What does something cost?

As always, in the cruising world, budgets are an ongoing discussion but I notice that, more often than not, there is little talk of value in the process...

Cruising on a $500 or a $5000 a month budget really does not mean anything unless you can factor in some kind of value reference or quotient.

For instance, I can buy water at the dock for 12 cents a gallon, up the street at the market I can get water for 60 cents a gallon from a machine (bring your own bottle) in the parking lot, and if I go inside the store I can buy water for $1.29 a gallon (and for the moment we won't stray into the insanity of designer water territory). I guess I should also point out that it rained yesterday and I could collect rainwater for free...

Let's face it, a gallon of water is a gallon of water but how do we define the value if the price spread is so varied?

I figure that where I am the current value of water is somewhere around 9 cents a gallon based on that number being somewhere between rainwater and the cost readily available at the dock.

In the past I have gone on about the need/want thing but, to stand on its own, a stool needs at least three legs and if you add "value" to need and want you have a very stable platform to start sorting out what a budget actually is.

Just because something costs more has nothing to do with its value...

Listening to Dawn Landes

So it goes...