Buy the umbrella

If a small purchase can enable an experience, that might be a wise use of cash

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to buy the umbrella. Money is a tool
to enable the life you want. If a small purchase

(00:25):
would enable an experience that you want to have, then
this is probably a good use of money. So the
topic of today's episode came to me when I found
myself lacking an umbrella. I own a great mini umbrellas,
but I had not thought to bring one with me
on my recent beach vacation with my family. Hurricane Aeron

(00:48):
swept up the East Coast, resulting in some very rainy
days at the beach. I looked for an umbrella in
the rental house so I could go for a walk
and not feel so cooped up, but I came up short. However,
I did take my kids to Target to go back
to school shopping, because hey, we couldn't go to the beach.

(01:08):
They had their school supply lists and they dutifully chose
the right number of folders and notebooks. And then as
we were walking toward checkout, I saw a display of umbrellas. Now,
my frugal soul reminded me that Hello, you own half
a dozen umbrellas, but those umbrellas at my reel house

(01:28):
weren't doing me much good at the beach. An umbrella
at the beach would enable me to escape the house
and walk around the adorable Victorian town where we were staying,
So I decided to spend the twenty dollars. I went
for a rather adventurous walk amid the wind and the rain,

(01:49):
and felt much more able to face a household of
kids who were upset that they couldn't go into the ocean.
Perhaps you two have faced a situation where you would
like to have an experience, but it seems a little wasteful.
You could walk with your new colleague to Starbucks and
talk with them and get to know them, but you know,
isn't there a pot of coffee and your break rim already?

(02:11):
You could get the rack for your car that would
enable you to bring your bike to that beautiful trail
you keep seeing, But let's think about it, how often
are you really going to do that. You could buy
a cheapish plane ticket to go visit your college roommate,
but you could only go for one night over the weekend,
and doesn't that seem a bit profligate. Well, I am

(02:32):
a pretty cheap person, but I am here to give
you permission to go ahead and make a small purchase
that will enable you to have an experience that you
truly want. Not if you are drowning in debt, of course,
and not if you are the sort of person who
treats yourself all the time. But I am guessing that
is not the case for a lot of people who

(02:53):
are listening to this Before Breakfast listeners are very responsible,
so know this money is a tool to be used.
Life is all about the experiences we have. I am
not entirely sure what else I would have done with
the twenty dollars I spent on the umbrella. That would

(03:13):
have been much better, and I realized that that is
a very privileged place to be. But once we get
past the point of counting every penny, those pennies can
start to enable some fun things. A walk in the
rain is much better with an umbrella. So if an
umbrella would enable that walk you want to take, go

(03:35):
ahead and get it. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

(03:59):
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.