Convenience is everywhere today. It’s on every corner, it’s a part of many daily choices, it’s nearly incumbent in our entertainment, and it’s saturated in our daily lives. Convenience has just as much a place in American lives as affluence.

What is convenience?

According to Dictionary.com, convenience is anything that saves or simplifies work, adds to ones ease or comfort, etc., as an appliance, utensil, or the like.

With that in mind, think about the things which exist to add comfort or ease in our life and start making a list – and check it twice (I couldn’t resist).

Ask yourself:

1. Why do snacks cost more when purchased from a machine vs the store?
2. Why do people use the drive thru vs going in the store? (Even pharmacies have them!)
3. Why do we have online shopping?
4. Why do they call it a convenience store?
5. How are services like door dash (home delivery of food) not only able to exist but thrive?

By now, hopefully one word comes to mind: convenience. It has infiltrated our lives so much it’s hard to imagine our lives without it and in a very real way we can’t get rid of it. Progress, almost all of it, really, owes itself to mankind’s love of convenience and a search to makes things more comfortable. It’s how we got electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing, the automobile, computers, air conditioners (thank God for that invention), appliances, cell phones; really any invention owes itself ultimately to convenience.

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2020: the year when the convenience of toilet paper was non existent 

The Conveniences we splurge on the most

That type of convenience is not the topic of this post, though. I’m really focused on that which we are willing to pay extra for instead of just doing a little extra. You know, like pulling up to the convenience store to buy something when you could go to the grocery store and get the same item, for less. In that instance, you are paying for convenience and at some point hopefully you are asking yourself if the cost is worth it.

Another example and one that’s fitting is after a long days work you decide to pick up some food instead of cooking at home. You KNOW it’s cheaper but you do not want to put in the extra work. That is a classic case of convenience.

In the here and now we weight it out and say yes, it’s worth it. We want to get home and relax after work. But what if we tracked our purchases throughout the year and reviewed the cost then? I’m willing to bet the cost, when we look at it like that, is much higher than we are comfortable with.

Convenience, then, is nice but certainly costs us more and we would do well to count the cost. Millions of people pay for convenience on a daily basis, so much so in fact that it’s ingrained into them. And like I said before, if you’ve weighed it out, counted the cost, and still found it to be worth it then by all means carry on. More likely, though, the truth is most do not take the time to really reflect on how much they are spending on convenience (and, consequently, their finances are indicative of that).

The convenience of eating out

For example, let’s consider the act of eating out, one of the more well known conveniences. While many people are trying to get their financial houses in order, especially during COVID-19, often one of the first things they do is begin to track every dollar. They want to get a complete picture of their money, where it’s going, etc. Going out to eat, while convenient, gets cut out because it’s one of the more notable expenses. And in just about every case I’ve heard of, people were astounded to discover just how much money they were spending by going out. I can recall hearing about couples who spent $1000 a month going out to eat!

I can’t fathom spending $1,000 a month going out to eat – that’s a house payment for some! And because most people aren’t cognizant enough to know what they are spending on convenience, they blindly spend way more than they would be comfortable with otherwise.

Imagine having to open your wallet and drop $1,000 on food out to eat at the beginning of the month – think you’d wince at doing that? You better believe you would. Break that chunk of money up in bite size nuggets, though, and it becomes much more palatable. We nickel and dime ourselves to the tune of much more than we would spend in one lump sum.

What we miss

Another thing we miss out on because we don’t count the cost of convenience is missed opportunity. What could we do with an extra $1,000 a month? Pay down debt, make extra house payments, invest it, save cash for a purchase instead of borrowing money, helping those less fortunate than us; the list could go on and on. We don’t get this far, though, because we have to understand what convenience costs us – which most don’t.

Looking at actual numbers

So far, the above figure was real because I’ve heard/seen examples but hypothetical because it isn’t hard and fast data: we can’t use it across the board. We need an average for that. Fortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has some for us. Business Insider also writes about the data too and you can find it here.

You can mine through the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website, simply look at the Business Insider link, or merely read this page for the information; either way though, the data is there for us to dissect.

In 2017, the highest spending from age groups were as follows:

Ages 35 – 44: $4,249/12 = $354.08 monthly

Ages 45 – 54: $4,157/12 = $346.41 monthly

There are a few things we can extrapolate from these numbers.

1. These years are generally considered to be a person’s prime working and earning years – thus, more discretionary money.
2. $354.08 & $346.41 a month is still A LOT of money.
3. These figures are an average; there are some who spend less out to eat and others who spend more.
4. These age groups are the ones who likely eat out less than other groups because they have kids with them they have to pay for, increasing their cost per outing. Though they may eat out less, they spend more every time they do.

Having better data enables us to really hone in on some particulars and no matter how I look at it spending $354 or $346 a month is high to me. Then again, we spend money, in many ways, on what’s important to us. I think it would look good in an IRA, some people prioritize eating out while others, as I assert with this very article, don’t really grasp exactly what the convenience of eating out costs them.

Still, others make enough to afford going out to eat, pay little attention to what they spend, and have no problem with it. Hey, like I said earlier, carry on kemosabe. I’m not trying to discourage people from eating out – a whole industry employing people depends on that. Nor am I advocating for in depth analysis, either. I’m merely asking some questions many don’t think to ask themselves.

The convenience of borrowing money vs saving up for something

Yea, I’m going here for a bit. If you haven’t seen this played out over the course of your life you must live under a rock – it’s THAT prevalent and common. It’s because of convenience credit cards have become as common place as they are. It’s convenient to borrow money for something we could save for and guess what? We pay for that convenience – and some end up paying MUCH more.

Some of us lack the discipline to save up for what we want and borrow the money instead. Sure, we get the object faster but we often pay for it long after the excitement has worn off. Is the convenience worth it? I’m not convinced it is, all things considered. I’ve seen this convenience wreck people’s lives for years to come.

It doesn’t really matter about the thing(s) you purchase, either. If it’s a large purchase you pay on it long after the initial joy has gone or worse the item has broken, fallen apart, or become obsolete. Small purchases tend to accumulate until you have a number of them – with a large price tag – for a long time to come. Again, the question remains: is convenience worth the cost? The cost of your money, your happiness, joy, and, ultimately, your financial freedom?

Make no mistake about it: convenience is a slippery slope, a tricky business, and a fickle friend. Speaking about the convenience of eating out is one thing; the convenience of borrowing money is another thing altogether. This isn’t a light subject, either. Again, for some perspective, let’s look at some numbers.

Looking at actual numbers

According to Lexington Law, a credit restoration firm, Americans in 2018 owe a collective $870 billion, 5% higher from 2017. When you add in the revolving consumer credit, the number jumps to $1.057 Trillion as of March 2019.

That number is almost incomprehensible: $1.057 TRILLION. What do you even do with that? How do really grasp the depth of that amount of money, which is owed, because convenience was worth it to us. And with an estimated 48% of people only making minimum payments, credit cards, with convenience at the root, has made slaves of people for years to come.

I personally know people who owe over $70,000 in non mortgage debt, which is an important distinction to make. There is a big difference between having mortgage debt and non mortgage debt (read: credit card or consumer credit = borrowed money) and while it isn’t the intention of this post to dive into those distinctions, they are worth noting here. But to the point, and to bring it to a much more feasible number, what would you do with owing $70,000, making minimum payments?

Interest.com has an online calculator you can use to see what rates are. Because I like to use hard and fast numbers, I went to the site and plugged in the following numbers: $70,000 total in credit card balance, a credit card rate of 18.9%, and a 2% minimum payment. ( I had to research how credit cards determine the minimum amount per month and if your interested, you can check out the nerdwallet post here). Here are the numbers it calculated:

$1,400 monthly payment, which you will be paying on for MORE THAN 30 YEARS, to the total tune of $273,897.70!!!

If you are not amazed by those numbers you need to re read that statement. Perhaps you don’t know anyone living in slavery to numbers like that. But I do and I have spoken with several over the years who are living this nightmare. They feel dejected, hope doesn’t exist, and they are slaves to debt because they thought convenience was worth it. They were wrong.

Convenience can, and often does, lead to debt

Convenience, then, at best, costs us a little and at worst can cost us A LOT, as detailed above. True, I used examples from opposite ends of the spectrum and yes, they present different situations and extremes. The point, however, is clear: convenience has its benefits; but at what cost? Do we weigh the cost of convenience in the little things? What about the larger ones? I assert we do not – and the cost, from small to large – is MUCH larger than we know, understand, and are able to pay, at times. It can start off small – and often it does. SO many stories of people who have financial struggles stemmed from small conveniences which graduated to larger ones. Conveniences may not always be debt but debt is almost always about convenience. Or, at least, it started out that way.

We would do well to ask ourselves how much we are willing to pay for convenience – the answer certainly is an important one.

*NOTE: You know, this post is indicative of the type of writing I enjoy the most. When I started to write this post, I didn’t intend at all to write about debt; that post and/or posts is for later. It didn’t occur to me the connection between debt and convenience until I was writing and then the post just began to take shape. It’s organic and fluid, dynamic, and an accurate portrayal of how many of these posts get written. Funny how these things manifest themselves.

Still, it’s an important topic that is not discussed with vigor and a clear mind for what’s at stake. Chances are, you know someone who is in debt. Perhaps it’s you. That icy grip of slavery clutched tightly around your life and it all started from convenience. There – we’ve come full circle with this post. *

Conclusion

Can you see it now – the cost of convenience? Sometimes it’s a little and sometimes it’s a lot – and sometimes it’s worth the price but many times it’s not. The point is, we all should take the time to recognize when we encounter convenience, count the cost, and weigh it out accordingly. So what if it takes you longer to get the funds for something together? You’ll get to experience the anticipation longer. And, when you do get that item, you can enjoy it more because you don’t owe ANYTHING on it. It’s enjoyment without strings attached. Now that’s real pleasure. 

Convenience is nice but also fickle and the slope can be slippery. Take note of it’s presence, understand it’s power, and steer clear when necessary. Purposely living like this will change your life – of that I’m sure. Now get out there and be different!