Recently, a post celebrating a homeless woman buying a $7 candy bar was featured on Rockstar Finance. I shook my head, read the post, shook my head again, and left a comment to the effect that such wasteful spending was nothing to celebrate.
At first, I thought this woman was out-of-her-mind irresponsible. I mean, I could afford to buy $7 candy bars by the pallet if I really, truly wanted to, but I could not fathom buying even one single bar.
The question comes up often. Is it better to live for tomorrow or live like there’s no tomorrow? The answer, of course, is moderation. Moderation in all things, including moderation.
Frugality is a virtue, but it can lead to unnecessary hardship today when taken further than necessary. Spend every last dollar today, and you have no dollars tomorrow, and financial independence will never be within reach.
For her, it was a $7 candy bar. For me, it was a $7 beer or more like 150 of them. These are the things we decided were within reach, despite circumstances that might suggest otherwise.
Are they “luxury” items? Yes. You can score a standard candy bar or a cheap beer at the store for under a buck. Did the purchase of these items put our future in peril?