Sticky Cuts + Permanent Delays

[heydude]

This year I set a goal to pay off all student loans by Jan 1st. Doing so has meant I have had to TRIM a lot of stuff. I have justified living even lower below my means by saying that I only have to do so for this year. But guess what? I do not see myself going back up to spending amounts that I used to have even after the student loans are gone. Once you get used to not spending on a certain thing, or spending less on it, it becomes habit.

One example of this is that I always thought that once I had all debts paid, that I would then subscribe to cable TV. That is still some years off, but honestly, after so many years without cable, I can't even see myself ever getting it again.

Also, many things that I know I want and NEED to buy, I simply just put off for a month and maybe buy 1 a month instead of all of them right now. Guess what? I haven't bought ANY of them even though it is the month to buy "1." Months have gone by without me buying ANY even though I thought I "needed" them.

Moral of the story.
Cut now and watch it STICK later.
Delay it now and watch it become a permanent delay.

:cool:

[cdttmm]

Moral of the story.
Cut now and watch it STICK later.
Delay it now and watch it become a permanent delay.


Agreed! I am a big proponent of the delayed purchase...it's surprising how long I can go without purchasing some items that I was initially convinced I needed to run to the store for immediately.

[Gizmo]

What are some examples of 'needs' that you'd been able to do without?

For me, there is a computer program I 'need' in order to convert my Blender 3D scenes to the other program that does better finished renders. I've put off buying and it and have been just rendering in Blender (if I put it off long enough, I'll be able to use Blender Cycles which is in development).

The other need I have been putting off is a new bicycle seat that has no nose to replace the one that came with the bike (that hurts my back). <--- this is probably the thing I will purchase next

[lhamo]

We've been thinking about buying a car since we moved to Beijing, over four years ago. Procrastination has been a wonderful money-saver. First I was waiting for DH to go through the process of getting his license first, since he is the "local" and I figured it would be easier for him to figure it out and then coach me. He never followed through and I am stubbornly still not wanting to do it on my own.

Then last winter they added this new lottery system that means you can't buy a car/get a license plate until you win the license plate lottery. And you can't sign up for the license plate lottery until you have a driver's license.

Even with taking taxis daily for half my commute, we are spending less than $150/month on transportation. Gas, parking and insurance would easily add up to at least twice that. Not to mention the cost of the car purchase, much more expensive -- especially since you basically can't buy used cars anymore. So me being sticky/stubborn/delaying has really paid off on that front.

We also toyed with the idea of getting a better satellite TV service. We still have limited service that was on when we moved in, which we haven't paid a cent for -- get CNN, discover, HBO and CNBC plus all local channels and a couple of HK mandarin channels. A different service woudl have more kids channels and movies/US channels. But it would cost us 200-300/year. DVDs are $2-3 each here, so that seems like a lot of money. Delaying has saved us $400-600 in the 2 years we've lived here.

lhamo

[leslieann]

Delaying makes my felt "need" turn into something like indifference, often. The best delays for me are on purchases: do I need it NOW? If I am feeling the RIGHT NOW pressure, that's often a clue to me that I need to take time and wait. It is almost as if there is a little person inside me demanding RIGHT NOW because my more adult self will later be able to make a better decision.

Books, especially....I am SUCH a victim of the 1-Click button at Amazon. Thank goodness I can cancel if I do it quickly!

(This from the person who has two big bags of books for the used book guy....after a big bag last week, and still more to be decluttered...)

[sumarie]

So glad you posted about this, Hey Dude, because it is SO TRUE! I have a running list of things I think I'll be buying one of these days & after awhile, because it is in a notebook & is more a "wish list", I tend to forget about it. There are things that have been on the list for years. (sometime I think I'll be a person who really will use a grain grinder, for instance) Mostly after awhile the "need" passes & I scatch it off the list.

Since I've been expending alot of energy downsizing these past 2 years, I am loath to bring anything else in. Nor do I want to spend the money, so it is a Big Savings -- which does translate into a growing lifestyle of frugality, I think. Yeah for you!