Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to know what you're paying for. Don't get
Speaker 1: hung up on the cost of something if the purchase
Speaker 1: enables something you value. Just because it might be possible
Speaker 1: to save money somehow or do things cheaper doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that it's always the best choice. Longtime listeners know that
Speaker 1: I tend to be frugal. My wardrobe includes a lot
Speaker 1: of Amazon essentials, I color my own hair, I am
Speaker 1: driving a thirteen year old car. I do not relish
Speaker 1: the idea of spending money just to do so, but
Speaker 1: I have also learned not to be so opposed to
Speaker 1: spending money in circumstances where that is going to make
Speaker 1: life a lot easier or enable something that I do value.
Speaker 1: The key is thinking less about what I am actually
Speaker 1: buying and more about what it is that I am
Speaker 1: truly paying for. For instance, my family recently went to
Speaker 1: Disney World together, which was definitely not a low cost experience.
Speaker 1: Having shelled out all that cash, there was then the
Speaker 1: question of whether to pay for the Genie Plus service.
Speaker 1: That's the fast pass type service that lets you spend
Speaker 1: less time in line for certain rides. Now, this was
Speaker 1: obviously an optional expense. Not paying for it would save money,
Speaker 1: But keeping five kids happy all day in crowded, sometimes
Speaker 1: overwhelming parks is hard enough. If it was going to
Speaker 1: be possible to skip a seventy five minute line with
Speaker 1: my two littlest children in particular, that was going to
Speaker 1: be a big win. I was not just paying one
Speaker 1: of Disney's ridiculous fees. I was paying for peace and
Speaker 1: the chance that a family vacation might be more enjoyable
Speaker 1: than aggravating, and that is worth a lot. Remembering what
Speaker 1: you are paying for can make lots of choices about
Speaker 1: spending easier. Maybe you are craving a quiet Friday night
Speaker 1: at home with a magazine, But the thought of paying
Speaker 1: ten dollars for a single issue of a magazine from
Speaker 1: the newsstand just rankles when you know you could pay
Speaker 1: not much more than that for a year's subscription. But
Speaker 1: if you are standing there at the news stand before
Speaker 1: you hop on the train home, just let that thought go.
Speaker 1: You are paying ten dollars dollars for Friday night entertainment,
Speaker 1: and that is totally reasonable. It's a lot less than
Speaker 1: you'd pay if you went to a movie or a show,
Speaker 1: So just pay the ten dollars for the magazine and
Speaker 1: enjoy your relaxing evening. Or if you're job seeking, you
Speaker 1: might think it is wasteful to pay for your own
Speaker 1: Zoom account. Basically, anyone you would be doing informational interviews
Speaker 1: with would have a work account. They could use that
Speaker 1: for the call. But consider this, you are asking people
Speaker 1: to offer their time and you want to make it
Speaker 1: as easy as possible for them to do so. Therefore,
Speaker 1: you should be the one providing the link. You are
Speaker 1: not wasting money on a service that you could theoretically
Speaker 1: get for free. You are paying to be a gracious
Speaker 1: host for informational interviews. That's a little more worth the money.
Speaker 1: In deciding how to spend your money, get clear on
Speaker 1: what you are actually paying for. Sometimes that is not
Speaker 1: actually the same thing as what shows up on your
Speaker 1: credit card statement or your Venmo account. I am sure
Speaker 1: you have heard the phrase that a housekeeper is cheaper
Speaker 1: than a divorce, and that is the thought process we
Speaker 1: are getting at here. Yes, you could certainly clean your
Speaker 1: house for less, but if that's at the cost of
Speaker 1: resentment and constant household battles. Well, better to view it
Speaker 1: as money spent on harmony, which is pretty close to priceless.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.