Cost Per Use
How do you work out whether something is actually worth buying?
Divide the price by the number of times you will really use it. A costly thing you use constantly can be cheap per use, and a cheap thing you use once is expensive per use. The hard part is being honest about the second number. Guess the uses before you look at the price, so the price does not quietly talk you into a bigger guess.
Price isn't what a thing costs you.
Cost is the price divided by how often you use it.
Expensive shoes worn daily? Cheap per use.
Cheap costume worn once? Expensive per use.
Guess the uses FIRST. Then look at the price.
Go deeper — try this yourself
Try it on something you already own.
Start with a past purchase, not a future one — there's nothing to argue about. Pick something you loved and something that's now under your bed, unused. Work out the cost per use for both. The under-the-bed one is the memorable half, and because the money's already spent, you're not defending anything, just looking.
Commit to the uses first.
Before you even look at the price, write down your guess for how many times you'll use the thing. Then check the price and ask yourself if your guess changed. It usually does, and you can catch yourself doing it. Noticing your own brain adjusting a number to justify a want is a skill most adults never build.
Let the pricier thing win sometimes.
If the math says the pricier option is actually cheaper per use, believe it and let it win. If this trick only ever tells you “don't buy it,” you'll correctly figure out it's just a way to stop you spending, and you'll stop trusting it. A tool that sometimes says yes is one you'll actually keep using.
Check back later. No verdict.
A month later, count how many times you actually used the thing. No lecture to yourself, no “I told you so” — just the number. Checking a past guess against reality closes the loop, and doing it honestly, without punishing yourself, is what makes you willing to do it again next time. Sometimes the guess was right.
You've got it once you start guessing the uses out loud before checking a price. It's not about buying less — it's about being able to say why, in numbers, either way.
Not financial advice · Educational only