It's one voucher so we have to use it in one sitting.
We were considering the options which we could best utilize the voucher.
1) We could treat the $220 like cash and be really really stingy with it.
Now, this place isn't cheap, we wouldn't be here if not for the voucher. Around $25-$35 per dish.
But we could order stuff which are of good enough value to price.
You know, like fried rice, a roast chicken, stuff like that.
BUT, if we did that, we would end up with A LOT of food. We could potentially end up with 6 dishes or so. Which is a lot for the both of us.
By ordering the more normal food, we end up with a lot of food so we can either...
1a) Bring our family to eat as well so basically we treat them to a meal.
1b) Order a lot and "dabao" and bring back the stuff we can't finish and enjoy the food again at a later time.
2) We could order stuff which we would never have ordered EVER in our lives.
Like maybe a large abalone each and some fried rice and maybe another dish, and that would be $220 already.
It was quite hard to make a decision on this cos... there were so many ways which we could have looked at the voucher.
1) The voucher is free
2) Although the voucher is free, it's still good as cash, so should I just squander it?
3) Food at home is already free, by "dabao-ing" something home, I'll just have even more food.
4) If I order normal food, I could just go to the usual "zichar" stalls and get fried rice and roast chicken for 25% of the price. BUT I would need to use cash.
5) We could treat family members to a meal but like (4) there are "cheaper" options.
6) But yet even if there are "cheaper" options to treat family members, this option is free.
7) There is little opportunity for us to eat luxurious food for free.
8) I have Capitaland vouchers to use to treat family members which could be used for the "cheaper" alternatives.
9) But Capitaland voucher are even more "good as cash" cos I could use them to buy other stuff.
10) But I don't need much other stuff...
So logically, the most value for "dollar" thing to do is probably to use the restaurant voucher to buy fair value dishes and eat with our family, then use Capitaland vouchers to buy toilet paper and tissue paper.
But toilet paper and tissue paper I could use my AIA Vitality vouchers to buy them.
You may think, why bother with such a long thought process just to use a voucher... but to me, I think it's part of the understanding of value and the options available.
Cos if I don't think about it, I'll never assess it.
It's very easy to NOT think about it, and just... Aiyah just use it, it's a free voucher, just go and eat and forget it.
But the thing is, most things have an opportunity cost. If I spend cash on something, it prevents me from spending cash somewhere else. So for every dollar I spend, I want to be making a good choice, cos I want to get good value from it.
If I use a voucher at once place, the decision can affect other places which I could save on, and this determines if I really end up spending REAL cash or not.
And as we all know, real cash is the most important, cos it allows us to invest and create passive income.
I think many would agree that it's such a long and troublesome consideration that I did just for a very small decision. And personally, I think so too. But I still go through the motion. Cos I think it's important to create such a habit. Cos it's really easy to just ignore it and forget about it.
And I think that it's good to be aware and make an informed decision and the opportunity costs involved. And even if the decision is considered "squandering" the voucher, at least it is done with full awareness of what I am giving up due to this decision.
In the end we decided to be selfish and just take the luxurious choice. We'll just go and eat some nice food which we won't be able to obtain for free.
Might not have been the best value decision. But it's still an informed decision which I made after considering the other things which I may have to give up.
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