Guac and queso if you make over $450k

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I am very mindful about spending, but as I am older and busy, time is also a currency. So I am not driving around to save 10 cents a gallon on gas, and if I don’t have time to pack my lunch, I will buy it. That doesn’t really help with the guacamole example though.
This thread has actually been insightful though.

It’s driving 1-2 miles. Would you do that for me .70/gallon ($7 savings for 10 gallons)?
Anonymous
I think mindfulness spenders are generally aware of the cost of things so they can evaluate the expense. Otherwise, they look it up (which hotel is cheaper where I will be staying)?

My husband would have zero idea what things cost, he just buys them at a grocery store. I am the opposite.
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.
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Anonymous wrote:But, I'm pp, and I disagree that buying Taylor Swift tickets for your kids will teach them about value, which is the very point of this thread. So, why bother getting angry about occasional guac when you're going to shell out $1500 pp for concert tickets.


Yeah, it does, but you don’t get it. All I can do is suggest you go back and reread prior responses. You’re probably the same person who believes kids don’t need this lesson bc they will learn it anyway by seeing prices on a menu.


Im not the person you are talking to, but I’m the person who has kids who can read the extra charges on the menu.

I realized later in the thread that a lot of people are ordering chipotle to their homes, and the kids might not actually have access to see the prices.

Honestly, if I went to order Chipotle to the house, my kids would tell me they will make themselves a PB&J and ask for the cash I would have spent on them.


Have you ever had discussions with your kids about what things cost, what is a want/need or whether an expense is worth it, etc?


Never! If they say, “mom, Taylor swift tickets are $1500, isn’t that crazy?” I always respond, “hush child, we do not speak of such things in this house. Take your discussion of what things cost elsewhere!”


It sounds like a weird question but I think it originated because someone claims kids don't need to know about the cost of stuff or have discussions with parents about wants/needs because they can read a menu and see for themselves what things cost. They will figure it out on their own.


That was me!
And I still think it’s a weird question. My kids DO need to know the cost of things, but they don’t need me to tell them what things cost when they can read it.


Yeah, I don’t agree. If a 12 year old can see that a smoothie is $10 on the menu, but mom always pays, always says yes, and doesn’t discuss it with kid, it could be $2 or $20 for the smoothie. Cost is irrelevant to the kid. Discussing or not discussing it, the dollar cost is still evident but the lesson is not.


Honestly, I think my kids are just a lot more anxious than yours.
This really isn’t a “lesson” that I need to teach them. They would never ask for a $20 smoothie, and if I was in some kind of situation where I wanted to spend $100 on smoothies for the family, I would have a lot of trouble convincing them to get it.

I mean, how do you tell an anxious kid “no” to $3 guacamole because it’s too expensive and then convince them that it’s fine to buy lunch at school if they forgot to pack one? Or that you can absolutely afford to send them to summer camp and they don’t need to worry about it?

We make enough money, and I want my kids to know that they don’t have to be anxious about it or worry that we won’t have enough.



What have you projected on to them?
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.


I could have had them at a restaurant, wedding, friend’s house, etc.
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Anonymous wrote:But, I'm pp, and I disagree that buying Taylor Swift tickets for your kids will teach them about value, which is the very point of this thread. So, why bother getting angry about occasional guac when you're going to shell out $1500 pp for concert tickets.


Yeah, it does, but you don’t get it. All I can do is suggest you go back and reread prior responses. You’re probably the same person who believes kids don’t need this lesson bc they will learn it anyway by seeing prices on a menu.


Im not the person you are talking to, but I’m the person who has kids who can read the extra charges on the menu.

I realized later in the thread that a lot of people are ordering chipotle to their homes, and the kids might not actually have access to see the prices.

Honestly, if I went to order Chipotle to the house, my kids would tell me they will make themselves a PB&J and ask for the cash I would have spent on them.


Have you ever had discussions with your kids about what things cost, what is a want/need or whether an expense is worth it, etc?


Never! If they say, “mom, Taylor swift tickets are $1500, isn’t that crazy?” I always respond, “hush child, we do not speak of such things in this house. Take your discussion of what things cost elsewhere!”


It sounds like a weird question but I think it originated because someone claims kids don't need to know about the cost of stuff or have discussions with parents about wants/needs because they can read a menu and see for themselves what things cost. They will figure it out on their own.


That was me!
And I still think it’s a weird question. My kids DO need to know the cost of things, but they don’t need me to tell them what things cost when they can read it.


Yeah, I don’t agree. If a 12 year old can see that a smoothie is $10 on the menu, but mom always pays, always says yes, and doesn’t discuss it with kid, it could be $2 or $20 for the smoothie. Cost is irrelevant to the kid. Discussing or not discussing it, the dollar cost is still evident but the lesson is not.


Honestly, I think my kids are just a lot more anxious than yours.
This really isn’t a “lesson” that I need to teach them. They would never ask for a $20 smoothie, and if I was in some kind of situation where I wanted to spend $100 on smoothies for the family, I would have a lot of trouble convincing them to get it.

I mean, how do you tell an anxious kid “no” to $3 guacamole because it’s too expensive and then convince them that it’s fine to buy lunch at school if they forgot to pack one? Or that you can absolutely afford to send them to summer camp and they don’t need to worry about it?

We make enough money, and I want my kids to know that they don’t have to be anxious about it or worry that we won’t have enough.



What have you projected on to them?


I’m sure that I have given them all sorts of sh!t to deal with, but I’m not going to consciously add another one. They don’t have to stress about the cost of queso.
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.


Look. That’s fine, but if you are making $450k +, that’s a personal preference. That’s not adding up to anything meaningful.

We want to pay for our kids private schools, so we bought a smaller house that we didn’t do a huge renovation on, we paid cash for used cars, and we take average, not first class, vacations. That’s how we afford to pay for our kids school. We could also send them to public school and have the bigger house and fancier vacations. It’s a trade off.

But nowhere in this trade-off is the price of gas or whether or not we purchase the occasional Starbucks or pricey mango. Because those things don’t make a difference.



That's an interesting point about private schools. We had our kids go to DC public schools, but allowed them to apply to private colleges. One went public and the other is currently at a private school.

The private college is over $8k per month and it boggles my mind that we are spending that much. The only way to unboggle is to consider that we avoided private schools for early education (and fancy vacations and new cars and home renovations) just so we'd have the $ to put into 529 for private college.

RE guac and queso-- if we made that much $ then I would hope that I would be so generous to not fuss over that. We don't even make half that.

However, I recognize that I personally carry a "near poverty" mindset from childhood and it is tough to let go of that. Maybe OP also has that background. If so, no matter how rich you become, it can be tough to shed that mindset.

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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.


I could have had them at a restaurant, wedding, friend’s house, etc.
Ok. Let's say $$$ is $5k.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:But, I'm pp, and I disagree that buying Taylor Swift tickets for your kids will teach them about value, which is the very point of this thread. So, why bother getting angry about occasional guac when you're going to shell out $1500 pp for concert tickets.


Yeah, it does, but you don’t get it. All I can do is suggest you go back and reread prior responses. You’re probably the same person who believes kids don’t need this lesson bc they will learn it anyway by seeing prices on a menu.


Im not the person you are talking to, but I’m the person who has kids who can read the extra charges on the menu.

I realized later in the thread that a lot of people are ordering chipotle to their homes, and the kids might not actually have access to see the prices.

Honestly, if I went to order Chipotle to the house, my kids would tell me they will make themselves a PB&J and ask for the cash I would have spent on them.


Have you ever had discussions with your kids about what things cost, what is a want/need or whether an expense is worth it, etc?


Never! If they say, “mom, Taylor swift tickets are $1500, isn’t that crazy?” I always respond, “hush child, we do not speak of such things in this house. Take your discussion of what things cost elsewhere!”


It sounds like a weird question but I think it originated because someone claims kids don't need to know about the cost of stuff or have discussions with parents about wants/needs because they can read a menu and see for themselves what things cost. They will figure it out on their own.


That was me!
And I still think it’s a weird question. My kids DO need to know the cost of things, but they don’t need me to tell them what things cost when they can read it.


Yeah, I don’t agree. If a 12 year old can see that a smoothie is $10 on the menu, but mom always pays, always says yes, and doesn’t discuss it with kid, it could be $2 or $20 for the smoothie. Cost is irrelevant to the kid. Discussing or not discussing it, the dollar cost is still evident but the lesson is not.


Honestly, I think my kids are just a lot more anxious than yours. This really isn’t a “lesson” that I need to teach them. They would never ask for a $20 smoothie, and if I was in some kind of situation where I wanted to spend $100 on smoothies for the family, I would have a lot of trouble convincing them to get it.

I mean, how do you tell an anxious kid “no” to $3 guacamole because it’s too expensive and then convince them that it’s fine to buy lunch at school if they forgot to pack one? Or that you can absolutely afford to send them to summer camp and they don’t need to worry about it?

We make enough money, and I want my kids to know that they don’t have to be anxious about it or worry that we won’t have enough.

This really isn't that difficult to explain. The kid needs lunch. They don't need extra guac.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.


I could have had them at a restaurant, wedding, friend’s house, etc.
Ok. Let's say $$$ is $5k.


I don’t understand what you are trying to say.
Anonymous
Seems like some of this boils down to scarcity mindset type thinking. People are talking about whether you can afford guac and at what income the savings of not paying for guac are meaningful.

At my HHI, the savings for guac alone are not meaningful. Frankly, we've chosen fixed costs that would make it really hard for us to go into debt unless our income changed substantially. But I think there is still value in thinking about whether something is "worth it". That could be because of value-for-dollar. It could be because of value-for-time. It could even be because of value-for-enjoyment. We have the luxury of choosing sometimes to evaluate value on the the second two criteria.

By the time I was in HS, my parents were well-off enough that most of the things I could want were affordable. But I was raised not to think about spending in terms of whether I can afford it, and that's how I live today. I don't spend money on things just because I can. I would say that I'm raising my kids this way, but in reality they are just observing that this is how we live.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Seems like some of this boils down to scarcity mindset type thinking. People are talking about whether you can afford guac and at what income the savings of not paying for guac are meaningful.

At my HHI, the savings for guac alone are not meaningful. Frankly, we've chosen fixed costs that would make it really hard for us to go into debt unless our income changed substantially. But I think there is still value in thinking about whether something is "worth it". That could be because of value-for-dollar. It could be because of value-for-time. It could even be because of value-for-enjoyment. We have the luxury of choosing sometimes to evaluate value on the the second two criteria.

By the time I was in HS, my parents were well-off enough that most of the things I could want were affordable. But I was raised not to think about spending in terms of whether I can afford it, and that's how I live today. I don't spend money on things just because I can. I would say that I'm raising my kids this way, but in reality they are just observing that this is how we live.


Same. I “can” afford almost anything but I evaluate much of what I spend. Somethings- I don’t look at savings money at all, but that’s infrequent.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.


I could have had them at a restaurant, wedding, friend’s house, etc.
Ok. Let's say $$$ is $5k.


I don’t understand what you are trying to say.
I'm trying to say that we want is based on our life experiences and those are based in part, on money. So you want mangoes because you've had them and liked them and you've had them because you could afford them. If you could never afford them, you wouldn't know you liked them so you may not want them. Maybe you'd want an apple instead.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.


I could have had them at a restaurant, wedding, friend’s house, etc.
Ok. Let's say $$$ is $5k.


I don’t understand what you are trying to say.
I'm trying to say that we want is based on our life experiences and those are based in part, on money. So you want mangoes because you've had them and liked them and you've had them because you could afford them. If you could never afford them, you wouldn't know you liked them so you may not want them. Maybe you'd want an apple instead.

DP. I don't think it's always tied into price. There are a lot of immigrants in the US from countries where mangoes are cheap and plentiful. They may be willing to pay a lot more than any American, and it's not because they are rich. It's because their enjoyment is much more than just the taste...it might also provide a sense of home. My parents paid absurd amounts for mangoes that, honestly, weren't even that good when we were kids (mangoes are more easily available in US now), just because it meant so much to them to have a mango.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:What if you are someone who gets what you want but truly wants very little. A non-mindful spender who spends way less than most mindful ones?


If you get what you want without consideration of price, you’re not a mindful spender. You don’t give it another thought regarding value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc.

But isn't what we want often based on price to begin with?


Not if you’re not mindful. You want it, you get it, obviously within reason. You’re not getting a Birken just bc you want it. But if you’re not mindful, then if you want it, you don’t have any consideration for the price most of the time. You want it, you get it.

Mindful considers the questions above: value, price, alternatives, frequency (we already got takeout 2x last week), amount you could save by not getting it, do you really want the item, etc. Mindful still means you’ll get the item but have almost instantaneously run through whether it was worth it: Diet Coke, coffee, this gas station, fruit, whatever.


But we want things based on our experience and that ties into price. I want a Starbucks latte because I've had them and liked them. So I buy one without a second thought. I've never had a super expensive, super fancy latte. Don't even know where I'd get one. So I'm unlikely to want one to begin with.


Absolutely not…I like mangoes but don’t buy them if they are over certain price. I would almost never get a coffee out unless meeting a friend.

It sounds like you do want things (mangoes, coffee out) based on your experience. I'm not saying you want them frequently or at any price (the Starbucks example is of a non-mindful spender as proposed by the PP). I'm saying that if mangoes were $$$, you'd probably never have had one so you wouldn't know you liked them and wouldn't ever want one now.


I could have had them at a restaurant, wedding, friend’s house, etc.
Ok. Let's say $$$ is $5k.


I don’t understand what you are trying to say.
I'm trying to say that we want is based on our life experiences and those are based in part, on money. So you want mangoes because you've had them and liked them and you've had them because you could afford them. If you could never afford them, you wouldn't know you liked them so you may not want them. Maybe you'd want an apple instead.


And I said that’s not true. I could attend a wedding, xmas party, or work meeting where caviar is served. I could be on vacation where something is offered. I could have read about ostrich eggs or sushi and want to try it.

The point is that just bc I like it or want to try it, doesn’t mean the cost justifies the purchase/satisfying the desire. Likely, mindful spenders are more flexible (I’m okay w/no appetizer/guac/mango and am just as happy with tap water/the basic order/the matinee/whatever). Gratification is more flexibly delayed with no feeling of depravation.
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