Inconvenienced by convenience

I sent my wife an instant message the other day. She was 20 feet away in another room.

Things have gotten too simple. But I guess that's the role of convenience. Convenience is meant to make our lives and things we do in our lives easier. But if you ask me, I believe we have squeezed all the blood our of this convenience turnip, and are now victims of convenience for convenience sake. What am I talking about?

• Chicken breasts cost $5/lb. A whole chicken costs $.90/lb.

• Mowing your lawn may take you 45 minutes, yet pay $30/week to have someone else do it.

• Owning so much crap that you pay a monthly fee to store it at a storage facility instead of taking the time to sort and discard.

• Using online banking as a crutch for your general lack of self-awareness. If you are logging on everyday, then you really aren't in touch with your spending.

The strangest aspect of convenience is that it has now become the primary justification for spending money in unnecessary instances. In addition, marketers take advantage of our convenience ignorance by selling us tools of convenience. Take the time to think through your spending, and try to identify your unnecessary purchases of convenience. Sometimes it's worth it, but I've found that most of the time it's not.