Incredibly Easy Starbucks Hacks That Will Help You Save Money

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If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: cut down on your Starbucks habit, make your own caffeinated drinks, and save! But for some of us, it isn’t as easy as all that. There’s just that certain something about the Starbucks “fix”.

We’ve tracked down some cool ways that will cut down your average annual Starbucks expenditure. Don’t laugh! If you and your spouse visit Starbucks two or three times a week, you could be spending as much as $500 a year there!

Option 1: Use These Hacks to Save Money at Starbucks

Sign Up for the Starbucks Rewards Program

If you’re a frequent Starbucks customer, it would be silly to miss out on the rewards program. Get the Starbucks app and sign up. You’ll get two stars on your account for every dollar you spend, plus you get a free drink for your birthday – just claim it within 30 days.

Get this: you also become entitled to free refills on iced or drip coffee. For those of us who feel that having just one coffee leaves us flying on one wing, that free refill could represent a big saving.

Keep drinking coffee (and spending money), and you reach the 300-star level in 12 months. Now you become a “Gold” client and get a freebie for every 125 stars. Look out for card-holder special offers after using your card 5 times. If you reach gold status, there are even more offers in store.

Grab a Refill

If you have the Starbucks card from signing up for the rewards program, you won’t need this tip, but if you don’t, claim your refill for a double caffeine fix for just 50c.

Give Yourself a Gift

Did you know that gift cards often come at a discount price? Try Gift Card Granny and get up to 10% off the price of your Starbucks vice. Basically, you’re getting prepaid coffee, but if you know you’re going to drink it anyway, why not get the discount?

Bring Your Own Cup

Using your own cup saves you 10c. If you drink lots of coffee from Starbucks, it all adds up! Better yet, if you bring a cup from a Starbucks competitor, you get a free replacement.

Get Free Water to Go

Instead of spending on bottled water, get Starbucks water. It’s triple filtered, so it’s just as good as or better than bottled water, and it’s absolutely free.

Try Some of the Cheaper Menu Options

It’s fine to spoil yourself once in a while, but if you’re a regular, you might well find that some of the cheaper menu options are actually just fine. There are menu items for under $4, so if you’ve been ordering the expensive drinks, try one of these lower-cost items to see if it suits you.

Substitute a Latte for a Café Misto

Yes, there’s less coffee and less milk in it, but it’s a whole lot cheaper and deliciously frothy. If you’re trying to lose weight and can’t sacrifice your latte, this could be the answer.

Get a Tall Drip in a Grande Cup

Once you have it, top it up with milk! You now have a grande for the price of a tall, and nobody can make you pay more for it! Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky, but oh-so-clever.

Two Shots over Ice in a Venti Cup

So far, this may not sound like saving, but when you top up your cup with milk, the result is a venti iced latte for $1.50 less than you’d ordinarily pay. Starbucks presumably knows this hack, but they haven’t done anything about it, so probably, they don’t mind.

Choose a Coffee Press to Share with Friends

If each of you were to order a cup of coffee, you’d pay full price, but if you order a French press with coffee instead of individual cups, everyone gets to save on the price of their drinks.

Share a Venti

Crazy about Frappuccino? Bring a friend and split a venti. You each get the equivalent of a tall for around $1 less than you’d otherwise have paid.

Puppy Latte for Free

A puppy latte consists of a sample cup with whipped cream. It’s free! Why not?

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Ice on the Side

Usually, an iced drink is half ice, half drink. Ask for ice on the side, and chances are, you’ll get more drink. Now you can add ice as you please.

Order a Short

It may not be on the menu, but it exists. Best of all, you won’t be getting much less coffee. We haven’t measured, but the experts say it’s just as much.

Iced Tea, Hold the Water

Starbucks makes its iced tea as a concentrate. Then, the barista adds water to make it less overpowering. There’s nothing wrong with adding your own water, and you’ll get more tea.

Chai Latte on the Cheap

Order chai tea instead of the latte, and then ask for it to be topped up with hot milk. This costs you a little extra, but it’s still less than the cost of a chai latte. It also isn’t quite as sweet, and apart from reducing your sugar intake, you may even prefer it.