Smart Sacrifices
September 22nd 2006 04:55
In my first post, I mentioned that one requirement for a bargain is an advantageous purchase. If the purchase itself is advantageous, but it hurts you in the long run, is it a bargain?
The obvious answer is no. Most of us can’t really afford to have the best of everything. Some people will plan an event or purchase that has everything included and negotiate the best price, we can still end up struggling with the bills for years to come. How do we keep expenses down and still get most of the things that matter most to us? It’s a principle I’d like to call, “Smart Sacrifices.”
The first thing we have to do is to determine what is non-negotiable. What do we absolutely have to have to make our purchase work for us?
I can think of several examples in terms of my own life with recent or upcoming purchases:
-I purchased a Digital Camcorder recently. I paid more than $70 for mine (still not too expensive) instead of $18 for a much smaller camera. I’m going to be using this camera to make some short, albeit low quality digital movies and I need something that records sound. On the other hand, my new camera won’t mount on a tripod, which is a regretful inconvenience I’ll have to work around. If it records sound and decent quality video, this will do for now, and I can always upgrade later.
-My next goal is to purchase a Laptop Computer. I’ll plan on using it for two purposes. On my political blog, I often go to local news events. This will allow me to take notes and write on the spot and then go home and publish them at home on my desktop. If this were my only purpose, nearly any computer would fulfill my need. However, I’m also going to go out of town next year and would like to be able to make blog posts on the road, so my laptop will need to be able to connect to WiFi as well as being able to surf the Internet at a reasonable speed. But I don’t really need a cool graphics card or a lot of snazzy bundled software, just the basics.
This can be done with nearly anything. If you’ve got $1000 to spend on a Vacation, you can take the nice flight and a cheap hotel or a cheap flight and a nice hotel. Or you can take a cheap flight, cheap hotel, and then a very nice rental car. What’s more important to you? What do you value? That will determine your priorities.
It can be done with something as important as a wedding. My wife and I had a wonderful wedding for less than $2000. Some things were important to us: a nice dress, a nice cake, and a nice honeymoon spot. Other things, we wanted them done, but took some discounts. Family did all the photographs and videos, we had simple gold bands, appetizers at a restaurant for our reception, and a CD burned from our CD collections. Had we tried to hire a professional videographer, a professional photographer, gotten flashy jewelry, a limo ride from the wedding to the reception, a band, and all the trappings of a modern wedding, we would still be paying for it. However, the most important thing was our love for each other and after that we got the things that mattered most to us.
By sacrificing non-essentials to get what you really need, you can enjoy whatever you buy without the worries associated with overspending.
The obvious answer is no. Most of us can’t really afford to have the best of everything. Some people will plan an event or purchase that has everything included and negotiate the best price, we can still end up struggling with the bills for years to come. How do we keep expenses down and still get most of the things that matter most to us? It’s a principle I’d like to call, “Smart Sacrifices.”
The first thing we have to do is to determine what is non-negotiable. What do we absolutely have to have to make our purchase work for us?
I can think of several examples in terms of my own life with recent or upcoming purchases:
-I purchased a Digital Camcorder recently. I paid more than $70 for mine (still not too expensive) instead of $18 for a much smaller camera. I’m going to be using this camera to make some short, albeit low quality digital movies and I need something that records sound. On the other hand, my new camera won’t mount on a tripod, which is a regretful inconvenience I’ll have to work around. If it records sound and decent quality video, this will do for now, and I can always upgrade later.
-My next goal is to purchase a Laptop Computer. I’ll plan on using it for two purposes. On my political blog, I often go to local news events. This will allow me to take notes and write on the spot and then go home and publish them at home on my desktop. If this were my only purpose, nearly any computer would fulfill my need. However, I’m also going to go out of town next year and would like to be able to make blog posts on the road, so my laptop will need to be able to connect to WiFi as well as being able to surf the Internet at a reasonable speed. But I don’t really need a cool graphics card or a lot of snazzy bundled software, just the basics.
This can be done with nearly anything. If you’ve got $1000 to spend on a Vacation, you can take the nice flight and a cheap hotel or a cheap flight and a nice hotel. Or you can take a cheap flight, cheap hotel, and then a very nice rental car. What’s more important to you? What do you value? That will determine your priorities.
It can be done with something as important as a wedding. My wife and I had a wonderful wedding for less than $2000. Some things were important to us: a nice dress, a nice cake, and a nice honeymoon spot. Other things, we wanted them done, but took some discounts. Family did all the photographs and videos, we had simple gold bands, appetizers at a restaurant for our reception, and a CD burned from our CD collections. Had we tried to hire a professional videographer, a professional photographer, gotten flashy jewelry, a limo ride from the wedding to the reception, a band, and all the trappings of a modern wedding, we would still be paying for it. However, the most important thing was our love for each other and after that we got the things that mattered most to us.
By sacrificing non-essentials to get what you really need, you can enjoy whatever you buy without the worries associated with overspending.
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