A couple of days ago my wife took leftovers to her work for lunch. She put them in the refrigerator only to forget about bringing it when lunch time came around. Instead of warming up the leftovers she opened up one of those convenient microwavable bowls of roman noodles, sounds yummy I know. On a side note I do actually like them and the only cost a dollar, or do they?

The reason I decided to write this article is because after warming up the noodles she decided she would much rather have the leftover baked spaghetti than the noodles. So, after asking coworkers if the wanted the noodles with no success she threw them in the trash, but it was only a dollar.

I would probably be considered a pretty frugal person. I don’t buy clothes unless I absolutely need them. I bring my lunch to work at least 4 times per week, and I am always looking for ways to save money. No need to say I was a little disappointed to hear the story of the trashed noodles.

Later that evening I got started thinking about the real price of that cup of noodles. Was it really only one dollar? The obvious answer was no, but how much did that wasted cup of noodles cost? I was a little surprised when I did the math.

I plan to retire in about 30 years so that’s the number I will work with in the example. One dollar put in a savings account for 30 years would be worth $2.12. One dollar put in the stock market that averaged a 10% return for 30 years would be worth $19.84. If you take inflation into consideration the $2.12 will only be worth about $0.87 and the $19.84 will only be worth $8.17.

So does this mean it’s OK to throw a dollar away, because it won’t be worth that much anyway? No, you know the answer to that question. Spend and save your money wisely, you’ll be happy you did.