Everyone has their own irrational views on money, for instance some people may choose to spend excessively in one area of their life, maybe always want to have a brand new car which depreciates in value rapidly in the first few years but then quibble over getting the best deals whilst food shopping. Or perhaps they are a high earner but will spend three hours trying to sell something for an amount which they would usually make in 10 mins in their job.
We are all guilty of having contradictory views of money which are often hard to justify and it is often a point of great discussion in our household about what we are willing to spend money on, and what we are willing to spend time on to save money. A great example of this is a study which asks participants if they would be willing to travel for 15 mins by car to a different shop if they could save £15 on a pair of shoes which cost £30 in the shop they are already in. Unsurprisingly most participants would travel the 15 mins to save the £15. However, if the scenario is changed and the item is now a laptop which costs £1000, would people still travel 15 mins to save the £15? Interestingly far fewer are likely to make the journey even though the saving is exactly the same, yes the proportion of the overall amount spent is significantly different which is what people focus on, but the logical approach is if the journey is worth £15 or not regardless of spend.
This happens frequently with people moving house, as it is generally one of the biggest purchases someone will ever make, so all of the additional costs like Solicitors, removals vans etc seem relatively insignificant ‘in the grand scheme of things’. However, this then results in people overpaying for these services as they don’t compare prices to ensure value, because the time it takes to do this to save maybe £75 on Solicitors fees just doesn’t seem worth it when buying a new house worth hundreds of thousands, which yet again defies the logical mind.
For me, I am much more precious over my time than I am money, and I always think about how I value my time. If I have the option I would rather pay a bit extra to have something done quicker or pay for someone else to do something rather than me if I don’t have to if it means I get valuable time back to spend with my family or work on my business, I do of course still love to get a bargain so it’s about trying to find the right balance.
