The True Cost of Things.
The true cost of something is not just the money.
We typically think about whether we should buy something based on its monetary cost.
Should I buy this?
Can I afford it?
It makes sense and it’s pretty basic.
But the real cost is actually everything that goes along with it.
The cost of owning a house, includes all the time and effort in maintenance.
The cost of having a subscription involves the time spent maximising it.
So let’s look at a Netflix subscription for $15 a month.
Sounds like a no brainer! A screaming deal. Why would I consider not having it?
Because everything costs far more than you think. 🤔
Let’s play this out.
You get the subscription.
To get your moneys worth you start watching some episodes.
You get used to watching most evenings.
You have your favourite shows.
You stay up later to watch the next episode and squeeze one more in.
You maybe start waking up tired more often.
Your morning routine, journaling and exercise go out the window (if those were your thing.)
In the evenings you find yourself quite tired again and rationalise that you’ve worked hard and deserve some recharge time.
So you turn on another episode.
You begin to prefer this rather than the effort of going out with your mates.
And the cycle continues.
Now there are some good things - to be fair we do have Netflix and enjoy some time to unwind with a show.
But there are some real potential costs if we’re not paying attention.
Let’s look at some of the real potential costs of Netflix.
Decreasing communication / relationship with your spouse
A numbing loop of passive consumption 🥱
Less exercise & increasingly unmotivated 🥺
A little more of a cost on our lives than $15 a month. Now this may sound extreme but you get the point.
It’s hard to see the knock on effects when it’s 3 or 7 steps removed from what started it. But it all makes a difference. Everything is interconnected.
What about a house? 🏡
The larger the house the more things you need to fill it.
The more things to clean and more to maintain.
A lot of your week can end up chasing your tail just keeping things going.
This is great if it’s what you want to be doing
But it’s a good idea to make it as an intentional decision.
What we buy ends up literally costing us our life. 😳
It get’s our time. Our focus. Our attention.
I’m as guilty of this as anyone else.
I really like the posture of this question instead of ‘can I afford it?’:
Do I want to invite this into my life? What will be the net impact if I do?
Then spending a bit of time thinking about some of the knock on effects. We don’t have to go to the enth degree but just thinking a little further than the monetary cost.
Time.
Health.
Headspace.
Relationships.
It’s not so much about what we own but what’s owning us. 😁