Leave a comment

One of the things I’m beginning to realize over the past few weeks is that a $4 dollar cup of coffee a day isn’t really that horrible. I used to think that people just didn’t realize how much money they ended up spending through all of those little purchases made on a daily basis, and to be fair, that coffee, if drank 5 days a week for a year, would cost you at least $1000 dollars (The Latte Factor):. However, a person could skimp on the coffee for a whole year and still ruin all of that savings in one fell swoop by a weekend trip to the electronics store.

I use the example of an electronics store because that’s exactly what I did a while back. I was completely anal about saving every penny I could on a daily basis, but I had this massive urge to go out and buy a new desktop computer (on credit) at Best Buy. I got home, set it up…and realized that I’m now more in the hole than I was before. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with it, but I could have made do with the laptop I already had in exchange for a little daily gratification through a simple cup of coffee.

The point is, maybe its okay to let up a bit on the small, daily purchases, as long as discipline is exercised when it comes to the large purchases. Possibly my urge to buy a computer came from denying myself a small outlet in the form of the occasional coffee or fast food trip. Or maybe I just really wanted a computer.