Which is the cheaper ring? You can decide here - a quiz on Cosmopolitan's website. Or decide on shoes at Seventeen's site. Go to stuff.co.nz and choose between various products at different price points.
Have you wondered if there is anything that isn't for sale? Atlantic Magazine in April 2012 addressed this question:
"THERE ARE SOME THINGS money can’t buy—but these days, not many. Almost everything is up for sale. For example:
• A prison-cell upgrade: $90 a night. In Santa Ana, California, and some other cities, nonviolent offenders can pay for a clean, quiet jail cell, without any non-paying prisoners to disturb them.
• Access to the carpool lane while driving solo: $8. Minneapolis, San Diego, Houston, Seattle, and other cities have sought to ease traffic congestion by letting solo drivers pay to drive in carpool lanes, at rates that vary according to traffic.
• The services of an Indian surrogate mother: $8,000. Western couples seeking surrogates increasingly outsource the job to India, and the price is less than one-third the going rate in the United States."
The article discusses the 'moral' meaning of goods and that some of the good things in life are degraded if turned into commodities.
"This is a debate we didn’t have during the era of market triumphalism. As a result, without quite realizing it—without ever deciding to do so—we drifted from having a market economy to being a market society."
"Even if you agree that we need to grapple with big questions about the morality of markets, you might doubt that our public discourse is up to the task. It’s a legitimate worry. At a time when political argument consists mainly of shouting matches on cable television, partisan vitriol on talk radio, and ideological food fights on the floor of Congress, it’s hard to imagine a reasoned public debate about such controversial moral questions as the right way to value procreation, children, education, health, the environment, citizenship, and other goods. I believe such a debate is possible, but only if we are willing to broaden the terms of our public discourse and grapple more explicitly with competing notions of the good life."
Today's images are banners for the Rotary's Grimsby Fantasy of Trees festival. Forty trees are decorated and raffled off along with donated items with the proceeds going to support local charities.
I was in Harvest Barn yesterday - it is a local produce and bakery store in St. Catharines (like the old days of grocery stores in yesterday's daily post). The cashier asked the lady ahead of me if she wanted to buy a carry bag ($.05) or use one of the small meat/freezer bags as they were free. The lady had only 2 pounds of butter, and she wanted a bag because the butter was cold. She accepted the little bag over the bag that cost the five cents. Then the cashier told me how she uses these little freezer bag for all kinds of things. And concluded with: "I'm cheap".
So I wondered what "cheap" is and how do we recognize it. Here are 5 major differences between cheap and frugal from money.usnews.com
1. Cheap and frugal people both love to save money, but frugal people will not do so at the expense of others.
2. Frugality is about assessing the bigger picture and having the patience to cash in on the simple savings strategies.
3. Cheapness uses price as a bottom line; frugality uses value as a bottom line.
4. Cheap people are driven by saving money regardless of the cost; frugal people are driven by maximizing total value, including the value of their time.
5. Being cheap is about spending less; being frugal is about prioritizing your spending so that you can have more of the things you really care about.
When I read the full article, I was a bit discouraged. It points to a lot of rationalization by the 'frugal' author for choosing where and how to spend money: a lot of one's internal conversations are taken up with mundane decisions. It is a start, though, and helps to understand this significant topic.
And a search for the country with the reputation for being cheap? Two countries show up: Holland and Scotland!
