Cost Perception

I have no idea why I'm going to share this...

I'm a creature of habit. When I find something I like, I stick with it. This is especially true when it comes to personal hygiene. I use the same brands of deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, shaving cream, razors, whatever... for as long as I can remember. The only time I change is when the product I like is discontinued, and then I just find something similar and use that for as long as can be. Speed Stick and Noxema have been making money off me for decades. But this actually has nothing really to do with my story...

The other day I'm in my local Price Wise and I remember I need shampoo. These days I'm using Herbal Essences. (It used to be Salon Selectives until they stopped making that, then Fructis until they discontinued the kind I liked.) So I walk in, see my shampoo and grab it; $3.49 for their Fruit Fusions blend of mandarin, starfruit and papaya. But as I turn to the register, a bottle of Bed Head's TIGI shampoo catches my eye. You see, Mutsumi bought a bottle of this stuff on sale a while back and I really dug it once she convinced me to try it. The problem is the stuff is like $10.00 for a small bottle and I refuse to pay much that for shampoo.

As we're leaving I turn to Mutsumi and tell her "One day, if we ever get rich, I'm gonna start using TIGI." She turns to me with a confused look on her face and simply asks "You'll pay $20 for a round of beers for you and your buddies that lasts you all of 15 minutes but won't pay $10 for a bottle of shampoo that will last you a month?!" And that got me thinking...

So for the last few days, whenever I've spent money, I've put it in terms of bottles of TIGI. I was late meeting a friend for dinner and took a cab instead of the subway and that cost me about 2 bottles of TIGI. That dinner cost me 5 bottles of TIGI. I went out with the boys on Thursday night and dropped about 6 bottles of TIGI on pints and whiskey. Spent 4 bottles of TIGI at Whole Foods on steaks and swordfish. We went to Cold Stone Creamery and spent a little over one bottle of TIGI on two ice cream cones, fer chrissakes! So as dumb as it sounds, it's made me put a lot of my spending into perspective. One simple question about one bottle of overpriced shampoo has made me look at the way I drop my hard-earned cash. Weird, huh? But what's weirder is that while mentally I can still justify spending the money on fine dining and boozing, I still can't see myself spending it on hair care.

The true test will be next month when my Herbal Essence runs out and I have to go back to Price Wise for shampoo. Will I be able to shell out the cash for the damn TIGI?! Stay tuned, I guess...