This is not  a post about coupons or mail-in rebates. It’s not even remotely con­nected to an offer from Star­bucks. Well, not really.

It has to do with Star­bucks gift cards.

I thought I’d let you in on a lit­tle secret that has helped me keep my addic­tion or obses­sion with Starbuck’s Venti Old Skool Vanilla Lattes alive and thriv­ing.

Years ago, I started going to Star­bucks every morn­ing to start my day. I’ve worked from home as a free­lance designer for the last 13 years or so. I found that get­ting up and going to Star­bucks was a way to mark the start of my day and actu­ally speak to other human-beings in person.

Work­ing from home can be quite iso­lat­ing. And phone calls, email and Twit­ter only give you so much reality.

As you can imag­ine, going to Star­bucks every­day is not cheap at $4.17 a pop. The reg­u­lar cof­fee is much cheaper, but I don’t hap­pen to drink the reg­u­lar cof­fee. I can make that at home with their beans, cus­tom roasted beans from my brother-in-law or the stash I have from Tazza D’Oro in Rome.

I know that last bit sounds a bit pre­ten­tious, well, what­ever, it’s true. I’m not a cof­fee snob, per­haps more of  a mini-aficionado. I don’t go to Star­bucks because I’m an elit­ist — or maybe just because I’m an elit­ist (in the most light-hearted sense of the word.) I go for the ambiance, con­ve­nience and friendly faces.

They also know how to make my drink exactly right –every time. I drink a Venti (not “large” it’s venti– it means 20 in Ital­ian mean­ing 20 ounces) Old Skool Vanilla Latte. Old Skool is sim­ply how they used to make 2% before they switched to actual 2% milk instead of whole milk as their stan­dard. When they switched, I didn’t like the 2%, so they make it the “Old Skool” way, 50% Whole and 50% No-Fat. I’m not really con­cerned with the math — it works for me.

Old Skool is a term used in my Star­bucks because of MOI. In fact, that’s my nick­name there. If you want to try this Old Skool 2% at your Star­bucks you’ll have to actu­ally explain it to them. The newbie’s won’t know the old way — but they’ll make it for you.

Some peo­ple say Star­bucks is not “authen­tic.” I’m not the alter­na­tive kid of girl that needs a beat­nik– indie vibe with a guy sport­ing a goa­tee french-pressing my java in order for my cof­fee house expe­ri­ence to be authen­tic. I’m there to get cof­fee, kib­b­itz with the cus­tomers and Barista’s and be on my way.

OK– Here’s the “How To Get Your Cof­fee Free” part.…As the years have gone by, most  peo­ple know that’s how I start my day. My Diva Mom started giv­ing me gift cards and mak­ing it known that I was ALWAYAS happy with a SBUX gift card.

Friends and fam­ily that received gift cards and didn’t fre­quent SBUX would me give theirs. I would receive Gift Cards for Birth­days, Valentine’s Day, Christ­mas, Easter, or just because. It’s easy, use­ful and the giver knows that I LOVE receiv­ing them.

The trick is to men­tion this often. You’ll find friend who wouldn’t nor­mally give you any­thing will pick up a lit­tle $5 card here and there for you. They’ll be tucked in a card as a lit­tle some­thing extra from family.

My Aunt sent me a Star­bucks Birth­day card she ordered from them online. She didn’t even have to go to a Starbucks.

I’ll be hon­est, this so does not cover my entire Star­bucks habit. But it’s enough to help.

I also feel as if I’m spread­ing joy through the world by mak­ing oth­ers feel happy know­ing they gave a gift that is truly appreciated.

I should fully dis­close that I am a Star­bucks Share­holder. If you do pur­chase any­thing from Star­bucks, I guess, in some small way, I do benefit…but Hey– I’m just spread­ing a lit­tle joy.