Do You Know How Much a Dollar is?

I was shopping for groceries with someone recently and I was shocked to watch them pick up a small tin of Ice Breakers at the cost of $1.89 at the items within the checkout lane.  I asked them what they were doing and if they realized how big of a waste of money this was.  Fortunately, I was able to prevent their purchase on this occassion.  I later learned that they ended up buying the same tin at Wal-Mart for $0.30 less.  I was glad to see money saved, but I think my point was missed.

Knick-nack items such as these Ice Breaker tins are horrible buys.  If you must have them, buy in bulk at a signficant mark down.  If they are not available in bulk, buy something else.  This product is nothing more than a waste of money.  If you want to have mints, there are many competitors in the fresh breath industry.  Find a much cheaper one than $1.89 Ice Breaker mints.

The broad issue here is not breath mints.  It is your spending habits and how you throw your money away for no reason.  Ask yourself, why am I buying what I buy?  Could I buy this more efficiently?  If I can, why am I not doing so?

In this instance, someone was initiating in an action they had probably done 15 to 25 times in the past year and thought nothing about what was actually happening (throwing away money).  Instead of individually buying a product every time you think you need it, buy a reserve to keep in your house.  This will reduce travel, intervals at which you spend money, and the amount of money you spend at the intervals.

As a rule of thumb, you should never buy anything at the checkout lanes.  If you do think you need a particular item, take the laziness exam and see if you’re willing to go back and get it from the regular shelves.  Although this is still very likely to be a bad purchase, at least your efforts prove it has some utility to you and by taking the extra time, you’ll probably save 10 to 30% on the product itself.  In the case of magazines, if you buy 3 issues a year, just sign up for a subscription.

$1.89 is a lot of money.  Every $1.89 you consume is a $1.89 you don’t have.  Over the course of a year, your aggregate spending of $1.89 items fuels billion dollar industries.  The companies are flourishing on your wastefulness.