hi quick question re. options - i'm still trying to figure them...

hi quick question re. options - i'm still trying to figure them out to be honest! was looking to top up my IMU shares today and was freeing up funds from here and there, when i thought why don't i buy options instead? if i had ie $2k to spend, i could buy twice as many options as 'heads' obviously, but then would have to pay the 45c to convert them down the track (hope all this terminology is correct!). so my question is this: why do people buy options, when it's actually cheaper to buy heads? the options i buy today would cost 22c plus 45c conversion = 67c - so why not just buy heads at 50c ? is it just to save money in the short term (although spend more in the long term!) or am i missing something! i've heard people going on about 'leverage' but that means nothing to me. haha thanks for listening and if someone has 2 mins to reply i'd be very grateful. cheers people.