How Can You Afford That?

When buying gear or even toys, those on limited incomes are often criticized for spending money on expensive items. How do people with so little money have so much to spend on luxuries? Where does the money come from. Perhaps we should be asking where the money is coming from when people (some of whom are critical of those who buy nice things) get money for their expensive habits. Drugs, alcohol, weed, tobacco... even coffee (depending on where you buy it from) are all unnecessary, but the costs are staggering. Besides the collateral costs of consuming these substances, just the cost alone (which is calculable) is enough that, if redirected and saved, can be used for some really nice things. Let's do some math. I'm just going to include items that are legal in all 50 states, so street drugs and weed are above and beyond these figures. Let's start with tobacco. Say, a pack a day - moderate habit - of Marlboros (one of the most popular brands of cigarettes) average price is about $8.00. That's $2920 a year. Alcohol: Say you go home and have a couple of beers. Average cost for a case of beer is about $20. That's not excessive, about $303, but drinkers usually don't stop at two beers. They may go out drinking or have a wine when eating out. There's not a hard and fast figure, but it's not unreasonable to put a price tag of $30-50 every weekend for an avid drinker. Average that at $40 and that's another $2080 per year. Now, let's talk about coffee. I might be getting personal now. There are some people who pick up a coffee at Starbucks every single morning before work (some people also get one at lunch too, but we'll just do the morning routine to be conservative). Average price for a cup of Joe is $4.00. If only one is bought only on weekdays, that's still $960 a year.

Added up (and these are very conservative figures for some people), is almost $6000. Just abstaining from these three unnecessary substances can free up a significant amount for gear and toys. Just think how much more there is when not consuming street drugs and weed.

You might be inclined to think that drugs are for rich people. It may (or may not) surprise you that many wealthy celebrities lose everything because of their expensive habits and the collateral costs associated with their addictions. There are many who need to keep working past the time when they should be retired, not necessarily because they want to, but because they are supporting their expensive habits and the millions they could have earned and saved are blown on drugs and extravagance. The point being: even rich people can't afford drugs, alcohol, tobacco and partying. If you don't care where your money is going, eventually you won't have any, no matter how much you earn.