My New Favorite Thing to Buy Is… | brokeGIRLrich
Convenience.
I bet you all thought I was going to say candles.
Still like to buy those, but really, I’m starting to understand how the happiness money amount is an income in the mid $70k range.
I am still careful with my money and aim to save and invest a lot, but since between my salary and this website, that’s the range I hit now, I am able to buy a lot of little conveniences that make life much easier.
Case in point: on the way to Lincoln Center, my RV broke down. It had to go to the shop overnight to get repaired. When it arrived here, everything in my fridge was ruined.
This is extra irritating because hauling groceries around NYC is one of the things I hate most in life. I had actually stocked up before leaving New Jersey since it was the last time I’d be able to throw groceries in my car and back my car up to my door for three months.
However, thanks to my mid 70k income bracket, I was at least able to minimize the headache and just go to the nearest grocery store. Which is not cheap. However, it was fast and easy. So overall, I got more of what I value most – time.
Another convenience I’ve enjoyed was having enough money to not sweat winterizing my trailer. It was COLD in Lincoln Center last year. I kept having issues with my propane and my heater kept blowing the fuses in my trailer. So I bought about $200 of winter-proofing items this year and didn’t bat an eye. I have an adaptor and heavy gage extension cord to run a heater right into my home without even using the power in my RV. It’s going to be a toasty winter.
I don’t often feel tempted by a ton of new clothes or an expensive membership to anything, but I do love the idea of gaining back a few hours of my life by sending out for laundry or just ordering takeout when I’m beat after work.
I wish I could go back to 5 years ago Mel and give her a pep talk. All the no spend weeks and the careful budgeting and the living with roommates and the hustling like crazy to max out my IRA and buy some stocks – they all add up eventually.
And so when life goes crazy (like during tech weeks – sorry about the lame run of posts lately), a little extra money goes a long way to helping me stay sane and still get some of the other life stuff I need to do done.
What conveniences do you think are worth it?
And check out this video I made of life behind the scenes at BAC – and all the people who work their butts off to build a circus:
As someone with health problems, I’m all about paying for convenience if necessary. I try to get the best prices, but sometimes I’m just not able to run around from store to store to get the best deal. And I don’t cook much, relying instead of frozen meals (bought as often as possible on sale), protein bars (ditto) and that sort of thing. Like you, I’m still careful with my money, but it’s nice to have the funds to pay for convenience sometimes.
Abigail @ipickuppennies recently posted…Credit cards are not the enemy
The best convenience I ever had was when I flew business class Emirates (work was paying) and they sent a driver to pick me up from anywhere within a 70 mile radius of the airport.