You Are What you Spend

So I haven’t posted this week…This week at work has kicked my butt. Early mornings, late nights. And the only time I tried, blogspot deleted my post accidentally and I got demoralized. Anyways. Last Sunday I saw this great article in the Times about true currency – the amount of time you have to spend at work to gain the right amount of purchasing power. The argument that the article makes is that income isn’t the right metric to compare level of financial wealth – instead, household consumption is a better metric. As international imports have driven COGS down, economists argue, people have greater purchasing power, so the gap between the wealthy and the poor is only 4 to 1 instead of 18 to 1 based on income. I don’t know if it’s entirely encouraging, considering the level of debt that we’re facing as a nation due to this purchasing power. But at least the stratification seems less dire.

You are what you spend. If that’s true, I’m a bottle of wine. I’m supposed to be watching what I spend this month, and for the most part I’ve done pretty well, except for alcohol. The only truly nonessential thing I’ve bought besides drinking/socializing with friends was a $20 purse at Target. Considering how long I carry bags, a really great investment! Again, I think the questions are around priorities. I’m not going to stop socializing with friends, but I think my biggest opportunity is to minimize the bar tab when I’m already out. One drink only challenge?