An Example of "Life Energy"
Over the weekend, I realized I needed my car washed, I needed the inside vacuumed and cleaned, and I needed my lawn mowed.
A car wash is $5. Having the inside cleaned is $15. I pay my neighbor across the street $20 to mow my lawn. This is a total of $40.
I decided to mow my own lawn and clean and vacuum my own car. It took me approximately 1 hour.
If I had chosen to pay someone else to do those things, I would have had to work approximately 4 hours to earn the money to pay them.
This was my sudden "real life" realization of the appropriate expenditure of life energy, as outlined by Joe Dominguez and Vickie Robin in their book Your Money or Your Life. In one situation, I'm spending 4 hours of my life at my desk in order to "save" myself 1 hour of my life in the yard/driveway. By doing the work myself, I spent only 1 hour of my life energy.
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I used to spend about $100 a month on my cell phone plan, and probably a total of 10 hours a month using the phone for texting, pictures, etc. In other words, a total of 20 hours of life energy OR more than an entire week's worth of work for me (I work 15 hours a week).
Now with my Tracfone, I spend $20 a month, approximately, and perhaps 2 hours a month using it. Therefore, approximately 4 hours of life energy.
********
I've found so many times that I make money and spending decisions based on comparison rather than on the actual amount of money I have. $100 a month isn't really a lot of money considering what some people spend on cell phones....ergo, it's probably appropriate for me to spend that much on a cell phone. Um, NO!!!!!
If I find a total steal of a Kate Spade bag for $30, when it usually costs $350, sure it's a great bargain compared to retail price. But that doesn't mean I have $30 to spend on a purse, great deal or not!!!!
*****
In order to rein in spending, we (the general we) need to examine how much money we actually personally have, not how much we think we have or expect to have or wish we had or feel we should have, how much we ACTUALLY HAVE. And then we need to make our purchasing decisions on real, actual needs and wants---is this worth the hours of my life I'm spending to purchase it? If my boss said "Come in next week and we'll give you this handbag at the end of the week rather than your paycheck" would I take him/her up on it? Not whether our friends have it, or whether it's on sale, or whether we're feeling low or feeling happy. Not based on how long ago we last bought one of these. So what if we haven't had a new coat for 4 years, if our current one is still in good shape, why not wear it and save ourselves the money?
Why indeed. Why is this concept so hard for me and millions of other people? It seems so easy yet it's so hard to internalize.
A car wash is $5. Having the inside cleaned is $15. I pay my neighbor across the street $20 to mow my lawn. This is a total of $40.
I decided to mow my own lawn and clean and vacuum my own car. It took me approximately 1 hour.
If I had chosen to pay someone else to do those things, I would have had to work approximately 4 hours to earn the money to pay them.
This was my sudden "real life" realization of the appropriate expenditure of life energy, as outlined by Joe Dominguez and Vickie Robin in their book Your Money or Your Life. In one situation, I'm spending 4 hours of my life at my desk in order to "save" myself 1 hour of my life in the yard/driveway. By doing the work myself, I spent only 1 hour of my life energy.
********
I used to spend about $100 a month on my cell phone plan, and probably a total of 10 hours a month using the phone for texting, pictures, etc. In other words, a total of 20 hours of life energy OR more than an entire week's worth of work for me (I work 15 hours a week).
Now with my Tracfone, I spend $20 a month, approximately, and perhaps 2 hours a month using it. Therefore, approximately 4 hours of life energy.
********
I've found so many times that I make money and spending decisions based on comparison rather than on the actual amount of money I have. $100 a month isn't really a lot of money considering what some people spend on cell phones....ergo, it's probably appropriate for me to spend that much on a cell phone. Um, NO!!!!!
If I find a total steal of a Kate Spade bag for $30, when it usually costs $350, sure it's a great bargain compared to retail price. But that doesn't mean I have $30 to spend on a purse, great deal or not!!!!
*****
In order to rein in spending, we (the general we) need to examine how much money we actually personally have, not how much we think we have or expect to have or wish we had or feel we should have, how much we ACTUALLY HAVE. And then we need to make our purchasing decisions on real, actual needs and wants---is this worth the hours of my life I'm spending to purchase it? If my boss said "Come in next week and we'll give you this handbag at the end of the week rather than your paycheck" would I take him/her up on it? Not whether our friends have it, or whether it's on sale, or whether we're feeling low or feeling happy. Not based on how long ago we last bought one of these. So what if we haven't had a new coat for 4 years, if our current one is still in good shape, why not wear it and save ourselves the money?
Why indeed. Why is this concept so hard for me and millions of other people? It seems so easy yet it's so hard to internalize.
posted by knittykat @ 1:00 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:56 AM,
Myster Eeigh said…
I think you're absolutely right! I hate to invoke the old maxim "a penny saved is a penny earned," but it's true.
And you're also dead right that comparing prices based on things that are too expensive to begin with guarantees an inaccurate result.
Saving money by not spending is smart and the next-best thing is paying less for something than you "have" to.
Using a TracFone is quite smart. I can't see having a contract, paying MUCH more and treating my phone like a piece of jewelry or a fashion accessory! Ha!
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