Experiment #1: $1 = 5 minutes

I read an article recently.  The author talked about how he was constantly experimenting with his life.  He tried different diets, different exercise programs, different daily schedules, etc.  He took careful notes of his experiences and his results.

I like this idea.

I don’t want to take the kind of notes this guy took or keep track of statistical data like he was doing, but I like the idea of trying lots of “life experiments”.

This is something that I already kind of do, but I want to be more deliberate about it.  So from time to time I’ll conduct an experiment, and I’ll write about it here.  To keep experiments manageable and prevent me from losing interest, I’ll keep most of them pretty short.  Each will last about a week.  The purpose of the experiments is not to prove something I already know, but to try something new and see if I like it or if it is worthwhile.  I’ll be as objective as possible at the end of the experiment

My first experiment:  1 Dollar = 5 Minutes

I heard someone say that a good way to reduce unnecessary spending, or at least bring more attention to it, is to assign a wait time to dollars that will be spent.  The purpose is to reduce buyer’s remorse and minimize the amount of useless stuff we buy.  I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, but I’m going to try it.

For the next seven days, for every dollar I want to spend, I have to wait 5 minutes first.  For instance, if I want to buy something that costs $12, I have to wait 60 minutes.  If, at the end of 60 minutes, I still want to buy whatever the thing is, I can.  The exception to this rule will be grocery shopping.

Seven days starts now!