Queen Mother Blog

I would never in a million years call myself "high maintenance." Just recently, though, I pulled a bit of a stunt on my husband at a restaurant. We were at the beach and I really wanted 'a good seafood platter', particularly clam strips. I don't know why I had that craving in my head, but sometimes you just really want something, right? Well anyway, the time came to pick a restaurant and I let my husband pick a place ;-) We were seated and ordered our drinks when we realized that....GASP! There was not a single clam strip at the place. Instead this was a sandwich joint with highly overpriced salads and sandwiches. I started getting upset, because I was frustrated at the fact that I was going to pay $15 for a salad (yes, $15!) that I didn't really want & I'd probably be pouty about no clams all the way home.

Yes, I know that I might sound like a prima donna, but my husband wisely suggested that we just leave and go to a different place where I'd be happy. I'm not going to speak for all women here, but I know that I would usually just complain through the meal and for a while afterward, that this was not what I wanted, but feel some sort of obligation to stay. Instead, I decided that I would be happier if we just paid for the drinks and left. After getting the drinks to go and leaving a little tip to our would-be waitress, we went to a seafood place and ended up both loving our food and had a good time. I realized that for the cost of some sodas, I ended up being much happier and it was way worth it.

I just read this article called "Some Thoughts on the Sunk Cost Fallacy" on one of my favorite personal finance blogs, The Simple Dollar. Though what the author is talking about is a little bit different, it really made me think that sometimes we fall into a trap of doing something out of a false sense of obligation. I think we'd all be a bit freer if we all realized his point that sunk costs can "convince you to make a poor choice about how to spend your time." Some times you just gotta let go of that little bit of money and not let it hold you captive!