You Are Spending Too Much on Happiness
The Power of Cheap Abundance
In many cases, the greatest improvements to quality of life (QOL) come from removing negatives rather than adding positives.
After a predictable (and tragically short) period of time, new stuff loses its luster. Gizmos like cars and phones are progressively less exciting from the moment of purchase onward.
Instead, solving genuine problems (no matter how small) leads to more lasting joy.
I’ve been acting on this phenomenon through a framework I call cheap abundance.
Stealing each other’s phone chargers caused ~50% of the friction in my family while I was in high school. We got along fabulously — except when it came to claiming ownership of $10 cables.
This is a silly problem to have.
For $100 you could buy so many (albeit off-brand) phone chargers that you could drop one in the toilet, feed a few to the cat, and use a handful to keep a loaf of bread airtight while still having enough left over to quench everyone’s digital thirst.
Chapstick is the same way. Like most men my age, my greatest fears are
- Catastrophic global nuclear war
- Socialism
- Being without chapstick when I need or want one
For $20 I could buy enough chapsticks at Target, Costco, or Sams to completely wipe out one of my worst fears… What a bargain!
The last example is computer chargers. I hate having to go under my desk and reroute wires every time I want to write at a coffee shop, so I have two laptop chargers and keep one in my backpack at all times.
As an added bonus, when stuff eventually goes wrong or something is lost, you are covered.
Two is one and one is none 🤠
What small points of friction can you wipe out with a 20?
These little annoyances are worth paying to fix.
Where could cheap abundance help you?
Comment your favorite ideas below!
