Crisis Averted

Torontonians can rest easy now: the sidewalk salt shortage is over. Shipments started arriving again - in time for spring and warmer weather.

In the interim, ice melter granules did the trick of making my walkway walk more tractable. Though the package says it's much more effective than regular salt, the polar bear sitting on a lounge chair on the wrapper doesn't seem to be an impartial judge. The granules cost double the price of salt and contained half the weight.

The feeling of overpaying is visceral - like someone is questioning our existence. It's easy to retract into a state of distrust of any price and say, "I'm not buying anything anymore." Except, once the feeling wears off, we go back to making the same mistake. The better way is to analyze why we overpaid. In the salt scenario, it was the feeling of fear, the thought that I would never find a solution elsewhere, and stumbling on an unexpected solution that allowed me to set aside my value calculations. Knowing that I'm prone to this, I'll prepare more for these situations in the future.

Analyzing why we overpay beats anger and denial.