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Episode 2976:
J. Money highlights the importance of financial prioritization through two contrasting cab rides: one chosen for an enriching experience and the other out of necessity. These anecdotes underscore the balance between occasional splurges and financial security, emphasizing that conscious spending in major budget areas creates freedom for life’s unpredictable moments.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.budgetsaresexy.com/tale-of-two-cab-rides-money-tenants/
Quotes to ponder:
"Sometimes money is meant to be spent, even if people give you the judgy face."
"Even when you prioritize your spending, you STILL sometimes get jacked!"
"The bigger the gap between your income and expenses, the less you need to agonize over this kind of one-off purchases."
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[00:00:00] Kundenservice kontaktieren? Für viele Menschen ist das der beste Weg, einen schönen Tag zu ruinieren.
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[00:00:26] Zendesk – Customer Experience mit KI für Menschen gemacht.
[00:00:30] This is Optimal Finance Daily, The Tale of Two Cab Rides by J. Money of BudgetsAreSexy.com.
[00:00:39] Today's post is about two cab rides. One I gladly accepted in order to better my life.
[00:00:46] And the other I was forced into in order to help my wife. Bear with me here.
[00:00:52] The time I took a $65 cab instead of an $18 super shuttle.
[00:00:58] Last week at this time, I was getting pumped up about our financial blogger conference starting the following day.
[00:01:05] I had taken a look at the schedule to semi-plan my first few days there and was elated to see that one of the things the organizer had put together was a free tour of the Denver Mint, where they make tons and tons of money, as well as tons of tons of financial bloggers, tons of happy.
[00:01:24] The only problem? My flight was getting in exactly 55 minutes before the tour.
[00:01:30] And if you've ever been to the Denver airport, you know it's at least a 30 minute trip to the city on a good day.
[00:01:37] Not including the time it takes to get from terminal to terminal or the wait you have to do to pick up your bag.
[00:01:45] So needless to say, I was pretty worried of missing this golden opportunity to be with my fellow coins.
[00:01:51] As luck would have it though, it happened to be a good day.
[00:01:55] We landed right on the scheduled minute.
[00:01:57] My bag was waiting for me when I got to the carousel, unlike on my return flight where my bag got lost.
[00:02:04] And I had approximately 35 minutes left to pick out my transportation and hightail it out of there.
[00:02:11] The only problem was the major discrepancy in cost.
[00:02:15] Route one was the most convenient and also the most direct, a cab at $58 plus tip.
[00:02:23] We'll call it $65.
[00:02:24] The other, a slow as molasses blue super shuttle, which would have saved me some pesos to the tune of $40,
[00:02:33] but would have also cost me the tour in return.
[00:02:36] There was no way that thing was getting me to my destination in under 35 minutes.
[00:02:42] I've been fooled by them before.
[00:02:44] So I sucked up my panties, hopped in that cab as fast as I could,
[00:02:49] and off we went to make a grown man happy.
[00:02:52] With a good chance of making that same grown man cry had he missed it and had to pay $40 more to do so.
[00:02:59] But I'm happy to report that I not only made it, but also had one of the best experiences ever.
[00:03:05] And even came away with a new coin from my recent collection, a one ounce uncirculated silver coin.
[00:03:13] The moral of the story?
[00:03:15] Sometimes money is meant to be spent, even if people give you the judgy face.
[00:03:20] I can't tell you how many people thought it was stupid I paid so much just to take a crazy to them tour.
[00:03:27] I know not everyone's a fan of that kind of stuff, but the important thing to remember is that we all prioritize our money differently.
[00:03:35] And that's okay.
[00:03:37] As long as we're doing the prioritizing ourselves and not those thumbing their noses at us just because they'd rather spend it on throw pillows or malt balls.
[00:03:47] It's our money to spend however we want.
[00:03:50] The time I took a $100 cab because my plane was delayed.
[00:03:55] While that ride to the conference was perfection as we know it, the one back home was anything but.
[00:04:02] My starting flight not only got delayed causing me to miss my connecting one, but I then ended up in an entirely different airport with one less bag than I had initially checked.
[00:04:14] At midnight and on a Sunday.
[00:04:17] Now, with one less major mode of transportation at my disposal, my wife, who kindly asked that I find my own way home as she could no longer pick me up anymore,
[00:04:26] and whom I didn't dare battle after leaving her alone with a screaming two-month-old for four days straight.
[00:04:33] So for a second time this week, I had to make the dreaded taxi versus super shuttle choice again.
[00:04:39] Only this time, I really didn't want to spend any more money than I had to, considering the long weekend I just had away with hotels, flights, food, etc.
[00:04:49] I preferred to get home quicker to check on the baby and make sure all was fine at home.
[00:04:54] But at that point, it wasn't going to make much of a difference had I shown up at 1am or 2am.
[00:05:00] The only thing that was in jeopardy at that point was my patience.
[00:05:04] And that I could live with if it meant saving $60 to $70 this time around.
[00:05:10] With my choice easily made, I walked up to those big blue ticket counter thingies, asked the guy when the next bus is out,
[00:05:17] and to my dismay found that the last one had already gone for the night.
[00:05:22] Leaving me yet again on the cabbie's corner, forced to unload some more of my tired little dollars.
[00:05:29] And one hour and a hundred dollars later, I lived far from that airport,
[00:05:35] I'm home and finished with the decision making once and for all.
[00:05:39] The moral of this story?
[00:05:41] Even when you prioritize your spending, you still sometimes get jacked.
[00:05:46] But there's really nothing you can do to avoid it.
[00:05:48] So you just got to roll with the punches and hope that the future plays nicer with you next time.
[00:05:54] Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
[00:05:57] And the more padding you have to catch your fall, also known as savings,
[00:06:02] the better you'll bounce back out of it too.
[00:06:05] Had I needed that hundred dollars for my mortgage or something,
[00:06:08] I'd have been in pretty deep doo-doo.
[00:06:11] So prioritization and rolling with the punches.
[00:06:15] These are the two things to think about while living your days today, okay?
[00:06:18] One may be harder than the other, but they're both super important to master.
[00:06:28] You just listened to the post titled,
[00:06:30] The Tale of Two Cab Rides by J Money of BudgetsOrSexy.com.
[00:06:36] When you optimize in some of the bigger areas of your budget,
[00:06:40] namely housing, transportation and food,
[00:06:42] and for the most part you spend frugally,
[00:06:45] it's really not that big of a deal to have a convenient splurge every now and then.
[00:06:51] This is the peace of mind that financial security can bring.
[00:06:56] It's nice to know that money is there in these kind of situations
[00:07:00] where you would just really appreciate the convenience of a cab ride.
[00:07:05] Or you have to because there's no other options.
[00:07:07] And you know that it's not going to break the bank.
[00:07:11] I think the key is to not be gluttonous when it comes to paying for convenience.
[00:07:17] Many of us would always take the cab and never even consider public transportation.
[00:07:23] The bigger the gap between your income and expenses,
[00:07:27] the less you need to agonize over these kinds of one-off purchases.
[00:07:31] The thing that matters so much more than an expensive cab ride once in a blue moon
[00:07:36] is the things you spend money on regularly, especially your fixed costs.
[00:07:41] If your fixed costs like rent or mortgage, car payment, insurance, etc. are high,
[00:07:48] and you're basically living paycheck to paycheck,
[00:07:52] then all of your spending on everything else becomes a much bigger deal.
[00:07:56] And it's probably good for all of us to have a season of life where we grapple with this stuff.
[00:08:02] It can help us fine tune what we feel is worth spending money on and what isn't.
[00:08:08] That season for me was when I was getting out of debt.
[00:08:10] I was super aggressive, and I would walk an hour to get somewhere before I would pay for a cab.
[00:08:17] While that attitude led me to get out of 30 grand of debt in 11 months,
[00:08:21] I don't think that level of frugality is sustainable for my whole life.
[00:08:25] There comes a point where you can relax a little bit and not fret about taking the cab.
[00:08:33] For me, it was when I reached debt freedom, had a solid emergency fund,
[00:08:38] and was fully funding my retirement vehicles.
[00:08:41] And that will do it for today.
[00:08:43] Have a great day and start to your weekend if you're listening in real time.
[00:08:47] And I'll be back here over the weekend where your optimal life awaits.
[00:08:51] And if you're talking about going on a little bigger dish.
[00:08:51] But we're talking about what you're talking about,