Honestly, this is exactly how I feel too. I remember browsing Reddit when Digg was my primary source and Reddit felt so small and unpolished at the time! I don't know if Lemmy will grow in the same way as Reddit did, but it is certainly on the right path.
One day I will try this because I love coffee and I like experimenting in the kitchen in general, but the reality is the time and effort required would not outweigh the cost, quality and consistency of a local roaster who can get coffee out to you a couple of days (at most) post roasting especially if I factor in the multiple cups a day I drink!
I feel like most of the "country" oriented instances will last (and grow) as it is a more purposeful reason to exist, and this extends to instances with very clear themes as it also gives users more of a reason for people to join them.
You don't have to stop using Reddit entirely to stick it to them.
Using Reddit a lot less? You are contributing to the overall drop in numbers
Using Reddit to protest? You are reminding others of the reasons which may draw others away and drop traffic over time
Using Reddit to let others know of the viable alternatives? Again you may draw even more people away if they find alternatives that they enjoy dropping traffic further
Not using Reddit for anything other than protest? You reduce the value of Reddit by not actually contributing any useful community content that draws people again damaging numbers.
I don't necessarily agree, if one persons short term engagement results in five people's long term disengagements then it's a net gain and a good investment!
It doesn't hurt to use these opportunities to remind people of the reasons to abandon Reddit (and of course of all the various alternatives that exist).
Offering an alternative and mostly unpopular view, there are lot of things that society should spend that may not always have a great financial return on investment but will contribute to the culture of society (sports, art, entertainment, history, etc).
That said I do think the Commonwealth Games is a massive cost sink during poor financial conditions and sports already gets a disproportionate amount of funding compared to the others so I don't think this is necessarily a bad move!
Just a minor addition, if you are particularly bad with impulse spending, follow this approach but use separate accounts to help manage the budget - i.e. on payday put the amount of fixed expenses into an account and don't touch it for anything other than these expenses (setting up direct debits for your expenses can make this run on auto pilot). Keep separate accounts for your variable expenses, your "fun money" and of course our savings as well (and only use your savings for a planned goal or emergency). It sounds overkill but it can really help you control where your funds go!
I didn't sign up for the free trial! :(