Today I needed a portable hard drive in order to transfer some very large files and sure enough I never had the need to buy one before. As a result I had to go to a store and get one and it just felt like such a waste of money in many ways where I was buying the product mainly for a single purpose.

While I’m sure I can make use of it now, this is definitely something that I usually try to avoid as it can definitely become a habit where you are spending money everywhere and simply justifying that you needed it all the time. I usually try to see if I can borrow the item in question from others as even for myself I usually don’t mind lending others these types of items to help them save money.

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Today a person suggested that if you normally used public transportation and needed to be at a place a lot earlier like say 5am that you should use a taxi. While usually that would be the only option aside from having your own vehicle or sharing a ride with someone else, I never liked to use a taxi personally.

The fees just seem a little too high in comparison to other options such as say paying for a carpool if you don’t have your own vehicle. Granted there are situation where it might be the only viable option, if I could I would personally even opt to simply walk to my destination assuming it is good to do so.

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So I went to visit a family member who was in the hospital with a couple of other people and since we drove we needed to find a parking spot. While looking for parking, there were a lot of sidewalks with parking meters and the price for the ones there happened to be 5 minutes for every 25 cents.

That was pretty darn expensive I thought as it was more than most parking meters even in the downtown core. Thinking how this was a hospital too a lot of people are probably in a vulnerable state of mind as they simply want to just find anything.

Sure enough though, if you just went a few blocks down there was actually free parking and prices that were more reasonable. I guess like always you pay for convenience and that just trying to look a little bit further to avoid those emotional purchases can go a long way.

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There seems to be a lot more companies that specialize in offering people the option of going into the store and purchasing fresh meat or grocery items that have been all prepared for you to simply take home and cook yourself. Essentially, this is suppose to cater to busy people who at the same time do not want to dine out to prepare healthier meals themselves.

I was looking at the prices too and in many ways the price of the food was almost in line to going to a restaurant except in this case you would be cooking it yourself. Kind of reminds me of buying say pre-packages items or meal courses from the supermarket where you pay a premium price as a result of someone doing the preparation for you. Not only that, but considering you usually have to pay taxes too it makes it even more expensive.

I guess in that sense in is kind of counterproductive as if you are one of those people who thinks that time is money in many ways you are probably ending up at the same result. Although, I would be inclined to say that just taking the time and doing it yourself will save more money in the long run.

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I was told of an interesting scenario today where a person originally invested in a condo a few years back and just recently decided to sell it. Turns out, he was able to get almost one million dollars for it. As a result, he then decided to use that money to buy a house worth over one million dollars as it was almost like free money.

The person telling me the story thought that was kind of crazy as she believed if you were that fortunate to sell it for that price you should just find something decent for say $600,000 and then use the rest of the money for other purposes.

I guess a lot of people do this for smaller items as well. For example, let’s say you bought a piece of electronic equipment and for some reason it broke. The company then gave you back the original cost of the item and then some to compensate you for your time. Most people would be inclined to then use all that money to then buy something superior to what they had before as oppose to wanting to save the extra money and get something of an equal value like before.

While in many ways it is simply a preference, I think it is kind of a bad habit that you have to teach yourself not to do. I know for myself I usually perceive free money or ones gained from investments as funds designated to help you earn more money as this is essentially your pool of funds to help further flex your financial stability. Therefore, to me it is almost invisible in regards to spending it as a regular fund.

Like in the case of the condo scenario what I would have done would be say if I originally invested $600,000 then for the house my consideration to buy it would be that $600,000 plus factoring my existing stream of income and savings. The other $400,000 I would try to think of what else I could do with it such as maybe trying to find another good deal on a condo to hopefully repeat the cycle. I personally think it is better then just spending it all.

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