“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”Henry David Thoreau · Walden · 1854 · Walden, Concluzie
The real price of a thing is the life-time you sacrifice to obtain it.
Thoreau redefines price as the hours of work needed to obtain something. If an item costs a hundred dollars and you earn twenty dollars an hour, the real price is five hours of your life. A concrete example: an expensive car may mean years of work, time you will never get back.
When you buy a gym membership you never use, you haven't just lost money. You have lost the hours you worked for that money. Thoreau invites us to calculate every expense in units of lived time. A new coat might cost three hours of work. Ask yourself: would I give three hours of my life for this? The next step is to apply this question to the things you do out of habit.
Why it matters It makes you think before buying: is this item worth a few hours (or days) of your life?