The bargain praised at home may have been negotiated out of somebody else’s long morning.

A low price is always paid by somebody. The saving you carry home may come out of a stallholder’s takings for the day, or out of the wages of a person you will never meet, and the pleasure of the deal is real without the cost being visible. Nobody is asking you to feel bad about buying things. It helps to know where the number came from.

When you next push hard over a small amount, ask what it means to you and what it means to them. Sometimes the difference is genuinely nothing on your side. Paying the asking price is occasionally the more accurate transaction.