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Thing is, each R50 doesn’t register as a lot. At first. But over an average month with 22 working days, R50 a day adds up to R1 100.
Yikes! If your work offered you an opt-in lunch every day that would cost you R1 100 a month and be taken off your salary, would you opt in? I think most people would pass.
I know I would. Because seeing that big four-figure number is more frightening than swiping R50 a day.
Most people’s mental accounting system is a little broken. We place different (usually illogical) value on the same money when we spend it on different things, or in different ways.
For example: You buy a sandwich for R30, and then suddenly lose all control of your appendages and drop it before you can take a bite. Do you buy another one?
Or, you’re on your way to buy a sandwich. As you get to the counter you realise you lost R30 somewhere, but you still have enough to buy another. Do you?
In most cases, people answer no to the first question, because in our minds we’ve already spent R30 and don’t want to spend another R30.
Whereas in the second scenario, in our minds, we haven’t really 'spent' the R30 – no services or goods were exchanged, it just went on a little holiday – so we feel okay spending the second R30. Weird, huh?
As for my daily lunch and artisan coffee: R50? Ain’t no thing. But would I pay R50 for parking? Nope.
What is this parking paved with? Gold? I’m finding somewhere else to park thank you very much. But R50 is R50. So why am I not finding somewhere or something else to eat and drink?
According to David Bach's "Latte Factor", those coffees or sandwiches could add up to a pretty impressive investment over a few years or go towards a mid-year getaway in Knysna.
Now, this doesn’t mean we have to scrimp and take all the little pleasures out of life. Maybe that small trip down to your corner coffee shop is your daily 'trip to Knysna', or you really, really need that coffee to curb any potential office fatalities.
That’s A-Okay, you go get that double cappuccino with chocolate sprinkles.
It’s not about giving up the good stuff. It’s about knowing what’s important to you. If the R50 every day has value, great. If it’s slowly sinking the ship that really matters to you, then you can start plugging the leaks.
Article by 22Seven.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Yikes! If your work offered you an opt-in lunch every day that would cost you R1 100 a month and be taken off your salary, would you opt in? I think most people would pass.
I know I would. Because seeing that big four-figure number is more frightening than swiping R50 a day.
Most people’s mental accounting system is a little broken. We place different (usually illogical) value on the same money when we spend it on different things, or in different ways.
For example: You buy a sandwich for R30, and then suddenly lose all control of your appendages and drop it before you can take a bite. Do you buy another one?
Or, you’re on your way to buy a sandwich. As you get to the counter you realise you lost R30 somewhere, but you still have enough to buy another. Do you?
In most cases, people answer no to the first question, because in our minds we’ve already spent R30 and don’t want to spend another R30.
Whereas in the second scenario, in our minds, we haven’t really 'spent' the R30 – no services or goods were exchanged, it just went on a little holiday – so we feel okay spending the second R30. Weird, huh?
As for my daily lunch and artisan coffee: R50? Ain’t no thing. But would I pay R50 for parking? Nope.
What is this parking paved with? Gold? I’m finding somewhere else to park thank you very much. But R50 is R50. So why am I not finding somewhere or something else to eat and drink?
According to David Bach's "Latte Factor", those coffees or sandwiches could add up to a pretty impressive investment over a few years or go towards a mid-year getaway in Knysna.
Now, this doesn’t mean we have to scrimp and take all the little pleasures out of life. Maybe that small trip down to your corner coffee shop is your daily 'trip to Knysna', or you really, really need that coffee to curb any potential office fatalities.
That’s A-Okay, you go get that double cappuccino with chocolate sprinkles.
It’s not about giving up the good stuff. It’s about knowing what’s important to you. If the R50 every day has value, great. If it’s slowly sinking the ship that really matters to you, then you can start plugging the leaks.
Article by 22Seven.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
