Opportunity Cost

Whenever we make a decision, we have more than one option.  When we choose something, that is our first option.  Our second choice is our opportunity cost.  Opportunity cost is like our second alternative, something we gave up when we made our decision.  This weekend I had a choice of how to spend my time: doing my homework, spending time with my family, or reading a book.  I chose to do my homework because I felt that it had the most long term benefits.  Spending time with my family was my opportunity cost because if I had not had homework to do, I would have spent time with them.  I gave up that time with my family to work on my homework, but spending time with my family was my second alternative.