Commodity#3: MONEY

Most of us earn an hourly wage. We sell our time, effort, mind and body in exchange for a set dollar amount from our employer. That wage is taxed by our government, quite heavily and unnecessarily, but that’s a different post. What we come home with at the end of the day is sore feet and a paycheck.

What do we spend the money on?

Lodging, food, transportation. Entertainment. Alcohol. Junk food. Cigarettes. A $100 phone bill when a $35 one will do. A $150 cable-satellite-internet connection. A bar tab running from $10-$70 on a Friday night, depending on how wild we feel. I have a book-buying addiction–I can barely stop myself–and I love picking up chocolate or chips&salsa when the mood strikes me. I’ll buy multiple over-priced coffee drinks from certain franchises. And shopping sprees! How many ladies are like, I just need a new shirt, and come home with bags of clothes? Week after week?

I’m taking my time, effort, mind and body, selling it for a wage, then taking that wage and buying a bunch of things I could do without.

Hang in there: here comes the math. If Johnnie makes ten dollars an hour throwing fifty pound sacks in a warehouse, and then goes out and buys a decent six pack of beer, he essentially traded an hour of his time plus a hell of a lot of sweat and soreness. Is it worth it? Maybe. Every day? Certainly not.

Consider your dollars like your time. That’s what it is: your taxed, hard labor for a certain time.

My new rule for myself: if I wouldn’t barter an equivalent amount time for something, then I don’t need it.