Avoiding the “Free Lunch” to Save Money

As the saying goes, “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch”, but is it really true? Not always, sometimes a free lunch really is a free lunch, money wise. Maybe your boss or a family member takes you out to lunch or dinner, without expecting you to reciprocate, although your boss may have ulterior motives. But sometimes, its hard to immediately discern if something that seems free really is free, whether it be a meal, a service, advice, or material goods, and it may even end up costing you a lot more money than you probably anticipated. There are many times when something that appears “free” may end up costing you more than you bargained for. Here are several examples:

Accepting a free meal when you feel compelled to reciprocate. This one really is about lunch. Have you ever been walking out the door at lunchtime at work, when a colleague asked you to join them , and then picked up the tab? In many cases, you feel compelled to reciprocate by taking that person out to lunch at a later date in the near future. Whereas you may be trying to avoid eating out too much, or spending too much for your lunches, you have just committed to going twice. This can also happen at dinner with neighbors or relatives, and get a lot more expensive.

Free tickets or admission to an event. This happened to me recently, someone offered me free tickets to an NBA basketball game. You think to yourself, “Wow, I just got $X worth of tickets free”, or “I’m saving $X by not having to pay admission.” But in reality, you may have just committed to spending a significant amount of money. Parking, food, drinks, a babysitter, and the next thing you know your free lunch cost you over $100.

Accepting free services or advice from someone when you’re not sure of their abilities. Ever gotten a hot stock tip from someone, only to realize later it “wasn’t so hot?” Or had someone come over to help you fix something, after which you had to hire a professional, and spend more money than you would have originally, to get it fixed? When someone offers free services or advice, it can be hard to say “No thanks”, but sometimes that may end up being the better choice in the long run.

Accepting an item for free with associated maintenance costs. Have you ever gotten an item for free, such as a cell phone, from a company, only to lock yourself into many months of costs, expenses, or fees? Even something as innocent as accepting a free kitten from someone has associated expenses and bills that will be with you for a long time.

By thinking about any associated or future costs of “free” items, it allows us to put the true cost of a “free lunch” into perspective for what it may really be. Although I am not able to always avoid these situations, I do try a little harder to think longer term before I immediately accept a “freebie” these days.