Have you ever read the fine print at the bottom of receipts?
Along with a store phone number or a survey you should fill out online, there’s
an enthusiastic note for you, their valued customer, something like “Total
Money Saved: $78.23!” This adds up all of the sales on the items that you
bought for less than the normal price (which, in my family would be pretty much
every item except for those that are so generic that their prices cannot be
brought down because it’s not worth the cost of printing a coupon).
At Christmas, the women of my family will go shopping. When
we return with bulging bags and obnoxious holiday songs stuck in our heads,
Grandpa will look at the receipts and say, with a good-natured sneer, “‘You
Saved $35.38,’ it says. Well, show me the
money!”
He has a good point. You didn’t save $35.38 on the three
sweaters, pair of shoes, silver earrings, and pair of fuzzy socks that were an
impulse buy at the register. You spent $84.99, plus tax. Sure, if you would
have spent that money anyway, it’s good that you got some of the items at a
lower price than usual. Sometimes, though, the promise of saving money leads us
to spend more than we need.
I realized recently that it’s the same with time. One of my
extracurricular activities ended last week. If you would print out the receipt
of my life, it would now read, “Total Time Saved: 3 Hours!”
Except I didn’t save that time, at least not last week. I
spent it in tiny increments on things that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. Daydreaming
during homework, forcing me to read the same article twice. Taking a nap that
was twice as long as what I needed. Wandering around on Facebook, looking for
something meaningful in the slush pile of pictures of people I don’t know that
well, mindless memes that might occasionally be mildly funny, and the many
trials and triumphs of Farmville.
