August 29th, 2006 - Organic chocolate bars
I enjoy purchasing luxury organic chocolate bars at The Red Radish. I started because of the fuss over dark chocolate being so good for you. Sounds like a good enough reason to me to eat more chocolate! However, I gulp every time at the cost–$2.50 compared to $0.79 for a regular chocolate bar. One saving grace is that my favorite, Endagered Species Chocolate’s Elephant Bar donates proceeds to my favority charity, The Elephant Sanctuary.
I realized yesterday as I was eating a Dagoba lavendar bar (doesn’t taste of lavendar at all) that the saving grace is that I never eat an entire organic chocolate bar at once! In fact, they generally last 4-5 days of lunchtime desserts. They are simply more filling and satisfying than a typical chocolate bar, which almost always is eaten in one go. In actuality, they cost less per serving then–$2.50/5 days = $0.50/serving ($2.50/4 days = $0.63/serv) vs. $0.79/serv or over $3/week. (However, I wouldn’t actually eat a regular chocolate bar every day.)
This weekend, I read in TWG again about the Cost Per Wow (or CPW). The CPW helps you determine whether a more expensive option or activity is worth it. How much of a WOW! factor does it give you? Eating at a fast food restaurant costs, let’s say, $10 for a family of 3. Eating dinner at home costs $3. Is eating out 3x better than eating in? If so, the CPW is worth is. But is fast food really going to produce that much wow? Amy’s example is that she occasionally buys a junior ice cream cone for the kids at the mall. The kids wow factor is pretty high…because they rarely get one. She doesn’t buy one every week or even every time they go to the mall. So the CPW remains low because it’s a rare treat that generates lots of WOWs. On the other hand, for me, the CPW of purchased ice cream is pretty low as my homemade ice cream, although more expensive is fantastic. This is an example of a something that costs more and takes more time is worth it due to the CPW.
I realized yesterday that it also applies to the amount of what you eat. The first 1/5th of the Dagoba candy bar was excellent and luxurious. So I broke off another 1/5th and then realized that I was indeed full, did not need more calories, and that I likely would not enjoy the next piece as much so I put it back.
CPW, of course, can be applied outside of food. Is a $40 new backpack 10x the wow as a used $4 backpack from a garage sale? Is a $19.95 plastic toddler toy that will break in 10 days 1000x better than the free cardboard papertowel tube that can be recycled after she obliterates it? (10 days and it’s flattened but still played with. Actually, empty boxes are her Favorite. Toy. Ever. Along with Daddy’s shoes. I’m still not sure why I can’t convince myself to get rid of all but a couple dozen toys. She prefers, these days, to pull all the toys out of her toy box [an unused plastic bin we had] and play with the box instead. It gets dragged all around the house, sat in, stood on, pushed around.) [Actually, none of her purchased toys have broken yet, although she has destroyed some books. But I hear all the time about broken plastic toys and I know she eventually will do so. Another reason I prefer woods ones that will last generations.]
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