When I think about bills, I annualize them. $30 a month? That’s $360 a year. $5/mo? $60 a year.

I use this to help me grasp the long term cost of all my decisions, but nobody else I know does this.

For instance, my brother and I are moving soon into 2 separate apartments (we currently share a 2 bedroom) and the new complex doesn’t have Google Fiber Internet. I complained to my brother that on top of everything else I’ll have to pay $5/mo extra for Google extended storage I was getting for free.

He said it’s only $5/mo, just get and don’t worry about it. I was like, that’s $60 a year which is basically a Costco membership. He said “oh hmm, good point yeah”

So I’ll work on reducing my storage usage on Google to be able to stay on the free tier, but am I alone in thinking this way about everything I buy?

  • PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.comEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I tend to buy subscriptions at the yearly rate because it saves money over a monthly subscription (except Adobe…fuck Adobe). The affordability of monthly installments is bought, in a sense, by paying more over time.

    So, no, you’re definitely not alone.

  • GenericBob@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I also do this, I’m not entirely sure how much storage you were getting for free but if you look into Google 1 I am getting 200 gigs for $30 a year. But I have a Google “family” and it provides a separate 200 gb to each member

  • IonAddis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I don’t do it, no.

    I think tricks of this sort highly depend on your individual brain and what things make it go, “Oh.” And that tends to be slightly different for everyone, as different people are more or less sensitive to certain things or ways of framing an idea.

  • AlecSadler@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m…sort of inverse? I daily-ize them.

    That way on a day to day basis I know if I’m trending up…or down…or what have you. If my “daily” cost to exist passes some threshold, it’s cause for alarm.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Since I use budgeting software, the monthly to yearly totals are always there in my face, so I don’t have to “think” about applying this to bills.

    But I like to use that way of thinking to illustrate how “small” purchases add up.

    Some people, for example, get a coffee every day. “But it’s only $2”. OK, but would you want to pay $730 a year for bad coffee?

    Apply that to smoking, drinking, eating out, etc., and you can see how these optional expenses can destroy your wallet over time.