It’s Very Expensive To Be Cheap

“It’s good to be frugal, but if you don’t spend your money to make your life or your relationships or your work easier, what exactly are you going to spend it on? Actually, what I’ve found is that it is very expensive to be cheap. You just pay for it in the form of a frustrated spouse or a stressful life or with shit that never works and you have to end up replacing a bunch of times anyway. Don’t grit your teeth and bear it. You can only get so far white knuckling things. Remove the friction, improve the system—and money (not a lot usually) should help you do that. I thought of this just the other day as I reached for a Sharpie that was nearly dry, that I had clearly put back in the drawer in my desk for like the fifth time instead of buying a new one (and there was still a part of me that hated throwing it away). Replace your dull tools! Upgrade your workshop! Find quality help! You are expending energy in the wrong places.”

–Ryan Holiday

Wow. Not much to add here. This sums up a train of thought that had been struggling to get out of the station of my own mind. Ryan Holiday says it so directly here. Technology exists to help us live better lives, but if we ignore meaningful upgrades for the sake of our frugal virtues, we might be making the wrong choice.


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