Every Expense Spared

It is human nature that we all, at one point or another, want to reward ourselves for something we've done, some little gift or treat to give ourselves a pat on the back, or just cheer ourselves up.

Nothing wrong with that.

What is an issue though is the old saying "no expense spared" which basically means, it does not matter what it costs, it is a reward and it does not matter what it costs.

Of course it does, and what it costs, over the long term, affects the end game.

I've adopted a little opposite catchphrase, basically, every expense spared, but making sure that the reward is still a reward, that the pat of the back is still there, that if I need cheering up, it does not have to cost the moon.

A good example of this is the cost of hotels and this story actually goes back a decade or so, to those days that we nicknamed our "polo pony" days. We booked a four-star hotel for one night in Toronto (we lived 60km away) and it was $240 for the night.

What did we get for our money?

Well, we arrived there as we could book in after 3.00pm, checked in threw our stuff in the room, maybe gazed in wonder at the room for ten minutes (it was almost a small apartment)  then headed out to the pubs and clubs of Toronto.

We arrived back at probably 11.00pm and basically drank a bottle of wine while watching one of the TVs (there were two in the room) and then slept, woke up in the morning, showered and then checked out to go for breakfast.

Two hundred and Forty dollars, plus taxes probably, maybe even parking was extra.

It was the post mortem of that trip that made the pair of us realize that there was little "value added" by paying over the odds for a cold hotel room (we could have payed a hundred bucks less at a three-star) plus of course, we had to pay for our own breakfast.

It was then that we investigated the higher end bed and breakfast scene in Toronto, I think we bought a book that listed the top 100 B&Bs in the area, and the prices usually topped out at $120 for an overnight stay, including two cooked (and usually very impressive) breakfasts.

It was an example of backing away from the "no expense spared" philosophy and actually obtaining a better experience, a more personable experience and saving enough money to have another one at a future date.