Your Habits Have a Price Tag
Picture a retired couple named Pat and Lou, both sixty-four. Over breakfast one morning, Pat starts a list of the habits that fill their year, and next to each she writes what it costs. She has never done this before. They chose these habits long ago and have kept them ever since.
What five habits cost in a year, and what they might cost after a move (an illustration)
| Habit | At home | After a move |
|---|---|---|
| A four-bedroom house with two empty bedrooms | $17,000 | $7,000 |
| Two cars | $13,000 | $3,000 |
| Memberships, subscriptions and service contracts | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| A big weekly shop, and the food that gets thrown away | $11,000 | $8,000 |
| Lawn, pool, gutters and a handyman on call | $5,000 | $500 |
| Total | $52,000 | $20,500 |
The right-hand column assumes a two-bedroom apartment, taxis and trains in place of cars, and smaller, more frequent shopping. The difference is $31,500 a year.
Pat looks at the list for a long time. Each habit made sense when they began it, with children at home, a lawn to mow, and a job that kept them in one town. The habits kept running after the reasons had gone.
Writing the list does not mean giving anything up. That is a separate step. Pat decides she would keep the garden and let the pool go. Lou decides he would keep one car for a year and test whether he misses the second.
A habit is a decision made once, which then spends money every year without asking. The price is easy to miss because it arrives in small pieces: a membership here, a service contract there.
You might say these are the costs of the life they like. Some are. Pat’s garden is. The list helps them tell the habits they love from the habits they merely kept.
These figures are an illustration, and each household’s list will differ.
You could write your own five habits and, next to each, what it costs in a year. You could add a second column for a place you are curious about.
On our calculator, you choose a way of living and a household size and see what it would cost in each country we cover. Pricing your own habits first may help you pick the way of living to enter.
Which habit on your list surprised you? Tell us in the comments. Someone reading may be about to write theirs.
Tell us in the comments