Good With Money

How we look at value these days seems to have changed from long ago. We used to consider that anything that was fit for purpose and was built to last was valuable. That is no longer the case. We now give things the value that some marketer tells us they are worth or we value them because some celebrity is using them.

Take the humble plastic bottle as an example. It is perfectly designed. It does exactly what is expected of it and it lasts for hundreds of years, depending on the type of plastic it has been made from. But, we cannot wait to throw it away when used only once. Why? No I don’t have the answer. But, if someone has, I would love to hear it.

If you buy your fizzy drink in a plastic bottle, and we all do, why do we not wash the bottle and use it to store things in the fridge or to bring water with us next time we go for a walk. No, we go and buy a new bottle of water, unnecessarily spending more money. Or, we go and buy some heavy duty sports bottle with nothing in it and pay a small fortune for it only to abandone it a few weeks later because it is no longer in the fashionable colour or we decided that it is too heavy or for some other silly reason.

Take cars as another example. In many western countries (I don’t know about other parts of the world from experience so can’t talk about them) people use the motor car as an accessory. They may originally buy a car for transport, but then discover that it is so much more than that. It is a status symbol and a fashion statement. Suddenly the economical little rubabout that was a good and sensible buy when you were thinking of bringing the kids to school and getting to work has, in your mind, turned into a crock that you cannot wait to get rid of because your friends all have four by fours or beamers. These big engine’d cars burn through fuel at an alarming rate and cost vast amounts of money to run, but now you see them as a must have. Strangely, this never crossed your mind when you were travelling by bus or in other people’s cars.

This seems to apply to both sexes. I drive a thirteen year old car today and it is just now starting to give me trouble. The decision now is do I change it or fix it? Well the answer today is fix it because I like the car and anyway I cannot afford to replace it just now, and probably will not be able to replace it for some time. But, though I admire the Jeeps and Range Rovers I see around me I would not buy one. They use too much fuel and are very wasteful of the world’s resources in running and production, just so that we can drive around looking cool. I don’t think so.

We value things based on what others think. So why don’t we express our own views and maybe change the opinions of others because they value things based on our opinions. Stop following, start leading and value the things that are of value to us not what we are told to value or just because they cost a lot of money.

Be Sociable, Share!

•