How Not To Save Money

This is my advice and ideas informing on how one should probably not justify 'saving' money.

1. Counting the 'savings'

This is mainly about one-time purchases (ie. One T-Shirt or table lamp). I used to do this to when buying or convincing my parents to buy something for me. "This toy is 50% off! That is $30 in savings." Now that I am older and now have my own money to spend I realized the 'savings' is just a number. When I justify buying a product by saying "The original price was $70 but I got it for $35! That is 50% off!" What does that mean anyway? I just paid $35. The original $70 price tag is just an arbitrary number now whether it was actually $70 before or not. I am not demonizing paying more when the same item next week is less. I think many of us will naturally be frustrated when it is $35 the next week. But unless I plan to buy the same product again, the $35 dollars you could have 'saved' is still in your bank account and nothing special happened to it. Most times I just buy items one time so it does not make sense to justify saving 'x' dollars when you only buy the product once. It is not like there is magically extra money in the bank. The savings hold no tangible weight on a bank account.

2. Upsizing

Why should I force myself to give 50 cents more to get a better 'bang for my buck' when I do not consider the waste or other opportunity costs that arise from the upsize. Buying a larger fries may cost less per unit; however, if I throw out 1/6 of the fries because I am full, then I wasted money on buying extra product that I did not finish. If I feel sick or disgusting after finishing the large bubble tea then it was not worth the extra dollar. I will feel better on spending a little more per unit on smaller fries that can be finished then spending a little bit more overall that will end up being wasted. I think one should also consider that the little upcharge comes with sales tax and even though it may seem like one small charge, it will quickly add up and it will be surprising when there is a little less in your bank account than anticipated.

3. Buying more for something 'free'

If I have to buy something to get something for 'free,' it is not 'free' it is 'complementary,' This is what I have seen with some family members pressuring me to buy more or to think of something else now that I want to get 'free shipping.' Even if I am $5 or less away from qualifying, there is no point in buying stuff that I am forcing myself to want. Think whether buying one or two random items just to qualify for the company to cover the shipping costs is really worth it or is it just sitting in your home taking up space. If this is an online purchase, I could leave it in my virtual shopping cart and wait until there is a time where there is actually another item I want to buy another item that will bring the cost high enough to qualify for the company to pay shipping costs.

Overall advice, focus on the upfront cost and how you would view this purchase in the short term. What is going to leave your bank account and how satisfied will you be? Does 'saving' $50 really matter when you spent $30 on that T-Shirt. How about 'saving' $350 when you spent $300 on a blender? Will you be satisfied that $330 left the bank account?