Whatever the case may be, consumers seem to be willing to pay big bucks for convenience, and corporate America has certainly taken notice. One convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, manages to rake in a cool 10.8 billion dollars a year. It seems like if you can make something, anything, even a little bit faster or easier, Americans will shell out their hard-earned money.
Of course everyone wants to make their life easier, and the truth is, in any one particular instance, the cost of convenience isn't that much. Take the examples I mentioned earlier. The light bulbs might only be $1.50 cheaper at Home Depot. That ATM fee was only $2.00. The prepared dinner might only be $5 or so more expensive than a home cooked meal. When taken separately, these are not large amounts of money that we're talking about.
But over time, these things do start to add up. If you stop at an ATM not owned by your bank just once a week, that's $104 in a year. Take the family out to eat once a week instead of cooking at home, at an average cost of $50 each time you eat out (which is very conservative), and you've spent a whopping $2600.
It's the little things, and how you live your day to day life, that start to form your overall financial picture. Over time, those "little bits" of money start to accumulate into large sums. And what starts out as "convenience" really ends up being not so convenient when you start to live beyond your means. Having to work longer hours or worry about credit card debt is not "convenient."
It is easy to get accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and to rationalize to yourself that you can afford the luxury of "convenience fees" every now and then. Occasionally, spending a little more money for convenience can be worth it as a nice treat for yourself. But if you find that your budget is stretched thin, or that you don't have as much money saved as you would like to, you might want to ask yourself just how much your lifestyle is costing you.
Of course everyone wants to make their life easier, and the truth is, in any one particular instance, the cost of convenience isn't that much. Take the examples I mentioned earlier. The light bulbs might only be $1.50 cheaper at Home Depot. That ATM fee was only $2.00. The prepared dinner might only be $5 or so more expensive than a home cooked meal. When taken separately, these are not large amounts of money that we're talking about.
But over time, these things do start to add up. If you stop at an ATM not owned by your bank just once a week, that's $104 in a year. Take the family out to eat once a week instead of cooking at home, at an average cost of $50 each time you eat out (which is very conservative), and you've spent a whopping $2600.
It's the little things, and how you live your day to day life, that start to form your overall financial picture. Over time, those "little bits" of money start to accumulate into large sums. And what starts out as "convenience" really ends up being not so convenient when you start to live beyond your means. Having to work longer hours or worry about credit card debt is not "convenient."
It is easy to get accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and to rationalize to yourself that you can afford the luxury of "convenience fees" every now and then. Occasionally, spending a little more money for convenience can be worth it as a nice treat for yourself. But if you find that your budget is stretched thin, or that you don't have as much money saved as you would like to, you might want to ask yourself just how much your lifestyle is costing you.
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