Hi, my name is Amelia and I once drove fifteen minutes across town to save twelve cents a gallon on gas. I’ve since done the math. Round trip fuel, my time, and the impulse iced tea I bought at the cheap station, I lost money on the transaction. I lost money being cheap. That’s the … Read more
I went car shopping this month and came home radicalized. A used truck, four years old, 60,000 miles, priced higher than it sold for new in 2021. When I pointed this out, the salesman said that’s just the market, in the tone people use for weather. It is not weather, Brian. Someone is setting these … Read more
My younger cousin will pay $9 for an iced coffee delivered to her apartment, but a $12 monthly charge to remove ads from an app offends her on a spiritual level. She’ll drop $200 on concert tickets in a heartbeat, then spend forty minutes disputing a $3 fee with her bank in the chat window, … Read more
Every finance influencer has the same move. Point at your small pleasures, do some aggressive math, and inform you that your latte is why you don’t own a house. I’ve done the actual math. The latte is not why anyone doesn’t own a house. The house is why we don’t own a house. Here’s what … Read more
This morning a box of cereal cost me $7.49. Name brand, sure, but still. Cereal. I stood in the aisle doing that thing where you hold the box and stare at it like the price might apologize. It did not. It’s not just cereal, and it’s not just inflation as some vague force. Specific everyday … Read more
Last week I watched a self-checkout machine ask a man for a tip. No human within twenty feet. He stood there, thumb hovering over the screen, doing the same guilty math we all do now. Meanwhile, my grandfather tipped his barber, his gas station attendant, and the kid who carried groceries to his car, every … Read more
My mom kept a landline until 2019. Nineteen. When I finally asked her why, she looked at me like I’d asked why she pays for electricity. Some purchases were just automatic for her generation. You grew up, you got a house phone, you bought the encyclopedia set, end of story. Gen Z looked at that … Read more
Last spring I did a no spend month. If you haven’t met the concept, the rules are simple. You pay your bills, you buy groceries and true essentials, and everything else is a no. No takeout, no little treats, no online carts. Thirty days. I expected a boring month and a fatter savings account. I … Read more
