In the last post I talked about in-sourcing, and this is definitely related. You want to make sure you aren't inadvertently out-sourcing 'convenience' by failing to make simple preparations.
I have a weekend commitment to my national guard unit every month, and I have to travel about 140 miles each way to make it to my unit. Incidentally this is the main reason I can't give up my car, even though I'm not sure I would be 'mustachian' enough to do it anyway at this stage in my journey.
So I have to travel down there and I am responsible for my meals. This past weekend I was rushed while preparing to leave and didn't pack meals for the two days I was gone, so I was forced to buy food once I was already down there and ended up spending about $27 for food for those 2 days. that's only about $3 per meal, so its a minor problem, but I should be able to cut that in half if I am able to prepare adequately and bring my own food. If I do save half that the difference over ten years if invested would be almost $2300 bucks.
Little things like this might not seem to be a big deal, but a bunch of little charges that 'don't make a difference' ARE the difference between people who spend $12-15K a year and the ones who spend $30K a year.
So make sure you don't accidentally out-source by failing to prepare!
-The Money Monk
