A Question From Mr. Clear
In doing some research for a potential project, I stumbled upon a Tweet yesterday afternoon. James Clear, the author of the best-selling phenomenon book, Atomic Habits, asked a profoundly meaty question:
This falls in line with my ongoing messaging about budgeting: "It's not about spending less, but rather spending better." We need to lean harder into the things that add value to our lives while simultaneously turning our backs on the things that don't. That's the recipe for finding more meaning in our money.
When I see families exhausted and frustrated by their finances, it almost always includes their unintentional spending on things that don't actually matter to them. Consequently, they don't have the resources to spend on things they actually care about. It's the ultimate emotional drain.
However, when we can be laser-focused on what actually matters to us, blocking out all the noise around us, it oftentimes feels like we got a raise. Further, life just feels better when our resources go toward valuable things. There's no worse feeling than spinning our tires by spending all our hard-earned income on stuff that doesn't move the needle in our lives.
I'll answer Mr. Clear's questions, but after I do, I challenge you to answer them for yourself.
What single expense in my life delivers the least amount of happiness per dollar spent?
This might be an unpopular opinion in my house, but some of our streaming services. If it were up to me, we'd justhave YouTubeTV and Netflix.....that's it. However, because x show is on y platform, we subscribe to y platform. And z show is on b platform, we subscribe to b platform. In my mind, this is one of the least effective categories in our budget.
If this is true, I should probably engage Sarah about this and see how important it is to her (and how important it is for me to push back on).
What single expense in my life delivers the most amount of happiness per dollar spent?
Dining out, and there's not a close second. I so cherish the time our family spends dining out, whether it's a quick meal with the kids or a date night with Sarah.
The other one I was debating was Travel, but on a dollar-for-dollar basis, dining out offers a far higher return.
If this is true, it would argue that we should consider increasing our dining out category each month. I think we skimp on this one far too often.
Your turn.
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