How do I know whether something is really expensive?

Rabbi Landau teaches that “time is money, but money is not time.” People think something is expensive because they feel money equals hours of their life, so when they spend it, they feel they are losing time.

But what they are really losing, he says, is something else: energy, mission, life. “In reality, nothing is expensive. You're just paying with the wrong mindset.” That is why it costs you time, energy, anxiety, and head space. Most people stay poor “not because they don't have money, but because they keep spending their life instead of their cash.”

“The poor asks, ‘How much does it cost?’ And the wise is asking, ‘How much will it take from me?’” A cheap thing that steals your peace “is the most expensive thing in the world.” An expensive thing that gives you freedom “is the cheapest bargain on earth.”

Shlomo HaMelech said, “Yesh mis'asher v'ein kol”: you can pay with your whole life and still have nothing. So, Rabbi Landau says, “stop asking the price in dollars, start asking the price of freedom.” Every purchase should answer one question: “Does this give me more freedom or less?”

Also answered in this teaching

Is worrying about money itself a cost?

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau writes that a person sunk in fear about money has already paid a heavy price before he spends a single penny. The biggest expense does not come out of the wallet; it comes out of the soul.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

Measure a purchase by what it takes from you and what freedom it gives, not by the number on the tag.

Fear, vulnerability, or tension

Spending feels like losing hours of your life, so people cling to cash and pay instead with time, energy, anxiety, and head space.

Underlying need or longing

What people really want to protect is their peace, their energy, and their freedom.

What may be behind it

Rabbi Landau says most people stay poor because they keep spending their life instead of their cash.

Deepest human truth

What is truly expensive?

A cheap thing that steals your peace is the most expensive thing in the world, and an expensive thing that gives you freedom is the cheapest bargain on earth.