TOD 03.31.08

I love a good deal. In fact, in my perfect world, everything I desire would be free. But there’s a problem with this inclination. In a world where everything is free, I would take everything home. And I don’t have enough storage space for everything, nor enough time to use it all. And if I buy something, I have to store it, care for it, insure it, move it from home to home, and either use it or feel guilty for not doing so.

That’s why it’s so important to realize that things cost much more over the time you own them than when you first purchase them. And this is why it can actually be a blessing for an item to have a higher sticker price. If you’re reluctant to pay so much in the beginning, maybe that’s a way of helping you realize that you’re actually going to be better off not having it over time as well.

It’s important to know that the price of a thing may be the least of the costs associated with its acquisition. As one caller to the show recently quipped, “You may not get everything you pay for, but you will pay for everything you get.”