Learning to use money as a tool
It’s pretty clear by now that I have a different relationship with money than when I started Get Rich Slowly. I’m by no means perfect with the stuff, but I’ve become firmly entrenched in the camp that sees money as a tool. (I used to see it only as a means to instant gratification.)
Here’s a tiny example.
Taking a page out of Trent’s book, Kris has been on a crock pot kick lately. This morning she tried a new swiss steak recipe. “Can you do me a favor?” she asked before leaving for work. “Can you make some mashed potatoes to go with dinner?”
“Of course!” I said. I make awesome mashed potatoes.
Well, as the day progressed, I became less enthused about the whole potato mashing process. As you might guess, it had something to do with The Book. Though I finished the manuscript last Friday, that’s not the end of the work. In fact, I’ve been buried in editing ever since.
This morning, I started editing the chapter on housing. I expected it take only four hours. Instead, it took seven. Next I rushed to start editing the chapter on taxes and insurance, but discovered it’s packed with problems that need to be fixed. I turned instead to the chapter on debt. More problems.
“I don’t have time to mash potatoes,” I thought. “I have to edit.”
And though I know this sounds strange, it was then that I had an epiphany. All these months and years, I’ve written about the notion of Money as a Tool, and I’ve sort of understood it intellectually. But it wasn’t until this moment that I actually knew what the concept meant: It meant I was stopping by the supermarket to pick up some mashed potatoes!
Money as a Tool
It’s difficult to describe the relationship I used to have with money. It seemed like the ultimate objective. It was what I wanted. Yet I didn’t do anything to earn or save the stuff. Instead, I’d spend it without thinking. When I spent more than I could afford to buy comics and videogames, I got a little thrill. It felt like I was somehow cheating the system.
I know now that the only one I was cheating was me. It took me years to pay off the debt I racked up by “cheating”. Now I really do see money as a tool. Monetary wealth isn’t the goal. Happiness is the goal. Doing the things that make life meaningful for me — reading, writing, spending time with friends — is the goal. Money is useful because it can help me do these things. Used wisely:
- Money buys time. I think we all understand this abstractly. Sometimes, as in the silly case of my mashed potatoes, money almost literally buys time, but it’s usually more subtle than this. When I think of my retirement savings, I think that every dollar buys me a certain amount of future time with which I can do as I wish.
- Money helps you meet your goals. It helps you do the things that need to get done. To use another example from my book-writing process, I’ve paid to buy books and journal articles to support my research. As I begin to focus on fitness, there’s no question that money helps me better pursue my objectives. If I don’t spend on Stuff and nonsense, I can use money to pursue my priorities.
- Money makes life easier. This one’s obvious I suppose, but you can use money to take away some of the drudgery in life. You own a car so you don’t have to walk or ride the bus. You might pay the neighbor kid to mow the lawn. Or, in my case, I rent office space so I can have a “fortress of solitude” in which to write.
For me, the transition from using money for instant gratification to using it for bigger purposes has been a slow one. It took a long time to even realize how stupid I was being. After I became financially self-aware, it took a few years more to break my old habits, though I finally seem to be gaining some degree of self-control. (As I mentioned last week, I haven’t used money to buy anything on impulse yet in 2010. That amazes me.)
And I’ve reached a place in my life where I can buy mashed potatoes from the grocery store and not feel an ounce of guilt because I know I’m practicing conscious spending.
$8 Per Hour
Normally, I think of supermarket mashed potatoes as a sort of rip-off. For $3.99, you get a pound-and-a-half of mediocre spuds. For four bucks, I could make twenty pounds of home-made mashed potatoes that taste much, much better. But was that $3.99 a rip-off today? Hell no! It was a bargain. That $3.99 bought me an extra 30 minutes to work on Your Money: The Missing Manual. To me, that’s cheap.
Of course, there’s just one problem: I didn’t actually use that 30 minutes to work on The Book. I used it to write this blog post instead. Ah well. Sometimes the things you build with your tools don’t turn out the way you’d planned…
Postscript: Kris and I have eaten dinner now. Her verdict? “These mashed potatoes are tasty,” she told me. (For the record, I was unimpressed.)
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There are 82 comments to "Learning to use money as a tool".
We’re starting to grasp the concept of money as a tool. In the past we’ve always looked at ways we could save money by doing things ourselves. I’m starting to see now that if we’ve planned properly for certain expenses, sometimes it just isn’t worth our time and effort to do some things ourselves.
For example, last week our kitchen sink backed up. After working on it a bit, my husband was certain the block was in the pipes underneath the house somewhere. Fixing it would require a larger snake than the one he has. It would also require crawling around under the house in 22 degree weather and taking some of the piping apart. There was a time when he would have spent several hours trying to do this to avoid the plumber’s fee. There were other things he needed to take care of though, so we sucked it up and called a plumber. $150 later, it was taken care of. I think it was well worth it.
Wow, I read and learn from each blog post, but this one really hit the spot today! Too much to think about so I’ll keep this comment short…
The post is good and all, but common, for the time you drove/walked to the supermarket, crossed the alley where the mashed potatoes are, stood in line to pay (even with nobody else), got back home – you could have made mashed potatoes yourself, and be impressed with them! Even if the drive was on the way home, it is still a stop. 20 minutes, I would guess, all together? It is exactly how long it takes me to make mashed potatoes, from scratch, peel, boil and mash. For the recipe, add an egg besides milk and butter – it will taste even better:) Anyhow, often it works, time for money exchange. But often it is plain silly if you lay it out.
J.D., It’s quite a pleasure seeing you evolve into the philosophical side of money, which is no different than the philosophical perspective of life itself.
I like to ask clients (and readers) to ask themselves, “Is money a tool for my life or is my life a tool for money?”
Given honest and complete introspection, most people come to the realization that their life, thus far, has been a tool for money. This is the “epiphany” that you speak of.
“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” ~ Ayn Rand
I am just now figuring this out, too. I’m so used to only purchasing really important things and trying to save money on everything else that I sometimes forget to buy those little things that make my life so much easier. Like a hand and nail brush to keep my makeup from getting all over my white towels and an apple corer that really is the difference between me eating an apple and not bothering.
Just so you know this is a VERY slippery slope. One minute you’re buying mashed potatoes b/c you’re too busy to make them, and then you have a maid come clean your house b/c your’re too busy. You’ve got to be very careful about this..
Hi JD!
This is exactly the argument I made in the essay I wrote for GRS. I can’t wait to see it up!
Congrats on learning to use money as a tool.
~ Riva Soucie
That’s one way to use the tool. Here’s another you might not have considered.
Presumably, there’s some things you’d rather NOT have happening. Rain ? High fuel-prices ? Falling-dollar-value ?
You can use money to buy INSURANCE against such things, not from a insurance-company (that’s a losing gamble), but by investing in things that take ADVANTAGE of the thing that HURTS you.
For example, if higher fuel-prices would be a problem for you, buy stock in a company that would benefit from it, such as a oil-company.
And rain ? Buy stock in a hydroelectric powerplant. Sure, it’ll still be raining, but it helps your mood immensely, if you can imagine it’s raining pennies — into YOUR bank-acoount. Try it out, it’s fun !
Hi J.D.,
In real life, I am an editor, and I charge my clients $35 to $45 an hour. So buying the mashed potatoes was probably a better deal for you than hiring an editor.
That said, how can you edit your own manuscript? How can you see your own mistakes? Fresh eyes help. Hope someone at your publisher is going to give your masterwork more than a glance!
Funny, J.D.
I thought you were going to write that since you’ve learned that money is a tool and because of your ‘new-found’ respect for money, you told yourself to take a (much-needed) 30 minute break, turn on the stove, and whip up your much-loved potatoes!
I totally get this moment you had JD — been there! What you did was a VERY smart and healthy decision. However, I HOPE that you didn’t sit there during dinner and obsess about your purchase (thinking about how you could have saved that money if you had only done it yourself…….). Honestly, those were the kinds of thoughts running through my head the first time I actually started letting myself use money as a tool like you describe. Ughhh — you have to just ignore the nagging thoughts! I STILL have uneasy thought about the $75 dinner my wife and I purchased over our honeymoon this last summer. WHY?! We had a great time — I enjoyed every minute of it… It’s very hard when you have been programmed for so long to delay gratification in order to pay down debt, then save for retirement etc. etc. It feels like you are cheating yourself after being so discipline and focused for so long. But as you say, money is a TOOL! I hope to learn more from you in the coming months on how to best use this tool instead of hording it haha 🙂
Olga (#3)
I didn’t go out of my way to buy the potatoes, otherwise it would have been a waste. I needed to stop in at the market to buy milk, bread, and a few other small things. There was no additional time/transportation overhead involved.
@Kent (#4)
That Ayn Rand quote was the one I’d decided to open my book with, but my editor pointed out that many folks have strong negative reactions to her, so we pulled it.
@Nate (#11)
No worries. I didn’t obsess over whether it was a smart move. I knew as soon as I made the decision that it was the right thing to do. The only thing I obsessed over later was the fact that I wrote this post instead of working on my chapters. 🙂
1 Word: Slacker
Just kidding. Good job! Though I’m with you – homemade spuds are a million times better.
– James
I’m happy to hear that you came through with mashed potatoes despite your workload. There are definitely times when it’s worth it to pay someone else to do things for you so that you can do something else for yourself during that same time period. It’s funny how sometimes the littlest thing (like some mashed potatoes) can bring about big insights. Money is a tool that can be used in so many beneficial ways.
I can fully relate to this. With 2 well-paying full-time jobs and 2 kids, my husband and I use more of our money as a tool to buy family time. I’m slowly becoming more relaxed about either buying pre-cooked food or going out for dinner a couple of times a week. It still hurts to splurge, but I enjoy spending that extra half-hour in the evening playing with my children. It is a priceless experience, and worth the extra $10-20/week (yes, $550 to $1100 per year) we spend.
Its almost a catch 22…the more money you make the more you need to “outsource” things you no longer can do and then you need to make more money to keep on paying for all those services…
J.D.
I completely understand your publisher wanting to pull the Ayn Rand quote but (as you might think in your own mind) I disagree with the reasoning in the decision.
Rand was a brilliant thinker, as was other “controversial” figures, such as Friederich Nietzsche.
Personally, I include diverse thought in my writing just as I would include diverse holdings in an investment portfolio.
I’ll quote Jesus Christ right next to Ayn Rand — not to make an ideological or religious point, but because they both had something valuable to share about life and meaning…
“In the case of any person whose judgment is really deserving of confidence, how has it become so? …. Because he has felt, that the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all the modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this…” ~ John Stuart Mill
Glad you bought yourself a little more time. Even if you only bought yourself time to write a good post, we appreciate it and you needed a small break anyway to keep yourself fresh.
This comment really made me smile, “VERY slippery slope…then you have a maid…”
I don’t think store bought mashed potatoes are really a gateway convenience into getting a maid. 🙂
P.S. I love my maid and believe she’s totally worth $45 biweekly. I would not suggest splurging unless you already have a tight reign on your spending habits, but I do suggest spending money on what makes you happy if you can afford it. We value having our bottom floor cleaned very well every two weeks. We also value saving 42% of our combined incomes ($78,000) in retirement accounts and various savings accounts while paying off our 15 year mortgage in 10 years or less. We live cheap but value our maid, lawn service, and cable. It’s all about prioritization.
I think #16 is right. It’s like “More money, more problems.” Maybe someone gets a higher-paying job, but it’s more demanding – more time is spent traveling to clients, or at the office, so there is less time for cooking and spending time with the family.
I think that with using money as a tool, one needs to learn that one can’t have their cake and eat it, too – if you want something, something else has to be given up.
Point taken, thanks. Then it’s all good:) I bought pre-made meatballs last night when I HAD to stop anyway for milk, otherwise I usually make those from scratch as well:) I am frugal, but not stubborn (well, not too much anyway), because I knew today I’ll need some time to rest for tomorrow’s 30M run and wouln’t want to spend it making meatballs for family dinner.
I think that’s the beauty of life is that we’re always learning, always changing, and always adapting. It’s funny how one day we can be appalled by $3.99 and another be pleasantly pleased!
I love how you can “know” something for years, and then something happens to really drive the point home and you suddenly get it more than ever before. ^_^
@Shannon – there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. If money is merely a tool, and we should be using it for things that bring up happiness, then for some people it stands to reason that paying someone else to clean their house is worth more to them (in time spent with the family instead of dust bunnies, in happiness, etc.) than the dollar value of hiring the cleaner.
It’s when we spend money on things that do not bring us closer to our goal of happiness, or more than we can afford, that it gets to be a slippery slope.
I am trying to get my adult kids to realize the above mentioned ideas. They were never raised to have instant grats by any means. Both say they are doing fine but I know their paycheck day symbolizes “go”!
and…my husband always makes his own mashed potatoes. They just tast so much better! He has it down to a science…peel and cut…place in the pan of water…rest while watching tv…cook and mash. Am I the only one in this family who saves, saves, saves? Thank God I’m here!
Heh… That’s two important lessons that I seem to live daily:
1. Editing generally takes longer than I think it will.
2. Time is often more valuable than money (which can be exchanged for goods and services, thus saving time).
Man, I’m always behind on writing.
I know several women in my field who have a personal assistant hired either part-time or full- to help take care of all the little things. It’s worth it! When your comparative advantage is something that makes money and is not putting the cordless phone back on the base, and you want to spend your free time with your family, then why not?
I hope you get to celebrate the end of editing with real mashed potatoes soon!
p.s. I wonder what the first quote in the book is now… Homer Simpson is always good… “Money is a tool that can be used to buy goods and services.” Sure, it may be in economics textbooks, but I always hear it in Homer’s voice in my mind.
p.p.s. Before we had a kid, we didn’t have time to cook. After we had a kid, we didn’t have time to go out to eat.
JD
A terrific example of “spending money with purpose” (my description of “conscious spending”) so that you can focus on your priorities and improve your quality of life. And guilt-free, too – another benefit of getting to the “third stage” of personal finance, where you have a bit more freedom to indulge in discretionary spending.
Good luck with the editing on your book.
BJ
Nice post, JD…you have such a gift for writing!
This is sort of what I’ve thought, myself: sometimes it’s worth paying a little extra to free yourself up to do something more productive: a task that’s worth more in the cash it returns or in the living time enjoyed.
On the other hand, because of my innate laziness I tend to take the philosophy to extremes. It’s very easy to slide into thinking that I should buy xxx convenience or pay for yyy service because it’s going to save time to do some more valuable activity, when the fact is I just don’t want to be bothered with xxx or yyy. To take full advantage of your insight, I need to keep reminding myself to think carefully about whether Money is the best Tool that to apply to the task at hand, or whether Elbow Grease would be a more appropriate tool. 😉
JD,
I’m glad you listened to your editor about pulling the Ayn Rand quote. I know many people (myself included if it weren’t your book) who would pick up your book, see a Rand quote opening it, and immediately put it back down and walk away.
On topic, I’ve always been a fan of considering the equivalent dollars per hour of something. If I’m working a lot of overtime, my need to rest is more valuable than whatever I spend to buy a pre-made dinner.
@Nicole (#24)
The first quote in the book is now:
“What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.” –George Mallory
I think I may actually like this better than the Rand quote. 🙂
@ Kaitlyn #27 & J.D:
Not to get too far off topic, but on the subject of editing, Ayn Rand, controversial thinkers, and how all of the above pertain to selling books, I would also likely refrain from opening a book with a figure with controversial philosophies, but only because an opening is a statement in itself. I would reserve the more challenging and controversial thoughts, if needed, for later chapters.
With that said, however, it sure is disappointing that a person comfortable and confident in their values and beliefs would turn away from a book after reading one sentence quoted from an individual that thinks differently.
Is it not the blunt stone that sharpens the blade? Do the greatest teachers inspire students to seek diverse thought or do they teach students to seek thoughts similar to their own? Can one strengthen convictions without testing them?
“There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.” ~ Michel de Montaigne
I like it! What a wonderful focus on the end goal. It isn’t about forcing money into structures like the Rand quote, but about growing happiness. This quote conjures visions of warmth and sunlight, not work and steel.
Though I have to admit, some days I live to eat. If people don’t, maybe they’re not doing it right. 😉
Try the oreida steam and mash potatoes. The are a great time saver and taste great!
@JD #28 – LOVE IT!!! 😀
I have to admit, this is the exact opposite of what I expected. Isn’t buying prepared mashed potatoes the very definition of instant gratification?
@kent 29,
I’m all for exposing yourself to things you disagree with. I’m an atheist who has read the Bible cover to cover. The difference is I know about Ayn Rand, and I strongly disagree with that philosophy. The opening quotation is something that sets the tone for the whole book. If the opening quotation of a self-help book comes from someone I disagree with, then I’m not going to feel like I will get the right help from that book.
It would be like opening a science textbook that begins with a quote from a young earth creationist. I’ll read it to get an idea of what the other side thinks, but I’m certainly not going to use it to enhance my understanding of biology.
My dad used to say “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?”
I use this as it applies to everything in my life, especially money and my marriage 🙂
Like any tool, it can be used for or against.
If you are in debt up to your eye-balls the cost is much greater than if you idle cash and no debt.
There are definitely times for shortcuts, but I think trading money for time can lead to thinking “I am an Important Person, so I need to have Unimportant People doing all the Unimportant Work in my life so I can do Important Things,” which is not really true for most of us and can lead to a lot of stress on a relationship if it turns out that one of the Unimportant People is one’s spouse.
JD,
Unfortunately in this case, money bought time but not quality. I totally hear you though – sometimes, you have to be a satisficer, not a perfectionist.
Although, if you had bought the mashed potatoes from Whole Foods Market, New Seasons Market, or similar place, you will likely get good quality. Maybe not as good as your recipe but close.
How about you post your recipce for mashed potatoes? Just the ingredient list.
Money is a tool as a means to do other things in life that you want to do. It should be looked at that way, and you should enjoy your life accordingly.
I like how you outlined the important things that money can do for people, but ultimately it’s happiness that’s important. I’m really curious about your chapter on housing. I can’t wait to hear that your book is ready to be purchased. It sounds like you’re laying it out so that people like me, who are short on time, can skip around to the chapters that are most pertinent to my situation.
This is some great stuff here. 😀 I love it! I always try to remember…. “I don’t need to be rich, I just want to be happy.”
Here is a tip on mashed potatoes. Cut potatoes in half and toss in a crock pot with vegetable or chicken broth. Let cook for 4-6 hours and whip up with a mixer. Total hands on time is less than 10 minutes.
Great post – it is what I have come to love about your blog.
I had the same struggle this month increasing our “going out to eat” budget to make life a little easier for the chef (that would be me!) I consider myself blessed to have the ability to increase this part of the budget without any major impact.
Due to a recent incident involving a potato peeler, the emergency room, and a ride in an ambulance, my wife has banned me from all future potato-preparation duties.
Also, I find it a bit ridiculous that some think buying dinner on your way home because you had to work late is controversial. “I worked late so I brought home take-out”, is not a moral or philosophical dilemma, especially at a cost of four dollars.
Have you ever been in a post-office line with someone who is totally antsy and huffy and sighing and bitching because they have to wait? And do you ever think, if your time is worth that much, why don’t you have someone to go to the post office for you?
No one is too important to take care of their own business. If the business of the moment is editing, and there is a way (such as by picking up some prefab mashed potatoes) to meet another obligation (such as providing said potatoes for dinner) other than by personally spending time we don’t feel we can spare from our business, then we’re making a choice to use our time and money in the way most profitable to us at that moment.
That said, and with the fullest appreciation for the addictive nature of editing, I would have gone home early and fixed the potatoes while talking to my much-loved spouse. 🙂 The work will still be there tomorrow.
@Tyler
As interesting as what you have to say is…I really want to know how you injured yourself severely enough with a potato peeler to send you to the e-room…
@JD
Your comment about $3.99 being worth it in this case for the convenience made me think of Thomas Sowell and his articles about ‘price gauging’. Namely in a given situation a service is *worth* more (why we’ll pay $3 for a bottle of water on vacation we would never dream of in our normal lives). And price is often the most efficient way to ration resources, or at least make sure there is more to go around.
They have this new product where you microwave a sealed bag of frozen potato chunks, then quickly mash and add your own secret ingredients. They aren’t quite as good as homemade. However, they mash easily, as they have been blasted by short, short waves and you skip all the peeling, cutting and boiling.
Now these things aren’t cheap. You might pay as much as $4 for a bag, and I don’t even think it’s a whole pound. But, if you had a sack of these in the freezer, you could have made a nearly homemade product in less time that it takes to get mashed from any store you have to walk into.
I feel pangs of regret that I’m paying so much for potatoes, but what I’m really buying is one less reason to make that expensive decision to go out for dinner. When you’re prep time is so low, you know you’ll actually save time over going to a restaurant, it makes it easier to do the right thing, and eat at home.
It’s all about trade-offs, and this one works for me.
Wow did I ever need to read this today. Thanks for writing it, that 30 minutes was invested in helping others… never a waste!
I am going through major changes for 2010 and have started this process myself. I know its just the beginning, but I also know this is the real deal.
I’m so close, but I was wondering how to ‘view’ money. Up to now its been my road to instant gratification and debt. Time to change.
“And I’ve reached a place in my life where I can spend buy mashed potatoes from the grocery store and not feel an ounce of guilt because I know I’m practicing conscious spending.”
You can “spend buy” mashed potatoes eh?
No wonder its taking you so long to edit this book 😉
Just teasing, good post on the things money should be used for.
Man, I’m glad you didn’t open with the Ayn Rand quote, even just coming across her name in the comments here made me grumpy. Heh. I’m not offended by her or her work, per se, there’s plenty of ideas out there that I disagree with and easily ignore… but the opinions of her arrogant, selfish devotees bug me to no end.
JD – I agree with all that you’ve written in regard to money as a tool when used properly. But my comment centers on the potatoes.
I wouldn’t have wasted the time and money going to the store. I would have cleaned off a couple of whole potatoes, popped them in the oven about 2 hours before dinner, then when my wife came home I’d say, “honey, I felt like baked potatoes for a change.”
I’ve done this on a number of occasions, because my wife loves mashed potatoes, but hates making them. For that reason, in our house, mashed potatoes are my job, and if I’m tied up, it’ll be baked every time.
Uh-oh. Next you’re going to hire a personal chef. And we both know the type of comments that will show up when you write THAT blog post. 😀
Congrats. 😉
-Erica
Good article, thanks.
I followed the concept last summer. Mowing the lawn was one of my least favorite chores. I use to always do it on the weekend when my kids took a nap. I ususally got about 2.5 hours of me time a day on the weekend and I had to spend 1.5 of that mowing the lawn. I did the math and figuared out my weekend was worth about $40/hr to me. Meaning the amount of work I did durign the week to earn X dollars made my free time worth roughly $40/hr. It was well worth it to me to hire a lawn service at $25 per week to give me that 1.5 hrs back on the weekends. Here is an example of using Money as a tool to buy me free time to do as I please.
I am totally in the “money is a tool” camp as well, and have been for years.
When my daughter was three I went back to work – having been in school since before I was pregnant until just before her third birthday. And suddenly I wasn’t a ‘stay at home/student parent’ but a working parent. AND the job came with travel and overtime.
I hired cleaners for the house. It was just a no brainer to me. I was making almost twice as much an hour as I was paying them, AND they did the job better and faster than I did. To me that made it a great deal!
I was told that it was “too expensive” and that I should just do it myself, but I’ve come to believe that said more about societies idea that a woman should be able to do everything a man does AND keep a perfect house. People were offended that I admitted out loud that I couldn’t! But in the last 12 years, I’ve never regretted the decision. Maid service is the tool that makes our life possible, and is worth every penny.
@ #34 kaitlyn: I completely agree. I would not open a book with Ayn Rand (if I were writing a mainstream personal finance book) because, as I stated here previously, an opening quote is quite a statement about the remainder of the book. I’m a Christian but I also like Ayn Rand. My primary point is that diversity is strength.
On a separate note, if J.D. wrote a book and quoted from someone that disgusts me on page one, I would still buy it because I like J.D’s writing and I would trust that he was using the quote for the sake of context. I don’t buy books for quotes and don’t judge them by their cover. The word is not the thing.
@ #50 Scott R: I agree with you as well and I assume you were not addressing me as an “arrogant” fan of Ayn Rand. My initial comment on Ayn Rand was not necessarily one of adoration for her philosophy (objectivism), but one of disgust for political correctness in the name of selling more books.
Once again, I’ll buy J.D.’s book regardless of any particular aspect. I trust that the whole will be valuable for my purposes, because I know J.D’s writing and general intentions, regardless of the names attached to the quotes in the book.
Cheers to all for the stimulating conversation…
Kent
This is where cost/benefit analysis comes in. 🙂
It’s easy to get stuck in our frugal habits, even when they don’t make sense for a particular circumstance. I’m in a particularly stressful point at work, and my daughter was supposed to take cupcakes to school for her birthday last week. I already had all the ingredients on hand, and I could have spent a few hours of my holiday baking and frosting cupcakes, but instead we spent $15 for store-bought cupcakes. My daughter was delighted, because there were 4 different kinds of cupcakes and frosting variations. I usually make a homemade treat instead of buying them, because I like to bake, but the kids didn’t care, so . . . Well worth the $15 extra cost.
Now, were I unemployed . . . I would have made the cupcakes with the available ingredients, and DD would have liked those, too. And my frugal habits would have kept $15 in the family coffers.
“In fact, I’ve been buried in editing ever since.”
Probably moving all those periods from outside the parenthesis to the inside. I warned you about that!
🙂
Oops, I meant quotation marks! Looks as if I may need to do some editing as well…
It takes me more than 30 minutes just to go to the store and back, and it’s less than a block from my apartment…
Wow, 60 comments on potatoes! I think the other thing that the money bought you was peace of mind. By making a decision to buy mashed potatoes, you could put it out of your mind without feeling guilty about letting Kris down, or struggling to find a good stopping point that still would let you fit in your potato commitment.
PLUS now you can better appreciate your own cooking, so it’s a win all around.
I’m rather fond of Ayn, although my feelings are much moderated from the adoration of my college years. For me, the quote would have sealed the deal and put you book right in my shopping cart. But I like your new choice better, and I do look forward to reading your book.
I’m with Tyler on the potatoes though. For me, it was my one-and-only potato salad, which ultimately involved a few calls to my MIL, potatoes flying across the room, and a bit of bloodshed! They weren’t Red Bliss when I started out! I think the time/money tradeoff is different for everyone though, and often differs for the same person at different times of one’s life, and the specifics of the tradeoff. For example, I would just as soon pay someone to do my gardening as pat my cat, kiss my husband, or read a great new novel for me. For others, gardening is a distasteful chore. And my husband loves to cook and is a great one – I think he would consider store-bought mashed potatoes an obscenity. The important thing is the mental exercise of assessing the trade-off, and deciding that the terms work for YOU.
If spending a certain amount of money can save you enough time that you can make back that money and then some, then its a no-brainer.
Its an advanced way of thinking about money/time management, but a good one
J.D.,
This is why I keep reading this blog; You are so real! Thank you for sharing this and so many more honest, down-to-earth postings.
J.D.,
You might be careful splurging $4.00 for mash potatoes if you’re making less than minimum wage writing your book. That’s like half an hours worth of work! So technically that was an even trade. Wait, you said you didn’t work on the book. I guess you lost $4.00 today. Oh the horror. What will the readers think???
JD I really appreciate what you just wrote:
“When I think of my retirement savings, I think that every dollar buys me a certain amount of future time with which I can do as I wish.”
I will print this quote and put it on my fridge
Meanwhile I disagree with this comment (#6):
“Just so you know this is a VERY slippery slope. One minute you’re buying mashed potatoes b/c you’re too busy to make them, and then you have a maid come clean your house b/c your’re too busy. You’ve got to be very careful about this..”
What is wrong with giving a local person a job, if only for a few hours?
Granted, many of us can do our cleaning ourselves, but there comes a point when hiring someone else to do the work does make sense. So why not hire a well-recommended person to do the work that we ourselves cannot do, or would rather not do.
@Kent (#29) wrote
“it sure is disappointing that a person comfortable and confident in their values and beliefs would turn away from a book after reading one sentence quoted from an individual that thinks differently.”
My guess is that the editor is looking to avoid causing people who are not necessarily comfortable and confident in their values and beliefs to put the book down after opening it based only on the title and cover art. Regular readers of GRS would probably continue to read past the opening quote because we would have picked up the book based on the name of the author and our familiarity with his writing.
J.D.: I presume that you are still generating income through this site, so the fact that you spent the 30 minutes saved by buying the potatoes on your blog entry rather than the intended editing does not nullify the utility of the $3.99.
To make unimpressive instant mashed-potatoes better:
get some fresh (or frozen) chives and drop a good load of little chunks in the mashed-potatoes (while they’re getting ready – actually just before they’re ready). Add a knife load of butter. boom.
Tyler (and Rosa): Peel away from the body.
I agree with what you are saying for the most part.
I have never looked at retirement savings as buying time for something later that I want to do. However, that is certainly a true statement.
I think the main point to remember is what is the value of your time. It is different by individual. Its like mowing the yard. Do I pay someone $50 to do it or should I mow the yard myself. Would I be making money during that time that exceeds the cost of mowing? If so, then I should probably pay a person. However, I like being outside and like the exercise, so I mow it.
JD – For the record, I love mashing potatoes. One of the best gifts I ever got was a good masher. It makes all the difference… nonetheless, be sure you mix the butter and potatoes before you add any sour cream/milk. We also add different kinds of cheeses or garlic. Try to buy that at the store!
Nicole – it was the interaction between fingers and peeler that was the problem – couldn’t figure a way to keep the fingers out of the process (and therefore out of the potato salad!)
I find it delightfully ironic to read of your progressing relationship with money. At this point in the soap opera, you find that you have taken your dislike/fear of spending money too far and that for all its negatives, it does have redeeming qualities and it can be viewed in a positive light. The climax reached, your relationship now transitions pleasantly into one of a long-married couple where an understanding of one another’s shortfalls has been reached and life goes on without the bickering over the small things.
Congratulations!
Here’s to moderation in all things!
Good luck with the book! 🙂
Kent @29/56, not everyone who disagrees with you is worth reading merely because they disagree with you. If you adore Ayn Rand, that’s fine, but it’s more than a little insulting to imply if someone does not, it’s because they don’t challenge themselves enough and just want an echo chamber.
J.D., your analysis about money and time is good, but add me to the “WTF?” chorus on the instant mashed potatoes. Not that there is anything wrong with the potatoes! But it can be a slippery slope, particularly when the analysis isn’t really true – as you found out when you used those “saved 30 minutes” to blog instead of do what you needed to do with them.
Or maybe it was worth the money not to mash the damn potatoes. 😀
Mythago — yes JD used those 30 minutes to blog. He also gets paid to blog for those 30 minutes. So what are you missing? I don’t understand the logic behind the minority of “WTF” camp (your words -not mine lol)… Do you not get the point that JD used money as a tool in order to buy time — even if he had done nothing (which in this case he blogged for a MUCH greater monetary gain than $3.99).
Cheers!
Loved the post, but HATE instant mashed potatoes. 🙂
I understand your point about using money as a tool, but for heaven’s sake. It takes less than 5 minutes to peel some spuds. It takes 20 minutes to boil them, during which time you can be editing. Or, you could take a break and do some stretching or something else which is important for your wellbeing. Then it takes less than 5 minutes to mash them.
So you spent, what, $3.99 to save yourself 10 minutes. Except you had to go to the store to buy them, because you probably had spuds at home but you didn’t have this bucket, and that probably took up your 10 minutes you “saved”.
Money is a tool, yes, but this is not a good example!
Hi J.D.
Interesting post. Following the website in the last years, I have seen your move from money as a crutch (debt) to phase 3, where the use of “superfluous” money becomes a question. This post links money to time, which becomes a new step in my opinion.
The concepts you apply to money also apply to time, when you look at the larger picture. Some people spend 5 hours per day vegetating behind a television (phase one, being in debt), some people realize they want more and take control of their life (phase 2) and some have control and now face the question of what is worthy of their time. Here you see the overlap of time and money, denoted by your mashed potatoe example. However, there are some things that are fundamentally different. For one: you can´t save time, only spend it one second per second. How you spend it is the big question. Money is something that can be saved and even used to create more money, via investing, but money can be used to transform essential time spending into non-essential time spending. If you had to make the potatoes, the 30 minutes was essential, but your additional money allowed you to shift the time burden to just buying. You haven´t actually saved a single second, still only 24 hours per day, but you have increased your effectiveness, measured in spending towards your true goals.
I think this is one of the main drivers for many people on this site. Getting out of debt and getting control over spending and savings is nice, but being able to to spend your life more useful goes way beyond that, and solid monetary habits help in that perspective.
Out of personal curiosity, do you think of a 401k as a lump of money to pay for your needs in the future, or as a bag of free time, allowing you to spend all your future hours as you like with no worries?
JD,
great post! I think that the most difficult part of using money as a tool is determining when you’re using as a tool, and when you’re being wasteful. Although in this particular case, the trade-off between time vs money was not a large sum of money. When the stakes are a lot higher, e.g. doing some kind of home renovation by yourself. It definitely gives you a lot to think about…
Okay… okay… Wait one minute… Are you telling me, that you sit and watch your potatoes boil? I have no problem with you buying pre-mashed potatoes. But could you not have written your post while the potatoes were boiling?
I completely agree with your concept. Just not your example.
The way I decide whether to tackle a job is:
Price + time + fun/not = “cost of job.”
I compare “Cost of Job” with “How much I make after tax.”
That is something I have been trying to teach my two children for some time now – money is a tool. How you use it. How you think about it. The value you give it. Like a hammer or a screw driver – a tool is only as good as the person who is using it.
The better the knowledge, the better the ‘know how’, the more that tool can be uses. With a paint brush you can paint a house, but in the hands of Micheal Angelo – it was used to make works of art.