$16 Muffins and What We Can Learn From Them
The Department of Justice spent $4000 for 250 muffins. Doesn’t it seem sort of extravagant when you do the math? They also spent $121 million on conferences in a two year period including $600,000 on event planning. Now our cash strapped country has to pay the piper for such lavish spending. So what can you learn from such wasteful spending? Accountability and fiscal responsibility come to mind.
As we headed into a recession the government kept spending and spending. Soon we found ourselves deeper and deeper in debt. Rather than cutting back or at least try to control spending by purchasing cheaper muffins, getting competitive bids or hiring a full time staff member they continued down a path of irresponsibility. Obviously now drastic measures need to be taken to reduce spending, cutting costs and reducing debt; all this while trying to stimulate our troubled economy. Or they will need to come up with more money, aka raising taxes.
So what exactly does this have to do with you? While it is really quite simple, when times are tough it make sense to cut back on the little things to reduce spending rather than continuing on a path of debt and self-destruction. Things like skipping the mani-pedi, brewing your own coffee, bringing a bagged lunch or working a second job are small sacrifices you could easily do to save money and fund your emergency fund. By having such a fund, if something happens like your car breaks down or your roof leaks you will have the money to repair it. You wouldn’t have to incur debt or make drastic financial decisions.
Obviously there will always be the individual who continues to spend $300 on a pair of shoes so people won’t think they are hurting financially. But the truth is that you can only do that for so long before you get in over your head. At some point it isn’t about brewing your own coffee, it becomes about selling your assets such as your annuity, your car or your home just to survive. No one likes bill collectors and being in debt isn’t a picnic either therefore wouldn’t it make sense to live within your means and create a budget you can stick to?
Rescue Capital has a few tools on their website that can help you to reach your goal of financial responsibility. We are also looking into developing other tools too so if you have any suggestions on new tools or ways we can improve the ones we have just email us at rescuecapital@gmail.com
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