Once again, I must find something I have a complaint or opinion about and tie it into what I believe to be beneficial to the student body here at Grand Valley State University. How about this?

Have you ever considered buying something that you reason shouldn’t cost too much, only to find it more than what you thought it would? It’s frustrating.

I’m writing about this because I noticed that the drinks vending machine at the Campus View office has drinks of many kinds that range from $1 to $1.50. At least, that’s what the price tag labels say.

At some point since I’ve last purchased something, everything in that vending machine has gone up to $2 while the pricing labels remain the same. I found it very frustrating that, not only is a bottle of water $2, but also that it’s very deceiving to be told that it only costs $1.25.

Now, I realize that this is an off-campus ordeal. In fact, I find many on-campus prices to be very reasonable. However, there will be times when all of us will be faced with such a scenario. Despite my example, I’m not talking about something as small as a bottle of water or pop. What about students who don’t have cars who need one in the future? Buying a house?

Everyone at this university is aware of the fact that there are many things we will never have enough money for. It doesn’t help that all of the “best” things in life are the ones that celebrities promote that cost a fortune. I’m not saying that none of them work, but is it worth it?

I’m not trying to be the boss of one’s buying methods. I, like everyone, am prone to doing stupid things with money from time to time – both accidentally and intentionally. However, as we’ve all been told but could always use reminders of, we need to be careful with our money. An extra dollar may not seem like much, but imagine what hundreds of “extra dollars” could do.

Some people will probably make arguments about how the more expensive something is, the better quality it is. That’s very often true, but can you honestly say that you have enough money to always buy the highest quality item on the market?

Again, I’m not discouraging people from buying something of great quality that won’t break down after a month. I’m just merely giving a reminder about how easy it is to let your money get away from you. Be cautious about how much money you have.

Although many of us probably aren’t yet looking for a house, it’s never too early to realize or remember that the money needed to pay for that house and everything else we’ll need isn’t going to come from nowhere, giving us the ability to do whatever we want with it.

I know I’m just ranting things of common sense now, but just keep in mind how easy it is to let money slip away through frequent, careless transactions. Beware of the expensive side.

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