Financial responsibility. Some of us
have it and some of us don’t. And as always, there is that one person that just
takes it way too far. Look, if you’re really going to stand here and argue
about a fifty-cent coupon while there are people waiting in line, I will just
give you fifty cents to go away. Still, with all of the people boasting about
how much money they save by reusing tea bags (although honestly, switch to
loose leaf tea and enjoy life a little), how much happier are the frugal
spenders of the world.
It comes down to tradeoffs really. Money
is essentially credit for goods or services you traded to others, allowing you
to claim your return good or service at a later time, and in any manner you
choose. You think your spending $3.99 on a burger and fries, but it’s actually
a complex web of trades wherein you provided your employer with a service for
some amount of time and in return received societal credit that your employer
determined fair compensation for your time (it probably wasn’t, just saying). The
eatery providing the aforementioned sustenance then determines how much
societal credit is equivalent to their staff providing food, cooking it, and
serving it too you (In this case, I would say it is a fair trade).
Now when it comes to saving money,
you’ve really got three options. You can either obtain the same good or service
for a lower price, obtain an inferior good or service for a lower price, or
forego the good or service entirely for no price. Option one is great and
should always be taken advantage of whenever possible. If you can’t tell the
difference between a $200 bottle of pinot noir and a $10 bottle during a blind
taste test, then who are you really trying to impress? Of course, this is
rarely ever an available option. Your $1 Hershey’s chocolate bar is never going
to hold a flame to single source, fine chocolate, but it will save you $3-4.
Whether this is a fair trade or not is for you to decide.
What makes this all the more
complicated is that one must factor in extraneous factors beyond simply the
price and taste of the chocolate. If the only place that sells quality
chocolate is 5 miles further away than the more convenient store, this will
play into your decision. There are also your personal ideals. Perhaps you can’t
tell the difference between fine and economy wine, if buying a fancy bottle
makes you feel $190 worth of better then to you it might be worth it (although
at that point I think you might have self-esteem problems). Personally, I
detest a certain large chain grocery store for its abominable business
practices. For me any money I could save shopping there is more than made up
for by my personal beliefs.
I will now temporarily digress with
a joke before returning to my point about determining worth. A man regularly drinks
beer after work. His wife, fed up with this habit, asks him how much he spends
on beer a week. Extrapolating that back over the past couple decades she
determines that were he to not drink beer after work he would be able to buy a
Ferrari by now with all of the money he would have saved. The man counters buy
asking his wife how much beer she drinks a week. The wife smugly replies that
she rarely ever drinks beer. The man then asks: “where is your Ferrari?”
Now let me ask you what is worth
more in your opinion, a Ferrari or lot of cheap beer? The answer might at once
seem obvious, but keep in mind what I mentioned earlier about extraneous
factors. It is not just cheap beer, it is relaxing after work with something
that comforts you. In the case of this man, it is that feeling every day over
decades. The balance may seem to be shifting now, so let me personalize it. I
don’t drink cheap beer, but everybody has something. Perhaps you purchase
coffee at $2 a cup when you can make your own for about a dime. But of course,
you don’t always have a coffee pot handy when you’re out at the mall or taking
a fifteen-minute break before you have to get right back to work. Maybe you buy
fancy lotion that smells amazing, even though most people’s skin stays adequately
moisturized on its own. Think about your usual purchases that you could
probably cut out but never do. Think about what those are really worth to you.
This brings us to the last point,
forgoing purchases altogether. Everyone has that friend that never wants to
spend any money when they hang out. If this person is cripplingly impoverished,
perhaps this is a smart move. However, often times the person is just choosing
frugality over living life. They say the best things in life are free, but let’s
be honest, nothing is free. Someone still has to pay for the car and gas to
drive to the national park and take that lovely nature hike. Plus, who do you
think is paying to keep those parks up in the first place. There are your taxes
at work. I am not advocating for spending irresponsibly, nor saying that you
must purchase things to have happiness. In fact, research shows that
experiences provide much more lasting happiness than material possessions. But
here’s the catch, experiences usually cost money too. So, while you absolutely
should forgo that Coke at the restaurant, because it is not going to kill you
to drink water with your nice meal, if anything it will make the food taste
better and save you some severe health complications down the road, (seriously
soda is horrible for you), but you should not forgo the restaurant. Dining,
especially with good company is one of the finer things in life so enjoy it.
And if you are American, water is free here, and that is not true of most countries,
so enjoy that too.
-AMS
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