The Cost of the Thing
I read a quote this weekend that I keep turning around in my head:
“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” –Henry David Thoreau
So the cost of dollars and cents translates into… life. The things we’ve given up in order to make the money to buy the thing. The time we’ve given up, the things we couldn’t do because we were busy with work, the energy expended.
So, to that end, if you need a car, you can purchase a high-end car, but that high-end car translates into life: education hours, career path hours, time spent at a job. Or you can buy a lower-end car and that translates to life, too. Or it’s also about upkeep: the more you own, the more life you spend maintaining those things. The less you own, the less life you spend taking care of limited items.
I am a huge fan of libraries, though I am also a compulsive book buyer. And it’s interesting to see that push and pull through the lens of life spent when there are a multitude of options at every bend. You can buy the book or borrow it. You can buy the big house or the small house. The high-end car or the low-end car. And it all ties back to life.
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I don’t know if that’s how I’ve always thought of things, but I’ve always needed for something to be a good value to me in order to purchase it. Which is not to say that I haven’t paid more than I think something is worth in my life – I have. But I have a distinct memory of an ex-boyfriend bragging about how, on a particularly hot day after driving around in his car with no a/c, he walked into a dealership and said “Bring me a Coke and a car with a/c!” And all I could think was…way to announce that you’re going to pay whatever they ask without considering value. He was attempting to impress me with his commanding attitude, whereas I would have been more impressed with “I squeezed every penny out of those guys and paid hardly anything for this great car!”
I used to buy books all the time – because it was a small luxury that I though was worth it. I’d buy 5-6 books every couple months…but always paperbacks since they were cheaper. Then I had to move the books, and I stopped buying them and started going to the library. It helped that there was a library right next door to work – I could go on breaks and come back with an armload of books.
Speaking of that move – I was looking for big houses, as I had grand ideas of a family and entertaining. Now, I look at smaller houses with fewer bathrooms to clean. I wanted a fancy car (and I had a little Mitsubishi convertible for several years), but now I just want something that I don’t worry if someone door dings. Value changes based on my attitude and experience, I guess.
I don’t really think of things in terms of life vs cost, but I do have an internal meter for worth. It’s generated a lot of discussions with my newly brand-conscious teen about the value of a name vs. the usefulness and durability of an item.
This resonates so strongly with me. My husband wants a Tesla SUV. The kind with the six figure price tag. I am vehemently opposed. Not because we don’t have the money, but because spending it now on a car would delay our retirement by at least two years. Two years for a depreciating asset? No way! I will work two extra years to pay for the kids’ college expenses, but not so that we can park a status symbol in our garage full time. I can’t get him to see this perspective. It is turning into one of the few ugly fights of our marriage.