Frugality and the WOW Factor
The three frugal books I have found most helpful remain The Tightwad Gazettes, volumes 1, 2, and 3. Some people don't like them, consider them too extreme. These people have missed the important essays and ideas behind the books, focusing instead on a handful of ideas they don't want to impliment. We do not do everything in the books. I think her essays on attitudes alone are worth reading, and she stresses repeatedly that <em>she</em> doesn't even use all the ideas in her books. She simply wanted to offer as many cost cutting options as possible to her readers, some of whom may be completely desperate. It's like a cookbook- you don't have to use every recipe in a cookbook to make it a great cookbook. These are wonderful cookbooks on living within your means, but they are more than recipes. They share a philosophy of frugality that anybody can use.
One idea in the 'frugal philosophy' cateogory is how to accurately calculate the 'WOW' factor of things we want but don't really need- because there's nothing wrong with buying things you want but do not need if you can afford it. It's just a good idea to make that decision based on a realistic assessment of what you're spending and why. Sometimes we have spent a little more on something because we had the cash and we liked the more spendy option- it has a 'wow factor' for us. After you determine if you can actually afford an item, the next step is to compare the costs of the two options, and think about whether we get three or five or ten or whatever the ratio is, times 'the wow' out of the spendier buy. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, and when we don't, we don't even feel deprived anymore when we decide that extra item does not offer a big enough wow.
The Tightwad Gazette, volume three, is where Amy talks about this. The example she gives is watching free movies from the library compared to going to the theater. Movie tickets for two are around 15.00, but it is more fun to watch a movie in the theater than at home on the DVD player. However, a free movie from the libary is... free. Does watching the movie in the theater provide you with fifteen times more WOW than watching it at home? If not, you should probably save your money and do something else. If it does and you can afford it, then go to the theater without guilt. For us, it depends on the movie and the circumstances. Sometimes the big screen, the surround sound, the specific movie, and even the company along for the movie might make the WOW factor of the theater worth it, other times (more often than not), we're willing to wait for the DVD.
You can do this with big and small things. Calculate the cost of a can of beans vs the cost of dried beans, for instance (it's roughly four times as much to buy a can as it is to buy dried and cook it- though this may vary with your cooking fuels). Is it four times better for you to have the convenience of a can of beans over making up a big batch of dried beans and freezing the extras for later convenience? It's fine if it is. It's just better to be as informed as possible about the decisions we make.
So what are some "WOW factor" items where the "WOW" makes it worth it to you spend more? What are some other things you've learned you enjoy, but they don't really have a big enough punch in the WOW department to make them worth it to you?
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6 Responses to “Frugality and the WOW Factor”
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Thank you for this. I think I do assess the “Wowness” of things instinctively, and of course it is very very personal – my “wow” would be incomprehensible to my husband most of the time! This makes me feel better about personal expenditure that I know some people would find odd, but which really makes sense to me. Certainly books, plants, and tickets for certain concerts or art exhibitions are full of wowness and I go on on getting pleasure out of them and deriving inspiration from them for a long long time, meaning that I’d rather economise on many other things in order to be able to enjoy them.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I totally concur with the wow factor and paying to see a movie in the theatre. We decided years ago that unless the movie sported excellent special effects that would be so much better in the theatre environment (like the new Star Trek movie, for example), that we would just wait to rent it later. That’s saved us a bundle! And I don’t think we’ve lost out on anything
July 4th, 2009 at 9:59 am
just one quick note on beans- if you soak them overnight, and then drain and freeze them like that in baggies, they will cook faster and better, and it seems to take one extra step out of the cooking. just take a bag of presoaked beans out of the freezer and dump them in the crockpot with water. it’s not canned, but it’s certainly simple.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:49 am
We just call it priorities and say we choose to splurge in certain areas, but “WOW factor” sounds so much more fun!
Good coffee is one of our small luxuries, though good fresh coffee beans really don’t cost much more than the cheap preground stuff.
Good ice cream has recently become another.
August 14th, 2009 at 9:35 am
interesting, I just realized my favorite freezer book has the same idea as the Tightwad Gazette, not just recipe but a lot of the talk of HOW it is done. Philosophy, etc. (Jill Bond’s _Dinner’s in the Freezer_)
September 13th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Good post. I might add a third option to the movie idea, either finding a bargain theater where you can go for less, or what I did: Buying a home movie projector. Yes it cost me $1,000 to buy a quality projector at Costco three years ago, but we project the movies on our back wall so they’re as huge as in a small theatre, and we literally have not been inside a theater since. Home theater plus Netflix equals a big savings and a lot of fun!
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