I was coming home from a short hike this past week when I swung by a large liquor store to find something new to try that evening. I settled upon two beers from a company I had tried before, but I was in the mood to treat myself and didn’t think too critically about the price. When the cashier rang me up for $60, she did a double-take, and internally, so did I. Those were kind of outrageously priced beers (bomber size, to be fair), but they were high quality from a niche brewery. I felt kind of embarrassed, even more so when one of them (a cherry stout) turned out not to be so tasty.
As I prepare for moving, though, I’ve been paying left and right for all the little things I need.
Then it hit me yesterday: what a strange thing. If you really watch your money carefully – too carefully – then you end up missing out on the good things you need. But if you watch your money too flippantly, you end up with $30 beers (when you’re not even a huge beer fan).
We could probably sit down and analyze this and reach some vague conclusion that luxuries are different from needs, and blahdy blah blah. [this blog is a bunch of blahdy blah blah]. And maybe we’re right. But I don’t think that’s how we naturally approach these things. When too stingy, we keep ourselves from good things as well as from the things we need, and giving. When not stingy enough, all of our money slips away, wasted on the excesses of “living in the moment”, although perhaps somewhat more generously, too.
“Surely” my software brain thinks, “there is a better approach!”
Maybe. Or…maybe not.
Some people spend thousands of dollars on vintage wines, and I’m not going to say there is anything wrong with that. Personally, I think $30 beers are outside the purview of “good spending” in my personal life, but you really just have to learn your lessons and move on. I once bought a $40 beer to share with some friends, who all enjoyed it, and I’d say that one was worth it. But moreover, I suspect that our spending trajectories (can) reflect our character. To say, “How I spend my money doesn’t matter” is perhaps on the darker side of things, but so too is the idea that “I am worthless if I don’t spend money perfectly”. I think this is something that I failed to address in many of my early posts, and I don’t wish to perpetuate that any more.
If this is true…does your spending improve with your character?
That’s really tough to answer, especially when you consider the story of the prophet who died in debt. It really depends on the circumstances. But I think how you value your money can say something about your character, much more than your actual wealth can. I know a number of people who, knowing hardship, give gladly to support their friends, even if it is everything they have to built their own future.
So then, what does it mean to be good with money?
This fucking question! It always comes back!