the cheapest way to pay

[metaphortunate]

Z's dictum:

The cheapest way to get anything is to pay money for it.

Take childcare. Consider the effort and work involved in getting a group of friends to set up a babysitting club and keep it going. Consider the amount of careful, patient, futile effort it takes to try to convince your mother, when she babysits, to feed the kids what you want to feed them, to get them to go to bed on the schedule you set, etc. Or, you can pay a babysitter, and she'll show up when you agree and feed your kids what you say and get them to bed when you say, because it's her job.

The way this ties into the Samuel Vimes "Boots" Theory of socioeconomic unfairness is of course the kicker.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

Alas for your being correct.

[moominmolly]

Yep. Well put. :|

[rosefox]

Money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure can buy peace of mind.

[lovepeaceohana]

I also imagine it's less emotionally fraught to pay a sitter / be paid as a sitter rather than to rely on friends and family, as there's only the contractual obligations to consider, rather than whatever messy tangle of relationship politics you've got going on in the other case.

[hunningham]

Yes. Also true when trying to organise a group of volunteers to do anything at all. Herding cats isn't in it. And (oh god) the motivations and feelings and coaxing and soothing which is required. Money suddenly starts to look like a very easy and very pure motivation.

[tam_nonlinear]

I am fond of making stuff from scratch, and fond of a good deal of DIY stuff, but there's an awful lot at which I look and think "why would I ever do that myself rather than have someone else do it for me for mere money?". A lot of it that I could do myself is only fun to do when there's nothing really on the line about it- if I get it wrong, it's no loss.

On a related note, when I hear people bemoaning the loss of community in modern society, where we pay people to do things that your friends and neighbors and families used to do in Ye Goode Olde Dayes (when they had a lot of spare Es), I think Oh thank god, have you met some people's friends and neighbors and families? Having an alternative is so much more moral.

[cme]

Yes.

This is why the advice to people who aren't served well by off-the-rack clothes (usually fatties, but sometimes very thin or petite people) that you should buy stuff and then alter it yourself or get it altered is such INCREDIBLE BULLSHIT. Yes, it is a thing that is sort of possible to do if you have no other choices and you have EXTRA MONEY lying around (SOMETIMES- there are changes that cannot be made in post-processing), but it is not a SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM.

Some years ago I decided that I was only going to pay money OR time for clothes (to the extent that this is possible, since unfortunately, shopping takes time). That means I will alter free clothing, but I won't buy anything (new or used) that requires alteration. It's been a really good boundary. Having it as a default has really reduced the pile of stuff that's lying around with its lycra getting brittle because I don't have time. There are very occasional times where it's not possible to do this, or where a garment is so awesome that it actually becomes worthwhile (usually for dress-up clothes), but I haven't lost any opportunities doing this (because that work never happened anyway) and I'm much happier.

And this is also privilege.

(This is also the rant I go on when people suggest that sewing is still cheaper than buying clothes. No. Just no.)

[metaphortunate]

Knowing these guidelines about yourself for what you will and will not do is very useful!

Although me, the opposite: I found a place that reliably does cheap effective pants hemming, and have resolved to hem ALL my pants. Because it makes a real difference to my comfort! And only costs $10.