Discomfort Academy #87
How Much Is Your Laziness Costing You, Building Inner Strength, Enshittification of the Internet
Good News Everyone!
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How Much Is Your Laziness Costing You?
I’m currently reading “The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living” by Daisy Luther. Some people dislike frugality and others embrace it. If you are in the “dislike” camp, I suggest your learn more about it. There will be a turning point, like a flip of a switch in your mind, when you stop thinking about frugality as deprivation and will think of it as a game. What else can I save money on?
It’s the accumulation of small money-saving decisions that make huge difference in your budget. You might think, why read multiple books on frugality, as one should cover the topic pretty well. They do, but the neat thing here is a frugality book might have a 100 ideas on what you could save on, and you already knew 95 of them, but there will be 5 new one you can decide to implement in your life. The other 95 will just confirm your previous knowledge and that you are on the right track. They also range from light frugality to extreme, and you can learn from both ends of the spectrum.
One recent example from my life: we order drinking water in big 5-gallon bottles to drink as a family (we tried filtering tap water but there’s too many minerals in the water here so that didn’t work out). I used to order these from a local company at $10 CAD (Canadian Dollar) per bottle. They deliver it to the porch of the house so it’s very convenient. I knew I could refill these bottles myself in a nearby grocery store but I thought it was too much hassle and, honestly, I was just lazy.
I’ve decided to try it once - go through the motions of preparing the bottle and the cap (lid), driving to the store, figuring out how the water dispenser at the store works and how to pay for the refill at the self-checkout. We tested the water at home by smelling it, tasting it and boiling it (no residue), so we have confirmed it’s the same level of quality as the water we were ordering to be delivered to the house.
Can you guess how much it costs to refill a 5-gallon bottle by yourself at the store
$2.95! That’s more than 3X cheaper!
Let’s say my family goes through 10 such bottles per month, here is the comparison of the monthly cost of water:
Delivery: 10 * $10 per bottle = $100/mo
DIY Refills: 10 * $3 = $30/mo
Pretty big difference I’d say.
Note: Yes, there’s fuel cost involved in getting to the store, but it’s really close to us and we need to buy groceries there often anyway so it’s done in the same trip.
What is it then? I was paying a 200%+ tax on my own laziness?
If you met me before I’ve started learning about personal finance and frugality, and asked what option I’d choose for getting the water, I know I would have gone with getting water delivered because of all the hassle involved. Now I’m loving that hassle because each little money-saving change like that really adds up.
I understand that a small habit like that alone is not enough to change anyone’s overall financial situation. The key is that there’s a way to do similar little adjustments in a lot of our other expenses, like subscriptions, energy usage, fuel, etc. There’s way more I want to say on the topic of money saving, but I think that’s enough for today :) I’ll start including materials on this topic in the future DA newsletters and videos.
Videos
David Goggins: How to Build Immense Inner Strength | Andrew Huberman
I’ve been saving this interview for you. I’ve watched it when it first came out in the beginning of 2024, and it’s been on my mind ever since. I’m sure I will rewatch it multiple times going forward.
An important mindset shift I had after watching this interview is that now I try not to rely on external sources like books or other people’s experiences to get all lessons and answers. Instead, I try to analyze my experience, and through self-reflection correct my behaviour, hold myself to a higher standard, synthesize my own insights, decisions and form my view of the world.
The Internet Is Starting To Break - Here’s Why | Mrwhosetheboss
I’ve been reading here and there about the “enshittification” of technology, various examples of how innovative companies start out amazingly well, giving us unprecedented conveniences at unbelievable prices, but, eventually, under the weight of shareholder obligations and sometimes just due to greed, they are offering worse and worse services while raising prices. Basically, once they have enough customers acquired by too-good-to-be-sustainable offerings, they use whatever they can to squeeze out maximum profit out of them.
As you know I’m a big proponent of entrepreneurship and free market, so I realize that in order to survive and thrive companies need to make profit. I just think that the ideal is not profit at all costs, but something I’d call “honest capitalism” where a company offers the best products or services it can at fair prices. Thus, a trust in a brand is built in customers and they don’t feel like the company is using them. Some examples of companies like that: Patagonia, Costco.
This video does a great job of explaining the “enshittification” at work at various companies like Uber, Amazon, Netflix and many more. By being informed, we can fight these trends by our spending decisions.
Aside: We cancelled Netflix around 2 years ago I think and we don’t miss it. The best frugal strategy I found when it comes to streaming services (like Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Max, Paramount+, etc) is to cycle them. Have one subscription at a time. An example of what that looks like: subscribe to Disney+ for 2-3 months, watch all the shows there that you really wanted to (exclusives and such), then cancel your subscription and move on to the next streaming service like Netflix for a couple of months. Rinse and repeat.
If you’re hardcore, ditch streaming services altogether (I’m not there yet as we still have our Disney+ subscription).
How I Make 20 Healthy Meals for $30 | Brian Lagerstrom
One of the best things you can do for your budget and health is to learn to cook from scratch. Brian provides perfect examples in this video on how you can eat well on a budget.
Quotes
“I would rather have my people laugh at my economies than weep for my extravagance.”
— King Oscar of Sweden (1829-1907)
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or he can tap twenty-thousand times on one tree and get dinner.”
— Seth Godin, “The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit”
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Stay discomfy,
Alex Kallaway
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