The Cost of Free

Its funny sometimes how easy it is to overlook the real cost of free. At my office we have free soda. It’s free. I can have as much as I want. Hell, at least once a day someone offers to bring me one so I don’t even have to get up to get it. Did I mention it’s free? I did some math last night and figured out that the free soda at work is costing me over $400 a year. How? Before I came to this job I had kicked the soda habit. Now I buy a case of soda a week (my son drinks some of that to be sure, but I wouldn’t buy it if I didn’t drink it). And where I used to normally just drink water when I went out now more often than not I have soda. I’ve been at this job for 6 years, so that’s over $2,400 in soda. I admit that no one forces me to buy soda outside of work, but it’s a habit and habits tend to carry over.

The same thing is true for all the free offers we’re bombarded with daily. Free copy of your credit report from your credit card company? Read the fine print to see that you’ve just signed up for a credit monitoring service @ $3.99 a month.  Sure there’s a ‘30 day out’ on the service, but if you forget that free report costs you $3.99 until you remember. Just remember anytime a business is giving you something for ‘free’ there’s a reason and a cost. Make sure you understand the cost before you decide to take them up on their offer.