The Price of Being Cheap (And It Wasn’t Money)
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Recently, I read and discussed the book I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. One of the biggest concepts that stuck with me was the idea that cheap people care about the cost of something, and frugal people care about the value. That doesn’t necessarily mean how much it costs, but what value it brings to your life. The real price I was paying for being cheap wasn’t money — it was anxiety, avoidance, exhaustion, and delayed progress.
I spent years in the cheap mindset. I thought I was being responsible — just getting by, doing things the old-fashioned way, giving it my all and then some. I bought low-cost items to create a fix in the moment, and they would eventually break down or create another issue I needed to fix. Other things I refused to buy because of the money, but the price I was really paying was a delay in progress, anxiety, avoidance, and exhaustion.
There is nothing wrong with cutting costs and being responsible, and when I was married and didn’t carry the full burden of the financial and home load, I could mentally afford to do some of those things more regularly. Becoming a single parent meant I had to do it all — every bit of it, alone. For those of you saying that was a choice: it was a choice I would make a hundred times over, and maybe I’ll do a post about it when my kids are grown, but for now just know I was very aware of that choice. I had been exhausted for years. An ill child, a toxic marriage, and then for a while, things got even harder. And I was broke. For a long while I tried to keep up, slowly realizing that part of my sanity could only be saved when I let things go. Once that happened, I could see what it was I truly valued and started investing my time and money in those things. Over the years the clutter and dirt grew. Maintaining got harder and harder because clutter and mess build on each other, and when you struggle with depression and your brain functions like a dog chasing a squirrel who then needs a nap, it becomes too much.
I used to buy things impulsively. I would go get cheap bins and gadgets I thought would help, only to have them break, sit unused taking up more space, or get thrown in a closet or my unending pit of a garage. I’ve learned that some things are worth buying — not because someone told me I needed them or I saw a cool ad, but because they add value to my life or give me back time. Currently, I don’t have a shoe, clothing, or book obsession, but I am beginning to value items that buy me time and energy.
Responsibility now looks like researching before committing. I have started looking for mid-range items. Realistically, I cannot afford luxury, and honestly, consumer research shows there are products that perform just as well and sometimes even outperform the more expensive options. Instead of spending hours scouring reviews — because again, I value the precious time I do have — I have learned to leverage AI tools to do that research for me. I don’t pay for features I don’t need, and then I generally pick two or three options and mark them waiting for the next sale. I do not pay full price for something unless it is a situation where something breaks or it cannot wait. And when I have the ability, I sell off items that are being replaced.
Here is what it looked like in practice.
Purchases That Have Made a Huge Difference in Saving My Time and Mental Health
A Robot Vacuum. This is the purchase that started it all. I have two cats, and trying to sweep daily and keep up with the cat hair became a nightmare. This was my first “splurge” purchase that truly changed things for me. I cannot explain how much anxiety was reduced just by this one invention. I bought a Eufy. My first one lasted about two years — I went with the base model because I didn’t have much money and was still in a cheap mindset. I upgraded and have had my current one for five years now.
A few months ago, I became very overwhelmed by the cat hair on the furniture, the dust on baseboards, and things collecting in the corners of the ceiling. This is another example of years of doing the minimum, with a “good” cleaning usually happening around the holidays. The furniture I have bought is getting older and seems to hold hair more and I started this blog, taking up many of the hours I had to tidy up, creating content. I decided to look into handheld vacuums. Here is where your needs matter. There are so many on the market. Some look incredibly cool, but what was my main reason for wanting one? Cat hair and dust. So, I did my research, came up with two high-ranking options, and bought the one that went on the best sale over the next few weeks. It now takes me minutes to do what I honestly rarely did before because it felt so overwhelming and a standard vacuum is so clunky and inefficient. And it is an easy way to get my kids involved. It is almost fun. The robot handles the daily baseline while I do dishes or laundry. The handheld handles everything it can’t — the furniture, the corners, the baseboards. Together, they closed a loop that had been open for years.
A Light Therapy Alarm Clock. Not only have I been focusing on keeping my house tidy, but I have also been focused on my role in my own health. Years of trauma and stress have led to a disrupted sleep and wake pattern, my therapist recommended light therapy and research backs it up. At this point I was still afraid to spend money. I first tried a light therapy desktop lamp — I went cheaper because all I needed was a light, right? This is one where I researched the benefits of light therapy, but didn’t research the product — I just bought something. And it sat on my bedside table for a few weeks, then got shoved onto a shelf. I never used it. It was inconvenient because to use it correctly, you need certain amounts of exposure at different times of day, and it just wasn’t easy. If you have a brain that easily sets things aside when using something that isn’t worth the trouble, research all aspects of its use and the product itself. Two years later, my cortisol was off, and I was waking up feeling drunk from hormonal shifts. I looked at that light and thought, you could have been so good if you were easy to use. So back to the research. I ended up buying an alarm clock with light therapy built in. The light slowly gets brighter over a time period of your choosing — I do 30 minutes. This mimics a natural sunrise and helps reset your circadian rhythm. A bonus: one of the alarm sounds is birds chirping, which studies suggest has a positive effect on your brain.
The Recime App. Recently, I also invested in the Recime app. Over the last three months, I have been taking a hard look at my eating and have begun making choices that benefit both my body and my tastebuds. I love food variety. I could eat at a different restaurant every night and die happy. As a result, I quickly started getting bored with chicken, cottage cheese, and tuna. I have so many recipes saved across different social media platforms and never make any of them because sorting through and finding them is its own chore. A friend mentioned Recime a while back, and I hadn’t really thought about it until I finally started cooking real meals again and food prepping for the week. For $34.99 a year, I can save almost any recipe I come across — and enter ones I make up using AI — all on one platform that keeps them organized for me. It is searchable and you can organize it however you want. Will I keep it forever? I don’t know yet. But it has made variety easy and helped shut down overwhelm.
A Multi-Use Food Chopper. Other items that have really changed things for me include a multi-use food chopper. I remember teasing one of my friends who had one, saying, “Why spend the money on this when you can just cut the stuff up with a knife?” And then I started food prepping. Before this thing, I was spending two to three hours chopping when I had a lot to prep — and honestly, most of the time I just didn’t do it because it was too much. Meal prep didn’t happen. Healthy eating didn’t happen. This thing saves so much time, and I have to admit — I was wrong.
An All-in-One Ninja Blender and Food Processor. I had a giant food processor I never used because it was shoved in a cabinet, heavy, and a pain to deal with. I had an old bullet blender I could only use for single-serve items, and it was so dull that most icy drinks were left with chunks. I am on this health journey with all of these recipes that actually require a blender or food processor, so I marked the Ninja and waited for it to go on sale — and I’m glad I did, because you can usually get them up to $80 off. While I was waiting, I decided I really wanted to use my food processor for something, and when I tried, it fell apart. It was that old. The Ninja couldn’t get here fast enough.
An Electric Lawn Mower. This thing is so light and fast. I don’t have to go get gas if I’m out. When I’m done, I can pop the batteries on the charger, and if I run out of charge mid-yard — I have a big yard — I can charge it while I weedeat. My old lawn mower was so hard to start, and this one is a simple one-button easy start. My kids can use it without having to come and ask for help.
An Egg Cooker. I also asked for an egg cooker for Christmas. I didn’t buy this one myself, but we had been using one at the office and it makes cooking eggs so easy — no cracked eggs, and with the water measurement you choose your doneness and it comes out perfect every time.
Grocery Pickup. This one didn’t cost me anything — it’s free. But it has saved me anywhere from $50 to $100 every single trip. I love grocery shopping. I love walking the aisles and seeing something that looks good or spotting a sale and throwing it in the cart. And that love was costing me a lot. With pickup, I add things to my cart throughout the week as we run out of them or as I think of a meal I want to make. By the time I place the order I can see the total, see what’s in the cart, and actually decide what stays and what goes — before it’s already bagged and in my car. In the store, by the time I see the damage, the decision is already made. Pickup moved that moment of accountability earlier, where it can actually do something. It also gave me back the time I was spending wandering the aisles. I work full-time. That time matters. And if I’m being honest, it created a space for discipline I didn’t know I was capable of. And for a bonus, my store shows you all of the coupons you may have missed on items in your cart before you check out, adding to the savings.
AI Tools. And finally, the tool that made all of this possible. When I decided to write a blog, I invested in AI tools. I started with ChatGPT and built a website, and have since moved to Claude. I tried the free version, and it was great for mild usage, but I was building something that took hours at a time and I found myself quickly running out of usage trying to get things off the ground. I could never have created a website on my own before. It was hard and I shed many tears, but I did it. Before AI, it would have been a pipe dream. I never could have afforded the thousands of dollars it takes to pay someone to create one for you. My dream would still be living in my head, shelved away as another that’ll never happen for me item in the library of impossibilities. The same AI tools that helped me research these items and decide what was worth investing in are the ones that made this dream a reality — that allowed a nurse and a mom with basic Word and medical documentation skills to use technology to create a blog and a journal.
This is your journey.
There will be people who judge you for what you decide is valuable to you. But that is the beautiful thing about value — it only has to matter to you. Ramit’s whole point is to build your rich life, not to keep up with the Joneses or spend on what everyone else says you should. I had a dentist a long time ago who was terribly rude and critical of his hygienist because she mentioned picking up her grocery order after work. He called her lazy. Here was a man who never had to go to the grocery store himself. He worked all day, had a wife who took care of that for him, and had things ready when he got home — and there he sat, criticizing her, who had been there all day with him but still had to get the groceries and make dinner. As I became healthier, I left that practice, having noted other uncomfortable situations and attitudes. But the thing is, this represents so many of us — women especially. Society often calls our “shortcuts” laziness or signs that we are failures as women. We are expected to do it all and do it “the right way.” And we do this to each other too. Like my comment to my friend about just using a knife — we judge others and ourselves, seeing help and innovation as weakness. I see it as wisdom and growth. It takes healing to be able to tune out the noise of ads and the opinions of what others think you need or should be doing, to recognize what you truly value, and to do what you need to do to live the healthiest version of you.
It’s not about the stuff. The real pattern is all-or-nothing thinking. It keeps you stuck, broke, and judging yourself for not having enough, not doing it right, or not having the next cool gadget promoted on social media. I almost did it with this very post — waited until I had finished the entire Ramit workbook before I let myself write about my experiences. Same pattern. Different cabinet. The food processor sat unused because getting it all out felt like too much. This post almost sat the same way. Notice where the friction is. Get to know yourself — your struggles, your patterns — and see what is causing the most stress and keeping you stuck. Simply having a handheld vacuum was like a key that unlocked my ability to move through my house and make cleaning decisions more easily. What is it for you? What is quietly costing you in time, money, anxiety, and avoidance? Deliberately, patiently, and at the right price point — invest in yourself.
Want to start at the beginning? Read my full review: Financial Self-Care: My Review of I Will Teach You to Be Rich
