Frosts in Brazil, civil wars in Africa… whatever’s happening on the supply side one can be sure that a kilogramme of your average branded instant coffee is going to cost at least US$25/kg retail (compared with US$2.15/kg for robusta coffee beans in bulk).

I tend to wait for specials and then buy a big jar of can – or buy supermarket ‘own brand’ coffee. I did this last week and it was pretty awful stuff. Today I experimented by putting a drop of vanilla essence in the cup and my consumer experience was transformed!

So here’s my Economical Household Management Tip for December. Buy the cheapest coffee you can find and a little bottle of vanilla essence. Do this over your whole adult lifetime, invest the savings wisely, and you could have enough for a funeral that will be the envy of your friends. The ones who outlive you, anyway.