You Can Choose To Spend Less For Nearly Anything

You Can Choose To Spend Less For Nearly Anything

Many of us think that prices are inflexible. Walk into a retail store and the price on the shelf is how much it costs. However, there is very little in life that you can’t choose to spend less money on if you really try.

Photo by Richard Masoner

As financial independence blog The Escape Artist points out, you can always find a more expensive way to buy something. If you really wanted to pay obscene amounts of money for Coke, you’d only ever buy your supply from a theme park. If you want to spend a cheap car price on a watch, you’d buy the Apple Watch Edition. You can always find more expensive options.

It stands to reason that the same is true in reverse. If you want to find a cheaper version of something — whether it’s an off brand, a different store, or just hunting for a bargain price — you probably can. It’s up to you:

A holiday can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose to make it. If I wanted to waste €10 for a beer, I would look for a hotel bar. If I want to pay €4 for the same beer, I’ll go to a local bar. If I want to pay €1, I’ll get it from the shop. The same goes for accommodation which I prefer quirky, authentic and low cost rather than corporate and soulless.

Most of the time that we buy something expensive, it’s not because there aren’t cheaper options available. I tend to buy what I find to be quality gadgets because they’re worth the cost to me. But there are always cheaper phones out there. As we’ve talked about before, even if you’re broke, it may be worth spending the extra money on something if you need it or it makes your life significantly better. Recognising those purchases can help you prioritise which things are worth cutting back on.

We All Need a Mountain to Climb [The Escape Artist via Rockstar Finance]


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