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I think one of the things the critics miss when they talk about Priuses or Kindles or whatever else they're trying to tear down is that it's usually not about just one thing. It's easy to support their argument and write a snappy article if you oversimplify but that's not how most of us make our choices. If your only goal in buying a car is to save money than the Prius will not beat a bare bones, used economy car. When I was looking at cars, I wanted something fuel-efficient and green. That was my number one priority, but I had others. I wanted something comfortable, that rode well, that had enough power to merge onto my treacherous local freeways at 65 without getting smushed by a Hummer driver balancing a cell phone and a latte. This ruled out the small, old economy car (which I already had) as well as the 1st gen Prius and Honda Insight (great mileage, only two seats). These were all less expensive and could be had used. I wanted something nicely appointed if I could have it, too, but I didn't want to spend a tremendous amount of money. As far as size, quality of ride and features, the Prius is more like a Camry or Accord. Compare the price to that over the lifetime and you come out ahead, especially with higher gas prices. So, I'm getting more of what I want for less money than I would have paid. It's not less than the absolute least I could pay but that wasn't my only other option nor was it the option I was likely to take.
When I decided to move to ebooks, part of it was about the environment. It was also about convenience and not cluttering up my house with more books I can't store that just gather dust and make me sneeze. Saving money wasn't a consideration. As it is, I saved money over my previous book buying habits. I used to buy a lot of new releases as well as paperbacks. I would try to buy books to last me a month or so at a time. Some books I didn't like well enough to finish. Some I changed my mind about and didn't start. I would go to the library or used stores sometimes but old paper books, as I said, make me sneeze so I would often times leave with nothing. This is admittedly not a frugal way of feeding my habit. With Amazon's free sample chapters, I haven't bought a book without finishing it and the new releases are a lot cheaper than hardbacks. I get lots of free PD and library books, too. I have paid for the Kindle with my savings over my old habit. If my old habit had been only borrowing books from the library and friends, buying used, and reading free ebooks on a device I already had, like my phone, then I'd be in the hole both financially and environmentally. It's about finding the balance between all your priorities.
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