Not Going To Cyprus... and Sunk Costs

Tomorrow I was supposed to be on an airplane, going to Cyprus. Except I'm not going to be going there anymore... I know, I know, I still haven't finished posting about my trip to Belgium, I didn't want to write all my posts one after another in case someone not interested in travel was reading my blog- didn't want to bore you with too many posts one after another. But it's coming soon.
So anyhow, Cyprus.

As I mentioned a few months ago, I found really, really cheap tickets to Cyprus from where I live with a black Friday sale. It was 10 Euros each way, which worked out to be 25 dollars, round trip. Really a steal! But what I didn't actually write in my post then was that Cyprus wasn't really a place that spoke to me. I live in a place with a similar climate and similar type of landscape, so there wasn't so much drawing me to it. I love adventure, and different things, and Cyprus... just isn't. But what did excite me was my good friend was going to come with me on my trip, so I'd have a break from my day to day life and parenting, and a girls' bonding getaway. Cyprus was secondary, the main purpose was the vacation and get away. And for that price, it was worth it.


And then I found tickets to Belgium for the same price. Belgium was more exciting, because it was new and different and more exotic for me, not to mention that I have roots there. And it was a last minute trip and it was pretty awesome and filled my need to travel, at least somewhat.

But I was still looking forward to my trip to Cyprus because girl time! However, that didn't work out. My friend needed to cancel the trip, despite getting no refund, because that is how Ryanair works... (you get what you pay for with cheap airlines.) I was debating about whether or not I should still go on the trip, because, as I said, the main thing I was looking to on the trip was the girl time, and the place didn't really excite me. I was considering just ditching the whole trip.

Then I was doing a lot of soul searching, and whether or not I should go on the trip, whether the vacation would recharge me, even if the place was less something that appealed to me, and decided to go.
However, then I discovered that RyanAir was idiotic and decided to change their baggage policy, even after we already booked. On my flight to and from Belgium, I was allowed a small carry on and a personal bag, but for my trip to Cyprus I was told that I was only allowed a personal item, not a carry on. This shocked me and honestly made me so sickened by Ryanair, because changing such terms after tickets are already booked is beyond preposterous. At first it looked like if I would bring even a carry on I'd have to pay 40 Euros each way, but upon checking into it further, as long as I paid an extra 6 Europs each way for priority boarding, I would be able to bring my carry on and personal bag. So I did that. So far I paid $40 for this trip.

And then something happened, and I really was unsure what to do about my trip. For various reasons, I realized that this trip was not a smart idea now. And on top of that, technicalities would be much more challenging, since my husband's work hours changed (he works exclusively overnight now, instead of only sometimes overnight, like it was when I went to Belgium) and the babysitter I would have used on overnights wasn't available.

But even knowing all this, I was so torn. I mean, I'd already spent money on this trip. Already paid $40 and I wouldn't get them back. So maybe despite everything, despite the problems with going, I should figure out a way and make it happen? I mean, I already paid money for it...

Then my smart friends reminded me about the concept of sunk costs, and said that this would be the perfect thing to post about here. That even if you already spent money on something, that doesn't mean you should keep throwing money at it, spend more money because you already spent the first bit. Yes, I paid $40, and I'm not going to get that back, but spending more money on something that is a bad idea isn't smarter than just letting those $40 sink.

So now, I'm getting emails from Ryanair.com telling me that it's time to check in... and I'm reminding myself that sometimes, it's smarter to just let money go. Sometimes its smarter to not try to "recoup your costs" by throwing more money at a bad idea. Sometimes, you just let those $40 go down the drain instead of letting even more go down.

This isn't something easy for me to do, because I hate money wasting. I hate feeling like I paid money for nothing. But I'm reminding myself that I am making the smart decision. The smart decision to only waste those 40 and nothing else.

And I'm trying to be ok with missing this vacation.

I think I'm having an easier time coming to terms with it specifically because just 2 months ago I did have a really awesome trip to Belgium. So I'm not as starved for adventure.

And now that I know how to get cheap tickets, I can book tickets another time, for another great, frugal adventure. When the time is right for me.

And then I can go on my trip with absolutely no regrets.

Have you ever made a decision not to utilize tickets or things that you otherwise already paid for, because it was a bad decision to do so, for whatever reason? How did you come to terms with your decision? What are your thoughts on sunk costs?