Happiness in spending on a Cronut


Happiness is (sometimes) spending

The other day, I was walking through the SoHo neighborhood of New York City and got a craving for the elusive and tasty Cronut.  For those of you who might not know what they are, click here. They are the invention of the highly creative chef, Dominque Ansel. Chef Ansel is a culinary genius who also excels at amazing marketing through social media. I’ve been to his NYC store a few times, but never pulled the trigger on purchasing something. Today, I was going to get over the fear of over paying for a self-indulgent treat.

It’s funny about Cronuts, because I have read a lot of articles about doing “side hustles”.  I love articles about side hustles, (some of my favorites here) because I can relate to hustling to shore up your financial future.  Delivering a morning daily newspaper at 5am, as I did, will teach you some amazing lessons about business and life.  When I first signed up for Task Rabbit to understand their platform, people were paying $20 to have you stand in line and wait for a Cronut!  I never did that, but it did fuel my desire to taste one.   The other day, while waiting in line, inside the store, a new batch appeared out of the ovens, and I finally satisfied that craving.

Treat spending like investing

Growing up with modest means, I’ve always had a fear of spending too lavishly. I’ve made sacrifices throughout my career, but some of the choices I made to bypass spending have sometimes had regrets attached to them.

I never fully parted ways with my frugality and returning to that familiar cloak is easier, when necessity arises.
Recently, that has been the case, but on this day I wanted to get my Cronut-on.

To truly build wealth, spending should always be considered an investment. $6.53 can be viewed as a big cost, or something that pays a dividend.  Today, the dividend was going to be the serotonin that was released into my brain, while I sat on the park bench and enjoyed every bite.

The clock always runs out

Sometimes being conservative with your spending is a great strategy, especially when you’re just starting out.   Most of the advice that I read, especially for Millennials, is about “cheaping out” on stuff.  In general, I tend to agree with this philosophy.  Be cautious before spending $5 per day on coffee, if you can create less expensive alternatives yourself.  However, depriving yourself of things is not always the answer.  In fact, it’s rarely the answer.  You should always know yourself and understand the reason for your investment.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m starting a different phase of my life, but you still need to be cognizant of what you are willing to spend money on, or you will simply save up until the day you die.  My personal goal is to spend my last dollar of net worth on the day I die.

I have so many stories of people who refused to spend, and then try to make up for lost time before the clock runs out. The clock always runs out. Don’t always rob yourself of something that you truly want, in the hope that you’ll someday be rich. Have a cronut once in a while.

Click here for more Cronut pics

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3 comments

  1. This looks amazing!! It is easy to get caught up in “it costs too much” or “it’s too many calories” but sometimes you just have to splurge a little! I hope it was delicious.

    1. Thanks for commenting! I really try to balance spending sometimes, without rationalizing extravagant things. We gotta participate in this world…right? 🙂

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