Transcription
This is a video about the one purchase which completely changed my life, and I am not exaggerating one bit when I say this. This one item caused me to completely re-evaluate my relationship with money and to question the beliefs I've always held and the reasoning behind them.
This video is about my espresso machine. But wait, wait, wait, don't click off just yet. I promise this video has nothing to do with saving $5 a day by making coffee at home or whatever. In fact, it doesn't really have anything to do with coffee at all. Just bear with me for a moment.
About 5 years ago, I started taking an interest in coffee as a hobby, despite never being a real coffee drinker. I mean, I would definitely have like a pumpkin spice latte or two every fall, and I would never say no to an ice vanilla latte in the summer. But I've never been what I consider to be a real coffee person. I've never been the kind of person to start my day with a cup of coffee. In fact, I've never drank a cup of regular drip coffee in my entire life. I guess you could say I like my sugar with coffee and cream. Shout out to the Beasty Boys. I like my sugar with coffee and cream. But yeah, I actually tend to start my day with tea, also with sugar and cream in it, which I probably just triggered all of England by saying that, but oh well. My go-to. Oh, sorry.
But despite not being a real coffee person, the art of specialty coffee and of espresso and milk drinks began to fascinate me, kind of in the same way that I guessed that a bartender could be really into Mixology, but maybe not actually drink a lot of alcohol themselves. I didn't make it very far into the rabbit hole before deciding that I wanted an espresso machine of my own. I attribute a lot of this to James Hoffman, but really, I just wanted to learn to like coffee more, and maybe to pour latte art, or maybe even to just enjoy my once in a blue moon fancy coffee treat as a more frequent indulgence that I could make at home to my own preferences. And yeah, I guess for a fraction of the price, but that's really besides the point.
This is a really common issue for me, by the way. Like, I really like to putter. I like to try new hobbies. I like to do new things, but I rarely care much about the result. Like, I like to bake, but I don't always want to eat cake and cookies. I've always wanted to try brewing beer, but I rarely drink alcohol and could certainly never drink the amount of beer that you make in a batch. I've never smoked weed in my life, but I tried growing it once just to see if I could, and I could. Anyways, I started my search for an espresso machine. I looked at all the entry-level models that cost like $100 to $200, and I also looked at really high-end, fancy machines that looked beautiful, they looked like art, and they cost thousands of dollars. And of course, I looked at everything in between.
Logic told me that as somebody who doesn't drink a lot of coffee, a $100 or $200 entry-level machine would be more than enough for my needs. But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least have a little bit of temptation to buy something fancier and more expensive and nicer. I went back and forth for a while, trying to justify to myself why I should buy something that was nicer and more expensive than I actually needed. But ultimately, I gave my head a shake and actually wound up landing one hell of a deal on a Breville Cafe Roma. This was like a $200 or $220 entry-level machine that I was able to score for just $60 after combining a promotion and a sale and like opening up a new credit card. And needless to say, for $60, I just couldn't say no.
I used that Cafe Roma for about 2 years, and I really enjoyed it. And while I can't say that it made me into a real coffee person, I did learn to like coffee a little bit more. I started drinking it a little bit more often, and really, I just learned to make really tasty, good drinks at home. Mission accomplished, right? But after some time had passed, after I had used this machine for a few years, I found myself still wanting something a little bit nicer. I just couldn't rationalize spending more money when what I had was perfectly sufficient.
This is how I was raised to believe that when you buy something, you find the best deal possible, you buy the simplest option that will meet your needs, and then you use it until it dies. Doing anything else would be wasteful, and money is scarce and not to be wasted, especially on non-essentials. The scarcity mindset is something that I carried with me for life. And to be fair, sometimes it's out of necessity. When you're barely making enough to pay your bills, buying non-essentials is wasteful, not to mention irresponsible. And unfortunately, that's a situation I was raised in. But it was fine.
I have to be honest and say that over time, I started to become judgmental of other people. Not even from a place of envy or jealousy or maliciousness, but I would just see people spending money on things that I considered to be a little bit extra, and I would label them as wasteful or careless, whether or not they could actually afford them. I'm not proud of these thoughts, but I'm just being honest because again, in my worldview, money was primarily for survival, and anything superfluous was almost sinful. Not in a religious way, but much in the way that people view wasting food.
As I got a little bit older, I found myself in a really fortunate position where all of my major financial goals had been met. I got myself a nice place to live, I had a reliable car, there was food in my fridge, and I really didn't need for anything. I could pay all of my bills and even have a little bit of money left over at the end of every month. So naturally, I had to take 100% of that leftover money and save it for the future, or for a rainy day, or for something. And as I said before, if I did decide to treat myself to something, I was determined to pay as little as possible. Even when I would go to a concert, I would pack a sandwich to eat on the subway ride over so that I didn't have to buy food out or pay for parking. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with bringing food with you or taking public transportation. I'm just saying that I really struggled with the idea of splurging on things, even if I could reasonably afford them. So even the odd night out had to be done on a budget. And so naturally, when I bought an espresso machine, I landed on the least expensive option possible, and it was fine.
So let's fast forward to this past October. I found a Facebook Marketplace listing for a brand new, inbox Breville Barista Express. This is a higher-end Breville machine. It retails for about $800 to $1,100. It has a built-in coffee grinder, it has a more powerful steaming function, and it was generally just a lot nicer of a machine than the Cafe Roma that I had. It was listed online for $500, and I realized immediately this could be a great flip opportunity. I could go pick it up and resell it for an easy couple hundred of profit. But I kind of also wanted it for myself. Either way, I knew I had to scoop it up. So I messaged the seller and was able to actually negotiate them down to $400. So I ran over, I picked it up right away, I brought it home, I put it on my living room floor, and I figured I would just think about it for a couple days and decide whether I was going to keep it or whether I was going to sell it.
For the next week, I thought about it constantly. I bounced back and forth between wanting to rip it open and use it and wanting to list it online for $700 and sell it. I'd convince myself to keep it and then stop just short of opening the box by telling myself that even though it only cost me $400, by declining the opportunity to sell it for $700, I was essentially paying $700. Then I'd go ahead and list it for sale, and every time that a prospective buyer sent me a message, I'd feel bummed out about the idea of getting rid of it. A week turned into a month, a month turned into 3 months, and before I knew it, it was Christmas, and this damn thing was still sitting in its box on my living room floor, and I still hadn't decided.
On one hand, the $400 was long gone. I paid for it in cash. I could afford it. I had no consumer debt. I had savings. I actually couldn't come up with a good reason not to keep it, except for the fact that somebody who only drinks coffee once every week or two doesn't need a $1,100 coffee machine. Even if I could afford it, even if I got a great deal on it, that didn't change the fact that I didn't need it. That scarcity mindset prevailed, where simply wanting something wasn't justification enough to have it, even if I could afford it.
I explained my dilemma over and over again to anyone who would listen to me, and they all told me the same thing: "Just keep it, enjoy it, treat yourself, and for the love of God, shut up about it already." I guess I was looking for someone to talk me out of it, to tell me that I was being ridiculous to consider keeping something so excessive for my needs. Instead, I was just told over and over again how ridiculous I was being for overthinking something so arbitrary to such a degree, for expending so much mental energy on something so insignificant. And they were right. 3 months of arguing with myself over $400 even sounds stupid to say out loud.
So one day in early January, I finally cracked. I opened the Barista Express, I set it up on my countertop, I went to a local coffee roaster, I bought some fresh beans for the first time. I came home and I made a cappuccino, and it was great. Was it significantly better than the drinks I was making on my older, smaller, cheaper machine? No, not really. I mean, the fresh coffee made a big difference for sure, so much better than what you can buy at the grocery store. But beyond that, to notice any little intricacies, honestly, my coffee palette is not distinguished enough to tell, at least at this point.
But did I have more fun using this machine? Yes, absolutely. I watched videos about how to set it up and how to dial in your espresso. I experimented with different grind settings. I tried to pour latte art and failed and tried again and failed again. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I had friends over and made fancy coffee drinks for them, and wasn't that the point of all this in the first place? To learn more about coffee, to explore it as a hobby, to try new beans, to try pouring different kinds of drinks, and really just to have fun with it. Mission accomplished, I think.
And I can honestly say that not for one day since have I felt guilty or regretful for keeping that espresso machine. I've enjoyed it thoroughly. It's a hobby, and we all need hobbies. And fun is a good enough reason to do something, as long as you're not in a bunch of debt and you can afford it, then why not? Life is weird, life is boring and stressful and sad, and it's up to each of us to find our own ways to make it less so. But working hard all day, every day, just to only pay your bills and then squirrel away the rest for some arbitrary point in the future is not a good way to go about it.
But as I said at the beginning, this video is not about coffee. Not at all. It's about learning to let go of a scarcity mindset, and I think I've gotten a lot better at it. It's almost like I ripped the bandage off, and when I did, I realized that nothing bad happened. When I decided to keep this espresso machine, my world did not collapse. I didn't miss a mortgage payment. I didn't randomly fall $400 short on an emergency. In fact, it was the catalyst for me to stop asking "why" so much and start asking "why not?" And if there isn't a good answer for why not, then let's go. Let's do it. Let's go for midweek sushi. Let's drive to the concert so we can get home faster. Let's buy the cute string lights for the backyard just because they make you happy. Even minimalism preaches the importance of things that spark joy, and for me, that's tinkering with things in the kitchen, creating a cute ambiance in my backyard, and most importantly, not spending every moment of my life overthinking every little mundane decision.
A lot of people talk about the difficulty of overcoming an impulsive shopping habit, but the opposite is rarely discussed. By and large, society applauds people who are good at managing their finances and good at saving money. Impulse control is almost seen as a virtue, and it can be, but like anything else, it can be taken too far. Overconsumption sabotages your future, but a scarcity mindset sabotages your present, and both of them make you regret your past.
Whoa, dude, that was deep. As always, I'm very curious to hear your thoughts. Leave me a comment down below and let me know if a scarcity mindset is something that you yourself struggle with or you've ever struggled with, or let me know if you have the opposite problem, if you're just an impulsive shopper and a scarcity mindset almost sounds like a good problem to have. I can promise you, it's not. The happy medium is where you want to be.
If you enjoyed this video at all, please go ahead and hit that like button. Feel free to subscribe. You can follow me on Instagram, all that good stuff. Other than that, thank you guys so much, as always, for watching. Take care. I'll see you next week.