Reality Reflection: Good Enough

Laura

April 13

Over the Christmas season I made gingerbread cookies for the first time. My mom used to make them occasionally, but she typically just makes the 'fan favorite' cookies, and that means that gingerbread is not on the list. So even though I knew that everyone wouldn't love them, I really wanted to make them (and eat them!), so I did. I perused dozens of recipes and ended up with one that I customized just a little bit based on what I saw in other recipes and feedback that people posted with the recipe. And to everyone's surprise (even those who don't usually like gingerbread) they were delicious! It made the holidays extra special to be able to make and enjoy gingerbread cookies, and share them proudly with others.

I was thinking about this in part because the other day I picked up a little bit of macaroni salad from the store. I rarely eat deli salads and have never had this brand before, but I know the brand and usually like the quality that they sell so I figured I would give it a try. It was good but not perfect and the phrase "it's cheaper to make it on your own" came to mind because I'm sure that someone would say that it costs less to put together the ingredients and make my own macaroni salad than it did to buy and I would then get to have the exact flavor profile I was hoping for (because we're not exactly talking caviar or wagyu or other super expensive ingredients). And while it may be true that it would cost less, I don't believe it actually would. Sure I could freeze the rest of the celery and pepper that I didn't use to make the 1-2 cup portion I was interested in eating, sure I could keep the left over macaroni and it would probably still be good the next time 6-12 months from now I have a craving for it, but even with doing those things, I'd still have some waste and still be putting in the hour or more for just a tiny amount of food and would it be worth it? Maybe if I was interested in having a tested-and-approved macaroni salad recipe to share with others, but I'm not.

I love saving money and being smart with money as much as the next person. But I'd like to think that I'm pretty decent about knowing when it makes sense to do the leg work to either save money or get a specific outcome, or spend money and get a result that's close enough to what I was looking for. Are you learning to be wiser about money and time as you get older?