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> behave as if the value of their time is zero I see this in my home kitchen and it has come to drive me batty. I think it's related to general innumeracy. May
by kleer001 7y ago
> behave as if the value of their time is zero
I see this in my home kitchen and it has come to drive me batty. I think it's related to general innumeracy. Maybe the fear of numbering thing.
In the kitchen I've seen people saving butter wrappers to use the little scraps of butter on them to grease up pots and pans for cooking. That couldn't be a tenth of a cents worth of butter. Same with sauces and leaving only the last little table spoon in them. Why not use it all up and get a new one? I think it's also an inherited behavior back from Depression era days. Shrug.
- was_boring 7y agoProbably because it's more complex then that. Time is worth zero unless someone is willing to pay you for it. So by saving something when someone is unwilling to pay you more then it is worth for the cost then you have "made" that money. The only depression-era thing that I can think of passed on through my family and those I know is inherently selfish mechanism of survival because of scarcity. Things like always pay yourself first, and take what you can get when you can get it.
- pacificenigma 7y agoIt's also about reflecting your own values, such as remembering when you lived in less abundant times, not consuming more environmental or financial resources than you really need to, and demonstrating those values to other family members in the hope they are remembered. Personally I stopped working 10 years ago and have plenty of financial resources, but I still take the train or bus as much as possible, or if I must drive, walk a block to avoid paying for parking. It has nothing to do with money and everything to do with living the values that I care about and trying to communicate those to our kids.