What’s your favourite way to waste money?
And because the verb “waste” has a subjectime component to it, I offer a definition from Merriam Websters:
To use up carelessly (ie. he wasted his lottery winnings on booze-soaked nights with gold diggers).
Related Words: splurge; squander; consume, deplete, exhaust, impoverish, overspend, shoot; indulge, overindulge; disburse, expend, lay out.
Is there anyone who can say that they don’t waste a single penny? That they’ve never regretted a purchase or have wished they still had that money in their pocket?
Isn’t it ironic that we’ll shop for deals on one hand, and then spend money on items that we don’t need.
I’m no better than anyone else - lottery tickets, quilt magazines, movie DVDs, another craft project... How many empty picture frames do I have lying around the house now, and how do I justify it to myself - that it will make a nice Christmas present to someone some day?
Some people would consider the money I spend on catfood to be a waste of money, but that certainly isn’t my view.
But it still makes me sad to see how consumerism - a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods - has become the way to happiness for many, as it’s no longer who we are that defines us, but what we own.
It also defines what democracy is in some countries where money and consumer goods aren’t so readily available.
We live in a disposable society, and that extends beyond financial resources to our natural resources - energy, gasoline, wood products, and even our way about thinking about each other.
There’s always somebody out there with the latest new thing for us to spend our money on, but you’re the one who controls your impulses and your actions, and there are better things to devote your lives to, other than consumerism.
Wendy Coomber is editor of the weightmall
