RE: Sometimes it's easier to save than to earn.

This is fascinating, I was JUST telling someone (well a whole group of people) that I prefer to make money than save :)

There's probably a full post in this, but in brief ...

• We have a fixed amount of time, but we can prioritize how we spend that time
• Our day-job for many of us will be pretty "stable" but that also means won't have much opportunity for growth (heck, my wages haven't kept pace with cost of living rise)
• What we spend on is fairly inflexible after a point (we need food, shelter, power, etc)

In the context of a family or individual, cutting out Avacado toast will never get you into a Lambo, or into your own home for that matter. People just say that to make people with less money feel like it is a moral failing rather than society that puts them there.

When I made the statement about earning more, it was to our volunteer maker space.

Since the pandemic, we have been not making as much revenue to keep the space open. Other members wanted to cut costs or increase fees.

The problem as I see it is once you cut "optional" costs you are left with things you shouldn't cut. For our Maker Space, we need to be careful about the experience of being a member, cutting toilet paper and soap wouldn't be great.

If instead of cutting costs you grow your income there is no ceiling and you find a lot of your costs are tiny compared to the value. I built a former boss his slide deck this weekend in Keynote for $200 USD. It's something I can do quickly, he trusts me, and I could buy a lot of Avacado toast for that ;)

With the maker space, cutting the cleaning service would save $xxx but who is going to do it then? All volunteers ... and who wants to spend time in a place with filthy toilets? Instead, I suggested we remind folks that the space is still open and we try to attract back some of the people who left - their membership is worth way more than what we would save by cost-cutting.