Hi! What did you have for dinner tonight? Was it good? I hope so! Because I had butt. Well, not literal butt – rump roast is actually pretty tasty – but my dinner tasted like the south end of a northbound horse. Or the scent of the newest celebrity “designed” perfume. Or anything coming out of AskMen.com. Pick your favorite garbage analogy. (Okay, so to prove my point I just went to AskMen and clicked on the #1 story for today. It’s called “Why Masculinity Can’t Be Bought” and it’s actually really interesting. So maybe it’s time I forgive them for their awful “Subtle Ways to Tell Her She’s Getting Fat” piece? Nah.) Anyhow, back to my disgusting dinner. Thanks to the combination of 98 degree weather and my new workout called Shoving Stuff in Boxes That I Forget to Label Thereby Making Future Unpacking Like The Funnest Game Ever, the only thing I had time for was a scoop of protein powder mixed with cold water. (Plus we’re cleaning out our cabinets and we’re down to our “weird” food. Anyone want three jars of clam juice??)
Now this is not your average slightly icky powder. This stuff is hands down the vilest concoction I have ever tasted. It’s made up mostly of hemp (which you would think would make you, like, kinda floaty happy but it totally doesn’t), pea and brown rice proteins. It was then flavored to taste like “berry” but only if you’re talking about the kind of berries that deer poop. The mixture even turns a hideous shade of gritty brown to keep the streak (hah!) going. I held my nose and chugged the whole 18 ounces in one fell swoop to overcome my gag reflex.
So why oh why would I be doing this to myself? Especially when I had tasty food available to me! Did I have to review it? Was it especially healthy? Did someone I love make it? No, not particularly and heck to the no. I drank it because I spent $75 on the stupid canister. And I cannot waste it, especially when I spent that much money on it. (Seriously who spends $75 on protein powder?!)
Sunk cost fallacy in living color, my friends.
For those of you who’ve blocked out your college finance classes (and I’m totally not judging you for that – Macroeconomics made me want to impale my eyes with a 3-D bar chart), the sunk cost fallacy refers to any situation where you have paid for something but then no longer want it yet refuse to give it up because, duh, you paid for it. Even if holding on to the thing is costing you more money (or in my case, intestinal distress). The typical example given is to imagine you purchase a non-refundable movie ticket but you get to the movie and it totally blows. Do you leave and lose the cost of the ticket? Or do you stay and lose the cost of your time (and in the case of Tommy Boy, your sanity)? When you ask people what others should do, they generally recommend cutting the losses and moving on to what you really want. But surprisingly, if you look at what people usually do themselves, they often stick with it like white on rice.
Economists offer a lot of theories as to why people waste their time and money like this. First, there’s the pride issue. Giving up the item would prove you made a mistake and people really don’t like to admit their mistakes. (Charlie Sheen, anyone?) Next, there’s the thrift issue. Okay, so maybe you hate the movie but perhaps you can fashion a zingy new purse out of all the candy wrappers on the floor? That would be totally worth it! And lastly, there’s the dumb issue. We keep thinking of the money we spent as “ours” even though we gave it away to someone else. “Can’t waste MY money!” “Going to get MY money’s worth!” “Going to gag MYSELF with MY vile protein powder that I bought with MY hard-earned dough!” (Mmm… dough.)
And nowhere do I see the sunk cost fallacy more than in the health and fitness world. Consider that treadmill-turned-coat rack in your basement. That BOSU leaning up against your wall. Those pricey pants you bought for the brand name and then realized they make you look like a menstrual explosion Superfund site. The 5-lb bag of chia seeds you bought but never use because there is just not enough floss in the world to make them worth it. Or, my personal fave, the gym membership that you never use, feel horribly guilty about and yet still keeping paying monthly fees on. And yet no matter how embarrassing, annoying or even expensive these things get, we keep chugging the proverbial swill. (In my case that would be literal.)
So how do we break the cycle? Researchers suggest:
1. Acknowledge the money is gone and it’s not coming back. It’s not your money any more. You set it free, it didn’t return, clearly it was never meant to be yours. Or whatever that saying is. Do whatever you need to do to come to terms with that. Grieve, have a farewell party, throw sticky darts at the screen whenever the infomercial comes on.
2. Look at all the ways it is costing you now. Not only did my protein powder cost me $75 but it cost me to store it in my cupboard for the past year (it’s a big container!), it cost me in mental pain every time I saw it sitting on my shelf mocking me, it cost me in gustatory dissatisfaction. And it cost me in tummy aches. Because I have one now.
3. Make a decision. It’s amazing how much we can cause to happen simply by not making a decision. Because choosing not to do something is still making a choice. Tonight I finally realized that there is no way I am moving that thing to Denver just so it can take up space in a new house. So I’ve decided I’m chucking it.
4. Figure out what you did wrong so you can avoid it in the future. Really this whole situation could have been avoided had I tasted the stuff first. Or read up some reviews on it. Or stood up to the high-pressure salesman who talked me into it.
But first I’m going to start by brushing my teeth. I’m still picking hemp turdlets out of my gums! And then I’d best start reconsidering my shoe collection… especially that gorgeous pair of silver heels that hurt so badly to walk in that I call them “my sitting shoes.” (But I got them on a killer sale!!)
Make me feel better: Have any of you bought something that was a mistake but couldn’t let go of it because you paid good money for it? Or is it easy for you to weigh the pros and cons and give it up? (And if so, teach me your ways!)
*Do I win for longest title ever???
Holy crap I love nerd humor!
I can definitely relate to this post! I too used to have a pair of ‘sitting’ shoes – I called them my dinner shoes. They were on sale (but still pretty expensive) and still to this day the most gorgeous pair of shoes I have ever owned. I was so dazzled by their beauty I did not notice how difficult it was to walk in them. I wore them out dancing and nearly died! I lasted about five minutes before having to sit down for the rest of the night while my friends laughed at me. I think I wore them twice more after that, but literally could not walk in them. I had to be dropped at the door of the restaurant and immediately sit down. My husband could not understand why I kept wearing them! I even packed them to move cross country. When I moved internationally, I only had one suitcase. I tried to justify taking them with me but sensibly ended up giving them to good-will. Someone out there has a rocking pair of shoes!
Haha – and I’d be the girl buying your insensible shoes at Goodwill and then killing myself to wear them;)
I think there’s an optimist factor in here today. It’s one thing to buy food that tastes horrible but not want to throw it out because you spent so much on it, but I think with exercise equipment and gym memberships, in addition to all the other reasons, people want to think they’ll use it. They want to think they’ll change in some way (their schedule, muscle mass, weight, stress, something) – that’s why they bought it in the first place. It’s not just admitting that they “wasted” their money, it’s also admitting that they didn’t carry through with losing weight/getting healthy etc.
and by the end of my last move (which was within the same state, granted) I was throwing random things in laundry baskets and duffel bags without labels or organization. As long as it gets there! 🙂
In here too, not in here today! Sorry-iPhone autocorrect strikes again haha.
Good point about boundless optimism being a factor too! And considering I’m a closet optimist it makes a lot of sense for me;) Also: duffel bags = genius. Thank you.
Well timed article! I am in the midst of cleaning and decluttering and I have such a hard time getting rid of things. Especially shoes and I really do have a lot of shoes (I think of myself as a collector…unfortunately, they do take up space). Anyone want a pair of Anne Klein pumps, size 5 1/2? I thought they were fine when I tried them on/bought them. Wore them to dinner and a movie – read: mostly sitting – and I was limping by the end of the night. Obviously not meant for my feet, but still in my closet because they are so dang pretty!
My goodness you have tiny elf feet!! I do love Anne Klein though:)
dont ask me.
I go too too too far the other way and GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY.
Ooh I’m the same way when it comes to household stuff. We are literally moving 4 pieces of furniture (1 couch, 1 chair, 1 table, 1 bed) and the rest got sold or passed on to someone else lol.
I find this same dynamic with food–you know, the “I’ve put it on my plate so I shouldn’t let it go to waste” mentality. Clearly this is ridiculous if it’s food I don’t need; afterall, it would be wasted in my body anyway and just turn into fat! Somehow, though, in the moment, it can be so hard to be mindful and just go with what I’m actually wanting/needing. Have you ever experienced this?
Oh totally! I still fight this urge to this day… Intuitive eating helps but it’s a hard mentality to escape especially if you grew up that way.
Switching coasts twice a year with our crazy bicoastal life would, you’d think, have cured me of this, yet I have often shipped the same damn unworn shoes, clothes etc back and forth more than once before I finally acknowledge that I am not every wearing them. But then every now and then I’ll rediscover, say, a pair of jeans that now mysteriously fit better and they’ll become my new faves. Which then makes it hard to toss out any of the rest I don’t wear. Sigh.
Love your description of step number one! Gotta work on that one.
“But then every now and then I’ll rediscover, say, a pair of jeans that now mysteriously fit better and they’ll become my new faves. Which then makes it hard to toss out any of the rest I don’t wear. ” Oh no, don’t tell me this! Now I have the urge to go try on all the jeans I put in the donate pile… you know, just in case;)
Relationships. I’m currently considering whether I want to stay with my partner (she broke up with me and now wants to be back together), and we’ve had about 2.5 years together. That’s a hard thing to leave out of the equation.
I hadn’t even considered it from the relationship angle but it makes perfect sense! And the investment of time is probably even a more powerful motivator than money… Good luck with your decision! It sounds wrenching:(
I did the EXACT same thing with protein powder! Gave in to the high-pressure sales pitch (and the guilt for taking up so much of the small store-owner’s time, feeling as though I HAD to buy it!), kept it in the cupboard for a year, choked down a scoop every now and then, and finally tossed it when we moved.
I, too, try to remember that excess food in my tummy is still wasted food. That my insides are not a garbage can or a compost heap. 🙂
YES! This is exactly what happened to me. And why I’m only buying my supplements/protein powder online now, lolol…
I swear I had that exact same protein powder; thank goodness I only bought the small, $15 container.
Another option other than tossing it: List it on Freecycle or the free section of Craigslist. I just betcha that Hemp-Pea-Berry-DeerPoop is somebody else’s favorite protein powder, and they’ll be thrilled to take it. I myself have received open containers of coffee that somebody else didn’t like but I thought it was great.
Good idea! I would gladly give it to someone who would want it!
Oh god, my fiance the economist throws the sunk cost fallacy at me all the time. Drives me crazy! I often try to apply it to keeping the clothes I never wear, eating food I don’t like, and staying on vacations that suck. The latest was when he told me I was applying it to our wedding when I said we should have just eloped but we’d already paid deposits. (I was kidding. Mostly. Why does every single person think they should have a say in the seating chart?) Anyhow, the point is, don’t know if it makes you feel any better but I do it ALL the time. I have a very hard time being “wasteful”.
Is it terrible that now I really want to see pics of your wedding?? I love weddings. (And I also love that I’m not the only one who does this hahah!)
I keep all kinds of clothes that don’t fit (too small) with the thought they should “motivate” me. Ha! All they do is depress me, frankly. But I am loathe to toss them or donate them or sell them, because gosh darn it, I spent all that money on them, they are so cute, and I absolutely WILL fit into them someday, if only when I’m rotting in my casket.
Off topic, but I clicked over to the Men’s Health article. While the title is definitely a bit vile, I don’t really think it’s all that bad. The suggestions are good ones, and they make a point for the guy to take a good look at himself, too. In fact, if you think of this as a “how to help your girlfriends get fit as a group” almost all of the ideas pitched would be applauded.
And by “girlfriends get fit as a a group” I mean girl SPACE friends, like females helping females (like you’d read in a women’s health mag or something of the sort).
The suggestions themselves weren’t awful but Yeah, it still bugs me. I think it’s the tone. I just don’t like the idea of anyone else giving unsolicited advice like that. I mean, it’s different if your girlfriend or girl friend asks you for help but the idea of ambushing someone leaves me with an icky feeling.
The $75 might not be too crazy if you bought the 5 gallon bucket. My husband likes to buy two 5 gallon buckets at a time because his protein powder dealer (chain supplement store sales person) always gives him a deal on the 2nd tub. And… he uses 2 different brands of powder (reportely the absorb different) so he often comes home with 4 mamoth containers.
I don’t have enough cupboard space to store all his tubs.
Haha – it is a big tub but I don’t think it’s 5 gallons! I didn’t even know they sold it in that size lol.
I have numerous pairs of “sitting” shoes and I’m not ready to part with them yet!! Sadly, it’s not even really about the money I spent on them – it’s total vanity!!!
Now that stuff you drank – I would totally pitch that!!! Sounds awful!
True – my sitting shoes do make my calves/legs look amazing;)
I have the treadmill coat rack and the sitting shoes/handy hammer and the designer dress from Paris that has never fit. My house is just cluttered with great purchases that didn’t work out but I have not given up on them yet. At least as I have gotten older I have bought less and less. Where would I put anything else.
I’m working on it. I have actually cracked open the tupperware bins that have sat unopened in the basement for 12 years and started getting rid of the junk.
Gah! I’ve been dealing with this for years. Not me, I toss, donate or recycle anything I don’t like or want or a quarterly basis. My husband.
He bought a truck, paid too much for it on credit he didn’t have and then discovered that a truck (which was purchased with the intent that he’d be able to haul larger loads when needed) is silly in the city. It has only been used to haul heavy stuff thrice a year, usually for friends who are moving because he has the only truck in our social circle. Annoying. It also costs more than our rent in insurance and gas each month, let alone the repayment of the original loan.
I’ve been trying to get him to sell it for years and get something smaller, more efficient and more reasonable to operate. It’s been three years and he keeps going back to the argument that “I spent so much on it” and therefore that’s a reason to keep it. I just shake my head, show him how much this vehicle is costing us each year versus a small car, and try to get him to understand how much money he is wasting by NOT switching. Still no dice.
I don’t understand it! I went to college for this sort of thing (finance and economics), you’d think people would to me.
Two words: Vacation timeshare. It ranks right up there with the pickup truck story above. Thankfully I divested myself of it many years ago. I’ve gotten very good at weeding things out and taking the tax deduction. Much better than dealing with the clutter and the emotional baggage.
PS Unless you’re Oprah, you don’t need sitting pretty shoes.
Oh vacation timeshares… We only dodged that bullet because he had literally spent every spare penny we had on the cruise at which they were pitching the sales, otherwise we’d own a week at some dive in Hawaii we couldn’t afford to visit XD
I bought MANY canisters of hemp protein powder on clearance and then discovered that it is like drinking mud, only mud probably tastes better than hemp. However, I have spent the money and I refuse to buy any other protein powder until it’s all gone. Thankfully my dog LOVES hemp protein powder and it’s supposed to make her coat nice and shiny (which it already was, so I can’t really tell you if the hemp actually has that effect or not).
Prior to that, I also bought several canisters of goat’s whey protein powder, only to discover that I’m seriously allergic to goat’s whey, and ended up giving the open one to a friend’s son, and selling the other two on Craigslist.
My next plan? Pea protein powder, which I tell myself I will only buy one canister of to try. Maybe I should write to the company and ask for a trial packet.
I’ve worked in the home equipment business for over a decade if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that spending money is a pretty poor motivator to get in shape.
– Money spend on a home equipment doesn’t always pay for itself in saved monthly gym memberships.
– You don’t feel motivated to workout in order to get your money’s worth. When you buy equipment, you buy equipment, not workout.
– Having equipment at home doesn’t always mean it’s easier to get in a workout. IN some cases, it’s easier to put it off.
– People often say “no excuses now” when I deliver their equipment. The thing is, there’s never any shortage of excuses. Excuses come about because we look for them and we can always find them. It’s impossible to kill any chances of excuses.
my 2 cents. 🙂
Sometimes we need to just learn something instead of persist. It’s by making mistakes that we get closer to our final goal 🙂
Once upon a time I was an unhappy first year law student. I hated law school, turns out I don’t want to be a lawyer. But after borrowing so much money for school how could I quit? Fortunately a close friend (who had been an economics major) gave me a lecture on sunk costs and pointed out that I would be better off cutting my losses right then. So I dropped out, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. And every month when I pay my student loans I’m reminded of sunk costs.
Brown rice protein is the only one I can digest….and mine is ‘vanilla’ flavored. no vanilla is ever detected. If I don’t have time to blend it with a banana or avocado I will add a crystal light flavoring packet(i know…just chemicals). bearable…
Hah, this is funny because I think I err on the other side of the spectrum! I won’t buy something until I’m 100% totally sure that I want it, and I’ll find myself getting frustrated in the meantime for not having it when I should have just bought it. I think I’m terrified of sunk cost fallacy 🙂
Ha, clam juice… I think we have that sitting around somewhere too. Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where the only thing left at the store was creamed eel and corn nog.
I have made way too many mistakes with money & more! 😉 Sometimes I do better mentally about it than others… a work in progress!
Sell it! 😉
It’s the same as my orbital walker upstairs – I’ve convinced myself I will find the time to use it, but right now its a very expensive coat rack… to big to disassemble and to heavy to throw out as is… oh well, next month… 🙂
🙂
I am so very guilty of not wanting to get rid of things I “paid good money for.” I swear, I’m slowly getting better when it comes to clothes.
Also, I’ve run two half marathons that I didn’t train for because “I spent a lot on registration fees, so I might as well run it.” Of course, I hate almost every step of each of them and would have been much, much happier staying in bed.
Um, Tommy Boy is like one of the best movies ever. So there.
And yeah, my cabinets are full of protein powders and superfoods that I buy with the best intentions, but taste like dog feces, so I physically cannot consume them. But that’s what husbands are for…
Though some people may feel lost or nude without their eyeglasses,
others believe they’re a social burden. Each and every time we venture
out and fulfill pals, I usually want to smell
great therefore before we exit my space, we drop some good cologne around me.