….still not sure how i managed that, but i’ll take it.

Sil select said

Not bad…so far from a budget standpoint i’m basically doing better than i thought. Averaging roughly 13.50 CAD and 17 USD each month.

Sil select said

well July was good, but apparently August is off to a bumpy start heh

Sil select said

Well, still doing better than i budgeted for, so no complaints there. Also really helping with my sipdowns!

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January: $19 WP, $41 Life in Teacup, $32 Verdant, $173 Taobao
February: $66 Tea Masters, $63 Camellia Sinensis
March: $90 Tea Urchin, $39 Yunnan Sourcing
After March… $500+, all over

At this point, over $1k and it’s not even July, I’m just going to look at it as a daily amount. Budgeting for $5 a day on tea.

Over 9000

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I spent around $450 in 2015. Since I made purchases of certain teas from certain companies that I’ve been meaning to buy/buy from for months (plus a few impulsive indulgences), I feel satisfied with what I have.

I’m counting teas only. My plan is to spend $100 or less. I’m on an all-year hiatus, with the exception of first flush green teas from China and Japan. I’d better be only posting in April and/or May.

Meant to update. I made a small 3 Leaf Tea order in January, when they had their one year anniversary sale. I missed out on their masala chai in the fall and wanted to get some. I was also running out of lavender. I picked up 2oz of each.

3 Leaf Tea – $19.45

January total: $19.45
Yearly total: $19.45

I pre-ordered spring green from Teavire this month. I’m keeping my goal so far!

March total: $32.00
Yearly total $51.45

Sil select said

woot woot! go you!

Yay! It’s also really hard not to buy more teaware. We have 3/4 of a year to goooo X_X

Slipped off the road a bit. I did make Den’s Tea orders like I planned for their Sakura and Hashiri Sencha, but I also bought a couple other teas from them. I also bought some scented oolong from Tea Ave because I practically have nothing to cold-brew with, and they had a good sale.

I should revise my goal to less than $200.

April total: $66.39
Yearly total: $117.84

I made a Teavivre order in May. I wanted to buy a present for a coworker. She really likes the jasmine pearls. I also got samples of a couple teas for her. And then there was a tea ball as a part of the free time promotion since she needs one of those. Admittedly, I got myself the new harvest of the Golden Tip Dian Hong.

May total: $15.90
Yearly total: 133.74

I do plan to make another Teavivre during their anniversary sale, but much smaller. Really want to get this one tea because I was so impressed with it when I was given samples.

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Dexter said

I started a budget spreadsheet last year, vowing to keep tack, not spend as much, be more responsible. And then Vancouver happened and I lost any semblance of control and never looked at the budget again.
So again – I’m saying it – this year will be better
I want to travel (non tea related), the USD/CAD exchange sucks, I have a mountain of tea – I shouldn’t need to buy much this year.

50.00 CAD/month – 600.00 CAD total for the year.

I don’t think that’s going to happen, but it could if I am vigilant with sales, only replacing what I really love/need.

2016 Total = 776.08
January = 0.00
February: 99.59 – August Uncommon
March: 69.79 – Tealyra
April: 261.35
Red Blossom: 84.40
Imperial Tea Court: 98.20
Vital Tea Leaf: 26.55
Lupicia: 52.20
May: 64.30 – A&D
June: 0.00
July: 0.00
August: 48.00 Amsterdam Tea
September: 53.29 CitezenTea
October: 107.60 August Uncommon
November: 65.00
40.00 My tea guy
25.00 Bitterleaf Tea
December: 7.25 Tea Historic

Sil select said

Joint purchases = more bang for our respective bucks :)

Cwyn said

How is this a realistic budget, Dex? In any way? Lol. Sorry. Tea is a slippery slope though. Oh my…

Dexter said

OK Way over budget – but San Francisco was not in the plans when I set the budget. I think some of this should be called “vacation” or “souvenirs” but am going to log it here in the spirit of full disclosure. Back on hiatus……

Sil select said

there’s a reason i’m glad chicago is may, so i can splurge a little heh

Dexter said

That looks really bad, but really it’s only 6 orders plus San Francisco vacation splurge.

Dexter said

OK so over budget but really not that bad. I still feel the issue was the SanFransisco trip. Take some/most of that out and I’m on budget. Now I just need to look at the numbers for amount of tea – that’s going to be scary. I didn’t drink much tea this year…..

Sil select said

that’s what happened to me when i went to paris heh

yyz said

Dex I think you did really well.i didn’t really keep track this year.

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Dr Jim said

I spent about $1000 in 2015. I’m going to aim to spend about the same, mostly to add a few high-end cakes to my puerh collection.

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OMGsrsly said

I tried to pull my tea purchases for the year, but my budget tracking program is inexplicably missing April through August. So. I think I spent around CAD$1000 last year? Maybe? Definitely need to spend LESS this year. Goal $0, but since that’s unlikely, $50/month max.

OMGsrsly said

Jan:
$10 to Sil for tea she bought me in… December? November? Does this even count? ;)
$13 for more discontinued Redberry Tonic at DavidsTea.
-
Feb:
$23.13 August Uncommon, Passage, samples
$20 Treasure Green, oolong
$37.50 Chinese Tea Shop, sheng cake and pressed white tea
-
March:
$4.95, Murchie’s (total impulse buy!)
-
Total $109.

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Uniquity said

Possibly nothing. That is only because I have a dresser full of tea and am drinking only a cup every couple days now (thanks, heartburn!) Once the baby is born, consumption will either go up or drop off altogether. No matter how I picture it, I can’t imagine making much of a dent in the stash this year so there is no need to add to it. On the plus side, one of my bros is getting into tea and I suspect I can offload some flavoured stuff on him that I’m not in love with anymore. Muahaha!

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I want to keep myself to 2-3 large buys (and 1 or 2 smaller ones) and spend no more than US $500 for the year.

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I only spent $106 on tea in 2015, but that was mostly due to trying to drink what I have in my stash. This year I’d like to keep my tea budget under $500. I think that will give me the chance to try plenty of new teas and restock some of my favorites.

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I spent about $300 on tea+teaware last year, but I just started seriously getting into tea back around September. Since I’ve amassed a backlog I don’t want to spend over $50 a month so hopefully I can keep that goal and use my budget for a few large buys every couple of months.

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