Tip 1: Avoid sales tax on food
Buying food at a convenience store is rarely a good idea, but if you do, here is a tip to avoid paying sales tax on food items. Back in college, I would sometimes get a "grinder" burrito at a convenience store, not a bad lunch for about $1.00. If you paid for the burrito before microwaving it, it was considered a grocery item and there was no sales tax. If you microwaved it first and then paid for it, you were charged 6% sales tax since it was considered a prepared food item.
Of course, saving 6 cents on a burrito is not going to change your life, but if you can save 6 cents every time you get a burrito, savings can add up over time. The point is not to pay more than you need to pay for anything and hold on to the savings, no matter how small. Wasting money is a bad habit- I try to adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy for wasting money. I suppose some would say I could save even more money by either not buying the burrito, or by buying the burrito somewhere else- you can get a burrito for 79 cents at Taco John's on "Taco Tuesday", or probably make one at home for about 35 cents.
It is always a fuzzy line between "needs" and "wants". If you want to participate in the world, you need to spend some money. You have to find the right balance for yourself. On that particular day, buying the $1.00 burrito at a convenience store was just what I needed. I could have spent less on lunch that day, but it would have taken more time and I wanted to use my time for studying and other things. At least I spent the least I could on the burrito by avoiding paying sales tax.
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