Here’s an easy way to tell how rich (or poor) you are. You just calculate how much you are willing (or can afford) to spend on a thing you’ll eventually or mostly throw away to accomplish a task.

Please. Allow me to expand.

Recently, I was in Acapulco on vacation when a friend broke the zipper on her pants. We searched and searched for a safety pin but alas found none so I went to a convenience store, bought a sewing kit, took out the safety pins and threw the rest away. No big deal, mission accomplished.

Not too long ago I was in Vegas and my cellphone battery died. So I went to a local cellphone joint and bought a new phone and threw the new battery in my phone and tossed the new phone. I don’t exactly recall the price but this was like a hundred and fifty bucks or something. Again no big deal to me, having a phone was worth $150 to me.

I recently went on a business trip and there was a possibility of a freind of mine going, but she couldn’t confirm until the day of the trip. Just to ensure as little hassle as possible I booked two airline tickets in advance to avoid the hassle of trying to book one at the last minute. She ended up not going but the $350 it cost me for the second seat was worth the peace of mind.

All these are examples of buying something I needed as a matter of convenience and ended up throwing away a substantial portion of. I am not in any way the king of this, nor am I very high on the scale. For example there is a famous story of Mike Tyson (before he was insane and broke) getting frustrated at the manual gearbox in his Porsche and pulling over at a Rolls Royce dealership and buying a new car on the spot. There is the example of Mike Millken (before he was a felon and broke) eating at an exclusive restaurant and ordering one of everything on the menu to determine which he liked best and directing that the rest of the entrees be thrown out.

I’m sure when Bill Gates needs to take a wee he stops on the side of the road, buys the nearest house and kicks the residents out so he can piss in peace.

What are YOU willing to spend for the sake of convenience?