Money is something I, like many others in my age group, have to continuously think about. This period of my life has led me to deeply reconsider some of the habits I didn’t know I had. Understanding how things “add up” is one of the most valuable budgeting tips any fully fledged adult has ever given me. However, I still find it extremely difficult to discontinue the purchases I make for convenience.
Convenience tax is a slang term which “refers to a premium paid for certain goods and services that add value to your life“. This specific type of spending exists in many different forms. The choice to take a taxi when it’s rainy and wet, instead of walking or waiting for a bus. The choice to deliver food straight to your doorstep, instead of commuting to the take away. The choice to get your groceries sent to avoid carrying heavy bags up the accommodation stairs. All of these micro expenses make our lives significantly easier, but at what cost do they actually come?
I want to preface this article by stating that in many cases, the tax of convenience is actually for the better. For example after a night out, I will always pay double to ensure me and my girls get home safe. I also refuse to ever condemn myself, or anyone around me, for intuitive eating. Sometimes a Dominos pizza is exactly what the soul needs, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, I do believe that our generation, and people in general, have gotten too comfortable paying £5 extra to avoid leaving our comfort zones.
The extent of convenience tax is not a reflection of our laziness, but rather of the environment that surrounds us, and the age of technology we grew up in. Through platforms like Amazon which offer same day delivery, and uber which allows instant taxi and food drop offs, we’ve become accustomed to treating our time and comfort as things worth spending money to protect (even when we haven’t considered whether the expense is justified).
I spent the previous week trying my absolute hardest to avoid spending money for the sake of convenience, and I noticed many things about myself, and the world around me. Firstly, I actually found there was a significant increase in my feeling of “reward” after doing something slightly difficult. For example, on Saturday night, I was craving a takeaway. Although the £3 delivery tax for thai food did not “feel” like a lot, I decided to take a walk to the restaurant instead. I found an increase in satisfaction while eating the food, as I had walked 20 minutes for it. And although the walk was not significant in time or energy, it gave me valuable time to clear my head before a meal. Furthermore, I am someone who values micro-interaction as a keystone part of human existence, and I found it extremely rewarding to make small talk with the lovely woman who was taking my order.
Secondly, the money genuinely does add up. After spending a week deliberately skipping unnecessary taxis and even the bus fee. I found that I had actually saved about £15 total. It’s not a crazy sum of money. However, I used that fee to buy a scarf I had been looking at for a long time. I found that the satisfaction of purchasing with money that I actively made decisions to save significantly outweighed the slight discomfort of walking.
Overall, this experience has highlighted for me the necessity of seeking alternatives. I am not trying to preach an extreme frugal lifestyle of spending money on only “vital” things. However I do think we should understand the difference between spending money because we need convenience, and spending money because we’ve stopped considering other options. When convenience becomes our default, we become accustomed to a standard of living which requires continual spending to maintain. Hence, the term “tax”. We treat our convenience as a subscription leading us to ignore our agency in the situation of purchasing. The truth is I don’t think I’ll ever stop paying for convenience entirely. Nor do I think I should. Life is difficult enough without turning every small purchase into a moral dilemma, and I don’t need constant spending guilt. However, I do urge any reader to make a small decision this week to walk to their class, get a takeout from the door, or pay a bit less for same day delivery.