Week 11: Opportunity Cost

 

In economics, there is a principle called opportunity cost. It's the idea that if you spend your time doing one thing, you can't spend your time on something else. It sounds pretty obvious, but it's been an important principle to my life so far.

In terms of money, this has kind of been my attitude. I make purchases knowing that if I spend the money I'm spending, I'll have less money for other things. Therefore, prioritizing the things I really want over temporary stuff has been important.

However, I also believe in the idea that you need to have some little joys in life. There's nothing wrong with occasionally treating yourself to a thing of candy you really like, or something small just to make you happy or reward yourself for good work. 

It's also good to budget that sort of thing into your life. If you already know you want about $30 a month just to have fun with, you're less likely to keep all your spending muscles all pent up and then blow all your money on something dumb. 

I think I really need to start to see money in terms of opportunity. I want to make sure that I'm getting everything out of life that I can, and money is how you make that happen. I want to go so many places and see so many things and help so many people, but I can only do that if I have the money for it.