It’s hard relying on anyone else for our financial health. Whether it’s the government, our employer, our customers, the stock market or something else, when all is said and done it always falls back on the rest of us.
You want to know a truth, one that might shock your foundation? It doesn’t matter what the government does when it comes to us. We have to be truthful and honest with ourselves about this.
If you don’t have much money right now then none of what’s coming means anything to you. If taxes go up yours won’t. If the ACA crashes and burns and you don’t have to pay for insurance anymore, eventually you’ll be paying money to someone regarding your health; that’s a given. If the government defaults on the debt ceiling that doesn’t impact anyone immediately except government workers; a tax increase might come or might not, but there’s nothing we can do about that.
The media does a great job of getting everyone stirred up on these “important issues”, but very few of them affect us as much as they say. If you end up having to pay a penalty for not having health care coverage if the ACA sticks around do you know how much that impacts you? Probably $360; yup, that’s it. If you have to pay the family rate you’re talking maybe $500, and that’s doubtful. Not quite catastrophic is it?
Here’s the thing. Our financial life is totally up to each and every one of us. If we take time to look at what we’re buying we might find that we’re actually paying more for less of the same thing. For instance, do you like Crystal Light? In most stores you’ll find that you can buy it either in 4 or 6 pack containers.
Most people think the less you buy the less it costs, but that’s not always true. The real truth is that price is sometimes affected by which product sells better. In this case, the 6 pack sells better than the 4 pack, so in most stores you’ll see that the 6 pack actually costs less per weight than the 4 pack does, which means you’re getting a better bargain on your purchase. If a pack of 4 costs $2.50, you’re paying 62.5 cents per pack, whereas if a pack of 6 costs $2.99 you’re paying 50 cents per container. Most people only look at price instead of cost, but cost is where you save money.
That’s the type of thing our culture has to get used to. Do you pay $3.50 for a coffee at Starbucks or do you buy something at the store and make your own for pennies a cup because it lasts a month? Do you go to a restaurant and pay $7.99 for a 1/2 pound burger with fries when you can buy a pound of 80% hamburger for $3.99, or 95% fat free for $4.99? Even if you bought the fries a pack costs $4.50 and gives you at least 6 servings.
We get to pick and choose what we’re willing to pay for things we like; no one has a problem with that. The problem comes when you can’t afford other things because you want what you want regardless if you can save money buying something else. Sometimes it’s important to find more economical ways to feed yourself and your family, ways that still allow you go to out from time to time because you’re spending money on your food budget more wisely.
In other words, we all have financial options we can avail ourselves of that will help our dollars go further if we decide to take that route. We all have ways of bringing more money into the house such as through a part time job, selling things we make or have laying around the house, offering services on things we’re good at, etc.
The government is there to help us help ourselves when we need it. Other than that, we all have the capacity to take care of ourselves. You can enjoy whatever you want to if you want to pay for it. If that’s the case, you have nothing to complain about. For some of us, we need to pick and choose what we feel is important to us that leaves no compromise on price, then compromise in other areas.
We can make our money go further, pay our bills, and live a pretty good life. Or we can sit around complaining about the government is or isn’t doing, complaining that we don’t have enough money, complaining that we can’t pay our bills, etc. Which person are you going to be?
