I've been pondering this for awhile now...with Jeffrey's quest to find 101 Painless Ways to Save Money...what are the painful ways? For me, wasting money seems much more painful than saving it.
I asked my husband. He said, people today feel that they can't LIVE without the latest technology; it's painful if they don't have it.
I read Money Talk$ blog, who's coworker seemed to feel that way.
I must be quite an oddity to most people. I'm on several technology forums and panels, and advisory boards. As an SVP I was directing technology development around the world.
But I don't really care if I own it.
A television that lasts 10 years is much better than a plasma tv that blows in 11 months (hope you purchased THAT warranty) and costs twice as much. I had to request a cell phone that DOESN'T take pictures, and I enjoy the new computer, but it's not the top of the line, and I wouldn't have purchased it if the old one hadn't crashed one last time.
Painful?
When I think of painful savings, I am reminded of the Best Man at our wedding. He was a brilliant computer programmer, and job offers were abundant. He could have written his ticket at any company.
We had all just graduated from university, and while DH and I were off to pursue advanced degrees, our Best Man took his degree in computer science and set out to discover himself. He spent all his money on gizmos and gadgets, until Mom and Dad stopped paying the bills. He lived a freestyle life for awhile, drifting here and there, working occasionally to get the latest and greatest.
He could have gone to MIT. He could have had the biggest house and the hot car, and everything that comes with TIME.
Instead, all his brilliant knowledge became outdated, as did his financial security. He ended up living under a bridge, trying to pick up odd jobs, digging ditches or cleaning sewers. Saving whatever money he could earn just to return to the basics, a room in an apartment, clean clothes, the ability to walk through a door into a job interview without security being called.
When I think of PAINFUL ways to save money, living under a bridge to cut costs is towards the top of the list.
Doing without a faster processor or larger flash drive is not.
There will always be something newer, or different, latest and greatest. Whatever you purchase today is NOT new tomorrow. But if you spend your life wasting NEW MONEY, you will never have OLD MONEY. You will never have MONEY. You will only HAVE. And, then what do you have?
Painful Ways to Save Money
June 5th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
5 Responses to “Painful Ways to Save Money”
Leave a Reply
Supporting Sites:
June 5th, 2006 at 11:57 pm 1149551859
Great post...and great moral to the story.
It is difficult and sometimes mind-boggling to watch others who are still caught in the chase.
June 6th, 2006 at 04:32 am 1149568376
It is hard to imagine, because we are not techno folk either, just enough to get by, but I guess it could be like any other addiction.... drugs, weight loss, etc and spendaholics. Any of these can send you to the bottom. I guess it is like a disease.
June 6th, 2006 at 01:37 pm 1149601037
June 6th, 2006 at 02:17 pm 1149603435
I have no cell phone either.
My car is 7 years old, and has many more miles in it (Thanks Honda Motor Co.)
I'm pretty much set with everything else. Gadgts don't generally catch my attention unless there really is something useful about it.
June 6th, 2006 at 08:06 pm 1149624393