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How I think about bills. Am I alone? (startrek.website)
submitted 3 years ago* by to c/frugal@lemmy.world
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When I think about bills, I annualize them. $30 a month? That's $360 a year. $5/mo? $60 a year.

I use this to help me grasp the long term cost of all my decisions, but nobody else I know does this.

For instance, my brother and I are moving soon into 2 separate apartments (we currently share a 2 bedroom) and the new complex doesn't have Google Fiber Internet. I complained to my brother that on top of everything else I'll have to pay $5/mo extra for Google extended storage I was getting for free.

He said it's only $5/mo, just get and don't worry about it. I was like, that's $60 a year which is basically a Costco membership. He said "oh hmm, good point yeah"

So I'll work on reducing my storage usage on Google to be able to stay on the free tier, but am I alone in thinking this way about everything I buy?

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[–] 3 points 2 years ago

Since I use budgeting software, the monthly to yearly totals are always there in my face, so I don't have to "think" about applying this to bills.

But I like to use that way of thinking to illustrate how "small" purchases add up.

Some people, for example, get a coffee every day. "But it's only $2". OK, but would you want to pay $730 a year for bad coffee?

Apply that to smoking, drinking, eating out, etc., and you can see how these optional expenses can destroy your wallet over time.

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