Black Friday Thoughts - Costs per use (231/365a)

It’s black Friday, and that means, shopping, and saving money. Stuff you wanted to buy anyway is now 40%, 50%, 60% off of regular price, and you figure "better now than never".

It’s a fun game to play, what is the cheapest price for this item? Easy to compare two similar things:

Thing A cool functions. ugly colors. Fun. Price A

Thing B ergonomic. Awesome cool-factor. Fun. Price B.

Step 1. Decide what features you want

Step 2. Compare prices

Step 3. Buy the thing

Step 4. Bask in the glory of a good deal.

 …. Except my theory is that itemized comparisons are not a good deal – instead, you can try to compare price per use, which I will explain in a few examples. 

Shirt vs. Suit

A really cute shirt at T.J.Maxx that was only 15 dollars (original price, $49.99!). It gets worn once, doesn’t really fit nicely, gets forgotten in the back of the closet, eventually given away to Good Will.

Vs.

A $500 suit, worn once a week, for a few months, and it is already cheaper per use than that shirt.

Maintenance also plays a role. Maybe your suit needs dry cleaning. That’s $15 dollars, if you wear it just ONE more time, it’s still cheaper per use than the stupid shirt.

If you NEVER wear the shirt, it is mathematically infinitely expensive per use, and I mean that kind of practically too – you have to think about it, move it around, take care of it, hang it up if it falls down, it takes up space, in your closet, and, of course, in your brain.

If, on the other hand, you give me the shirt (thank you!) and I wear it 10 times, you are effectively paying $1.50 for each time I am wearing it, which seems very nice of you. That is, if you take me out for coffee (thank you again!) you are paying $3 for my coffee and $1.50 for my shirt.

By the way, this does in no way include the labor, the transport, the social or the environmental costs, nor the time it took you to shop, chose, wash, dry or fold.

[I do not want to advocate for or against any one item, purchase, entertainment choices or deals. I am herewith not saying a $500 suit is a good idea at all! i'm just advocating a different perspective on costs.]

Book  vs. Film

$15 per watching in the kino… but you can go with many friends

$15 for the first reading, but free every time after that. ß this is another way to look at times per use.

Bigger Example:

You buy a bicycle to maybe get your commute cost down, and to give you some exercise. It’s an experiment, so you buy a cheaper model, the cheapest model that Walmart has, at only $199.99 … If you were to break a part, they really can’t be fixed, but first you try riding to work. A week or two you manage. Then it rains. You find the tires really don’t work if it’s icy. You sometimes have papers to keep dry. You put it in your basement. It doesn’t bother you, it was a cheap experiment, and besides, you justify to yourself, I’m already paying for my car, it’s not worth letting it just sit in my driveway. It cost you $20/day for the thing. Hm…  

Even Bigger:

Your future husband buys you a $3000 engagement ring to seal the deal. You swear to keep it on your finger forever, but you divorce after 7 years….the ring on your finger cost your husband $1.20 a day, every day, which is more than a billion people live on.

Use it use it use it! (And don't forget - some things deteriorate with repeated use, and some things deteriorate in storage - which means, you can't use it forever!)

It works with apartments, and cars, and with services. Some people’s hair costs $3 a day. Some people have shoes with infinite use costs, because they only store them and never wear them. There are sofas that you could calculate cost $1 a day, but because they are rarely used, they cost $10 a sitting.  Worth it? You decide.

reality :)

lots of people thinking hiking is "free" but first you have to get there. and if you buy $200 boots, and wear them twice a year for 10 years, it's about the same price as going to the movies... every time you go hiking. and going to the movies is one of those costs people often complain about as being "too much" for entertainment. According to Thoreau... 

"I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit? If you have any enterprise before you, try it in your old clothes. All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be. Perhaps we should never procure a new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like new men in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles. "

[how was my day today? i'm writing this where the most expensive things i'm wearing are my underwear at $0.09/use ;) ... fun and full of little things. mom time. coffee time. found a little pile of cut hair, presumably felix's. walked up and down a million steps a few times. forgot to do laundry. nice rehearsal gig in the big basilica south of town, which was so cold i thought my toes would fall off. warmed up with gluehwein at nina's with her family - who are such warm people!]