Day 6, Not Being Microcharged

One of the interesting side-effects of the PCP is that I'm saving money. I keep on opening my wallet and finding more money than I expected in it. I'm spending a lot of money on vegetables and especially fruit, but I still have some cash left at the end of the day.

When you're online or on Itunes, and you're thinking about buying a song for 99 cents, you think about it a little bit. Do you really want this song? Even though it's only 99 cents, it's still money, and at the end of the month all those 99 cent purchases add up don't they? You already have a lot of music, maybe you'll let this purchase wait and see if you still really want it in a few days. Maybe it's just me but that's the process I go through on Itunes.

But it's funny, I never think twice about buying a 99 cent coffee can from a vending machine, or even a $4 dollar coffee drink at Staabaa. Or a 150 yen string cheese stick for a snack, or a 250 egg sandwich from the 7-11. But with this plan, all extraneous calories have been cut, so it's not even an option to go by the vending machine or the convenience store.

So I'm avoiding all these little microcharges that accumulate over the week and sap your wallet of it's 1000 yen bills ($10). And the money I do spend on food and drinks is for actual product. Real vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. I was surprised the other day by how heavy my shopping bag was after I went to the supermarket, even though I'd only spent 3000 yen. It was because the money had gone into plain, basic, food matter, rather than packaging and chemicals.

So even if you're not on anything like the PCP, evaluate how you're getting microcharged for things without even noticing it. The insidious thing is that these companies have spent millions and millions of dollars figuring out exactly how to sell things so that you won't really notice how much you're hemorrhaging in these nickel and dime purchases. Let's stop giving big corporations our extra cash and start putting it into our own health!