January 6, 2022
Hoarding Batteries
In our house, we make sure to have a whole bunch of AA batteries on hand around the holidays.
Why?
Because it’s a big bummer when one of the kids unwraps a cool toy that they can’t use because the batteries were not included.
Whomp whomp!
So...
Having enough AA batteries on hand gives me peace of mind.
But...
How much is enough?
Tough to say exactly, but given our history it’s definitely more than five, and definitely less than fifty.
In other words, I can’t imagine any plausible scenario where we need more than fifty AA batteries on hand.
Keeping any more than we could conceivably use would be hoarding batteries.
And hoarding batteries would be foolish because:
- Having way more than you can use probably won’t produce much additional peace of mind.
- The money spent acquiring the surplus surely could have been spent on something more useful.
- The surplus batteries will slowly lose their power while sitting in storage.
Here’s the thing...
Money is like batteries.
Hoarding it is foolish because:
- Having way more than you can use probably won’t produce much additional peace of mind.
- The time spent acquiring the surplus surely could have been spent on something more useful.
- The surplus dollars will slowly lose their buying power while sitting in storage.
The trick is to know how much is enough.
Yours,
—J