Apparent abundance fools us
Have you ever noticed that we tend to use more of things that we think there is plenty of?
It can be something as simple as a bottle of shampoo: When you first get it, you use a few globs at a time, doling it out liberally. (Or at least I do.) But when you get down to the bottom of the bottle, you start to be more careful, using only a little bit at a time so that you don’t run out before your next trip to the store.
The same thing applies to anything that there’s only a limited amount of: water, the environment, money, etc. Get an unexpected thousand dollars, and maybe you’re off to dinner, and then some shopping, then a movie, and pretty soon you wonder where $200 went…
Let your checking account get down to whatever you consider a low amount, and you’ll probably find yourself watching your pennies carefully.
I wonder what would happen if we realized that even when we have a large amount of something, it’s still a limited resource, and we acted accordingly.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:17 am
That statement is right on. I was just raised to “smoke em if you got em” (closest cliche I could think of).
February 19th, 2007 at 8:24 am
This is so true! I actually deliberately fool myself with this self-knowledge. I transfer money from my checking account to my savings account to keep a consistently low balance of spending money, and that way, I have a number in the back of my head that is much, much lower than the one that I can actually work with.
I do the same thing with stuff I’ve bought in bulk–TP, shampoo, soap. I fill a smaller container, and put away the rest (in a cabinet or closet). It really works, even if you know where the rest of the stuff is.