Until a few years ago, I spent money like a drunken sailor in port and I was constantly broke as a result. I just wanted that immediate gratification from getting something new that I didn't have before. What I learned, though, was to change my thinking about purchasing in terms of the work required for the money to purchase it.
Let's say you make $15/hour at your job. An evening movie ticket costs about $13.25 where I live, so basically if you wanted to go to the new Marvel movie, it would cost nearly an hour's wages. Thinking in those kinds of terms made me reevaluate my purchasing. Is seeing that movie really worth an hour of labor? An hour of your life? I don't think so. So then you could begin going to the $7 matinee on weekends instead or waiting and seeing it on DVD or streaming for $2.
In my life, I reevaluated all my bills. Was it really worth six hours of work per month to pay for cable TV that I barely watched anyway? Absolutely not, considering I can get about 70 channels for free over-the-air with an antenna where I lived. Goodbye, cable TV.
Was it worth it to work 34 hours a month to pay for the monthly lease of my car? Hell, no. I turned that thing in and bought a much less expensive car for cash and stopped making payments entirely.
Was it worth it to give up 10 hours of work per month to eat takeout, when I could eat food that was just as good at home for a fraction of that? Nope. Goodbye, takeout meals.
Anybody else start thinking in those kinds of terms where you measure what you spend by the work you have to put in for those purchases? I've cut my bills by thousands over the past year by really considering the exchange of my labor for goods and services in a much more explicit way.
18 Sep 2016, 1:39 pm
