The Small Things

I knew a couple who owned a local ad agency whose niche was mailers such as Penny Saver or Hometown Values. One time in talking with them I learned a lesson that has stuck with me. They said, “If people can learn to watch the pennies the nickels watch themselves.”

I took this counsel to heart to the point that I will sit in the aisle at the store with my phone calculator comparing price per ounce for different products. When we were first married Amanda one time said, “I just don’t get you. You will debate over 30 cents and will not buy yourself lunch at school or a new shirt when you need it, but you won’t think twice about spending a few hundred dollars on an accessory for your motorcycle.”

She knows how I think now. Good or bad my philosophy is that if I watch the little things over time when the opportunity comes to be able to get something that I want or need I can do it for two simple reasons 1) I have the money to buy it because I have been frugal elsewhere and 2) I won’t have to feel guilty about doing so once in a while because I have saved in other areas.

The moral of the story: If we are watching the small things the big things take care of themselves.