Reduce, reuse, recycle. Find alternatives to spending.

"A dollar saved is two dollars earned" is a principle from The Wealthy Barber. Essentially there are costs incurred to make money which must be considered when evaluating purchases.

Costs incurred to make money include:

• income taxes (30-50%?)
• transportation costs
• food, clothing, health/medical care
• inflation

Costs incurred to spend money include:

• sales taxes (15%)
• product comparison, research
• defective product returns
• learning features/maintenance of new product
• transportation and time spent to buy the products

When tempted to buy, double the price in your mind before weighing the purchase against long-term savings and investments.