Sah’s Notes

Reframing expenses for people who hate spending money

Photo by Charlies X on Unsplash

I’m the first to admit that I really don’t like spending money — especially on myself.

This is all relative, of course, my espresso setup or weekly dining habits would disagree, but…

Lately, I’ve been doing a little reframing when I do run into this frugality friction, particularly when it doesn’t make sense.

I’ll ask myself, is this an expense or is it an investment?

And I already hear you from here… “This isn’t anything new, dude.” I know, but the pitfall of this thinking isn’t new either, and that’s what I really want to talk about.

It’s insanely easy to say “it’s an investment” for anything that brings some long-term value — and that’s the pitfall.

The real reframe is actually this: Is there a direct, 10–20x return on this spend?

This can be vague, but vague doesn’t mean it isn’t measurable. In fact, it has to be measurable on some level, otherwise we can’t apply this thinking at all.

The right $5,000 personal investment can make someone’s career, relationship, or life better by a factor.

These are, coincidentally, the categories I think about the most.