From Marie
We’re happy, and even though there are things that we want, we know that we don’t NEED them, and by the time we have the money saved up for whatever it is, we usually forget about it. So far the neighborhood that we’re looking at seems to be very nice. But even if it doesn’t work out, lo and behold, there’s a home for sale in my old neighborhood.
Marie makes a good point. We talk about the many benefits of saving for things but one thing that many of us don’t realize is that, by taking our time to save for it, we often realize we don’t need it and didn’t really want it that bad. Also when I take the time to shop around more I can find a much better deal too.
This idea is essentially going home and sleeping on it (not literally of course : )) before you buy it. By the next day or couple of days your need to have it has probably faded some.
I’m not sure why it is but when you diligently save for something you seem to appreciate it more than if you charge it and spend several months or years paying it off. I wonder if the burden of trying to pay for something and worrying whether you will be able to pay that debt each month takes away some of the pleasure of the thing. Compare that to the opposite which is working very hard and sacrificing much to get your “prize”.
This could be why people who pay “cash” for their things seem to enjoy them more. When a person buys something on credit, there’s a burden associated with it. Maybe this is why they don’t enjoy it as much as they expected which starts a cycle – because they are not satisfied with what they bought they buy more hoping the next thing will satisfy but then the dissatisfaction is worse because there is more burden (debt) so they buy more to try to satisfy……
This could be part of the reason why a society who has so much to be thankful for is so unhappy.
-Jill
photo by: valeriebb
This is so true. We have lived in our home for 30 years. The kitchen was remodeled in the 60’s. I have wanted to remodel it for a long time, but I just couldn’t justify borrowing the money to do it. So I started to save my overtime money for the kitchen. It took me five years to save the money. It didn’t short us at all, because it was only what I made working overtime. Now I have a new kitchen, we came in under budget, and it looks beautiful. We made a lot of changes in our kitchen plan over the five years, and we are extremely pleased with the results. Since we weren’t in a hurry, we were able to get many items on sale. I wouldn’t have done it any other way. The best part is–it’s paid for!!!
Jean, Congratulations on your new kitchen. I really need some work done in my kitchen – a new floor for starters but we are saving and looking for sales. I would just like a piece of linoleum for now but if we spend for that, it will just be longer before I can get new tile. So, I am putting up with the old stuff until then.
Again, glad you can enjoy your new kitchen, debt free.
Maggie: try keeping an eye out at local flooring stores, or big box stores that sell flooring. They will frequently have remnents of carpet and vinyl flooring for much less that it would cost new. A little research on youtube and you could install it yourself for a fraction of the the cost, allowing you to “buy” a little time before you do a complete renovation. Best of Luck, Lorie.
I think the reason there is more enjoyment from saving for something is the anticipation. It’s like Christmas morning ;-)
My father-in-law (now deceased for 4 years) used to carry around home-made business cards on which he had typed a motto:
“Working for something makes it valuable.” –HE Moody
He would hand this out to people, and although he himself was a very hard man and left behind a very unhappy family, not one person can say that they didn’t respect his money and business sense. I still have one of those original cards, just because I believe it was in itself a valuable motto to use, and I frequently tell my students (I’m a teacher) this throughout the year.
I realized that next December I would likely want to buy a new set of tires for the car. I also thought about their cost and divided that by 12. Now, I have a small fund going to save up ahead of time. Much better than using the credit card.
You are so right Alysha. It is a much less stressful way to do things too.
I saved in a profit sharing fund,then moved it to an IRA account, and kept it there until I had enough to buy myself another car. It was a fleet vehicle purchased from a rental car company but it was only 8 months old with 13K miles on it and we saved over $6,000 by buying this instead of a new car. It smelled like a new car, was detailed and the only way you knew it wasn’t a new car was the mileage on the odometer and a tiny stain on the back seat. They even gave us new floor mats but left the old ones in the trunk for those rainy days when the everything you put in the car is wet. I really wanted a blue car but this grey one was just too good to pass up. We even had enough saved to cover transfer of title and tags and taxes. I am so glad we didn’t have car payments. I had to ride the bus for 15 months while we finished saving but looking back, it was worth it. Not only did I get exercise walking to and from the bus stop, I read a lot of books. Always need to look on the positive side. Now, I’m saving for some new living room furniture. I have a small amount left on a credit card bill to pay off and then that money will go into my furniture fund. I know I’ll be just as happy with my new paid for furniture as I am with my paid for car.
When My husband and I got a call at 8am that our credit cards information were stolen we were crushed, confused and overwhelmed. and angry. We knew our FICA score was very low living payday to payday. We decided to go CASH only and struggled to go with our decision for 10 yrs. Finally it was easy! Then we were told, we and others, had to move from the property we rented. We got our FICA score first and were surprised to find it was Excellent! We bought a small bungalow. This is the Silver lining to our CASH only and our Christmas in July! We have been thanking God for 7 years for His lessons to us and our blessing!