A comment on a Get Rich Slowly article got my attention today. In “Four ways to make money with your old junk,” a woman posting as Winterlady noted one of the tactics she uses to prevent overbuying:
“I hold the item and think ‘How quickly will I want to garage-sale this?’”
Having seen more than a few like-new or still-in-the-shrink-wrap items at yard sales, I expect her comment is not particularly flippant.
I also liked another thing she said: “It is easier to control the purchases than figure out how to dispose of them.”
This.
I’m a big fan of informed consumerism, i.e., of asking the right questions before you decide to buy something. In a post on Wise Bread, I described the queries along the lines of, “Do I really need it? Do I already have something like it? Is there a way to get it for free? If not, what’s the most affordable way to get it?”
Yet even after applying this frugal filter, you sometimes just waaaaant something – right now. That’s when you ask yourself a question like the one cited by Winterlady.
I’ve got a few more to add. They’re not all questions as such, but they should encourage a little self-interrogation.
2. How long would I have to work to pay for this? Translate the cost of the item not as “hours worked” but rather as post-tax hours worked. If you’re earning $10 an hour folding T-shirts at The Gap, would that whatever-it-is you want really be worth three-quarters of a day’s pay? Or even half?
Value in acquisition?
3. Imagine having to pack and move it. Start collecting things – toy cars, opera posters, antique eggbeaters – and sooner or later you’re going to amass quite a few of them. When it’s time to move, will you love this item enough not just to keep it but to box it up carefully? Or enough to pay a moving company to box it up?
4. List all the similar items you own. Maybe you’re eidetic and really can list all 117 of the “Torchwood” collectibles you own, or can say without a doubt that the earrings in your hand are nothing like the 59 pairs of earbobs at home in your jewelry box. My guess is that most of us can’t. Are you buying stuff that you’ve stopped seeing (see Question 5) or, worse, adding to a clutter problem?
5. How often do you notice/use the items you already own? It’s so easy to overbuy T-shirts based on a funny slogan, a bold shade of nail polish, a stuffed animal or figurine because it’s so cuuuuuuute. Maybe you just want to collect the whole set, which is your right. But if once you’ve acquired things you stop noticing them, perhaps it’s time to question what value you’re getting from their acquisition.
6. Frame in terms of disaster. If you were ordered to evacuate due to a flood watch, would the item you want to buy wind up on the list of things you absolutely had to put in the car? If your home were in the patch of an approaching wildfire, how far down is this item on the “things I’d try to save” list?
What we really want
7. If I don’t buy it, how likely that I’ll miss it in a week? Or even a day? In the past I’ve written about waiting at least 24 hours before buying. By then you might not remember why it seemed so alluring.
8. Picture yourself dusting it/washing it. If that seems like a chore, then consider the item not a purchase but rather as more work for you. Instead, take a picture of the item. Now you own it.
Again: It’s your money. You can spend it all on Turkish Taffy and cap pistols if that’s what you want. Just ask yourself what you really do want — and think also about the opportunity cost — the next time you reach instinctively toward a bright shiny object.
Related reading:
Hmmmm….Turkish taffy…one of my favorites when I was young…Pretty sure this stuff was invented by a dentist to insure a healthy cash flow from replacing fillings that were pulled out from chewing this stuff… Aaaand I have noticed slim pickings this Spring/Summer at yard sales. I don’t know if I’m more selective OR if the economy has improved and folks don’t need to sell their stuff OR the economy has not improved and folks are holding on to their stuff… Have noticed a lot of old clothes and a lot of ladies shoes…Your thoughts?
I just participated in the neighborhood sale so that I could get rid of a carpet and some old wicker furniture! I was surprised when the sale started at 9 a.m. and my two items above sold by 8:35 a.m. My thought was it was easier to put it out front and sit with it instead of taking/paying for it to be dumped!
Well Jack, I’m going to tell you about ladies shoes. You can try them on and wear them around the store,but you never REALLY know their comfort level until you own them. Hence, a lot of us have some in our closet that are unworn and eventually get moved into the garage sale pile or gifted to the thrift store.
What can I say? It’s a ladies thing.
I haven’t been to any yard sales this year, so can’t help you there. Besides, yard sales up here tend to have different pickings, especially as regards “old” or heirloom items. At sales in the Lower 48 you’ll see all kinds of interesting old stuff because Mom’s attic has been emptied. People tend not to have older things here.
My favorite yard-sale buy in Anchorage was a couple of wooden spools of copper wire, for $2.50 total. I bought them for an artist friend who liked to work in copper. Nowadays, copper is valuable and would be bought up by recyclers.
# 7 has been really working well for me over the past several years.
And, having spent the weekend washing my winter blankets and other bedding for storage, I can truly appreciate #8.
I washed our comforter the other day and hung it out to dry in the sun and breeze. We hang our sheets to dry year-round, although it takes them a long time to dry in the winter. (They end up getting finished on racks indoors, where it’s warm.) One of life’s simple pleasures is to sleep on air-dried bedclothes.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
I had a change of heart with purchasing just to purchase after my Mom died. I watched a houseful of stuff that was really nice be given away first to anyone who wanted it, then it was sold to a couple for their store. I decided then that material things are nice if you use them daily. My motto became stuff clutters living life!
The death of a parent and having to deal with all their stuff……and some stuff they didn’t want to deal with….has brought me to that place of no more stuff!!
Yep. DF is paring down slowly after having to deal with his father’s house o’stuff:
http://donnafreedman.com/2013/03/24/lets-talk-about-dying/
DF’s mom is one of those “one in, two out” people — any time she brings something new home she gets rid of two things she already owns. That makes her look pretty closely at what she wants.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
I had a small list the other day and walked into a large superstore thinking I would get a lower price. I looked around at all the stuff, thought “This will all end up in a landfill someday,” and walked out.
The funny thing was I lost the list and do not even remember what I walked in there for.
In short, I do not buy anything now except food, gas, underwear etc., and only things I truly need which does not include junk!
Wants vs. needs. I like it.
There’s also “Where would you put it?” I constantly see cool t-shirts for Tim, but his dressers are stuffed. Collectibles are great, but until we get a bookcase for more display room, they languish unseen.
Reminds me of that old Steven Wright line:
“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”
Right next to his large seashell collection that he keeps scattered around the beaches of the world.
Lately, I really wanted to buy a new Nike shoes because my Sketchers shoes are pretty old. But I paused for a while and think, do I really need to buy it? My old shoes are still working fine, but do I need to replace it already? This is just a sample of the things that I want to buy and I’m happy I can control myself.
Speaking of T-shirts…. Many years ago I bought a “Willey Coyote/Road Runner” T-shirt and wore it for a loooong time. Anyway I would like to have a replacement(at a reasonable price) but can’t find one. Plenty of Mickey Mouse and his ilk but as for “Willey”….zip. What gives?
Maybe today’s T-shirt designers are coyote-ist? Seriously: Do an Internet search. Maybe there’s one out there.
LOL, this article certainly hit home on a few items. My late husband collected signed football helmets from NFL players, when he was alive he set up a man cave with display shelves for all these things. Now that I’m a widow I’m stuck with this junk. and yes, I don’t care how much an autographed joe theisman helmet is, it’s still junk that I have to move.
Anyhoo,
while I still try and take stock of all my purchases, I gotta say Donna, once in a while, I do love purchasing some thing simply because it’s beautiful.
My family and I took a vacation to Paris last May, I brought a Hermes scarf for a ridiculous amount of money. Yes, I have twelve other scarves, nope they don’t discount them and I will literally come back and haunt my kids if they ever put it in a garage sale.
I love that scarf for no other reason than it reminds me of a wonderful vacation with my kids and grandkids and it’s pretty to look at.
some times that is enough.
I’m not against buying things. I’m against mindless acquisition that doesn’t make the buyer happy. It sounds as though that scarf doesn’t fit this category.
Try selling those helmets on eBay (checking first to see what similar items bring). I received a small plastic statue of a baseball player as part of my share of community property and it brought $1,200. Yes: Twelve hundred dollars. It might have brought more had I not put up that figure as a “buy it now” price. I bet those helmets could surprise you in terms of what people are willing to pay for them.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
In fairness, the still in its packaging stuff that we donate is mostly gifts!
Exactly! The candle from your MIL who keeps forgetting you’re asthmatic; the lovely journal that you know you won’t have time to write in for another 10 years; the fancy scarf or jewelry that doesn’t fit your casual wardrobe. Donate it all and take the tax write-off, or at least get more room in your life.
OH I love number 6! And I’m pretty sure that all of these questions would work in gauging your relationship. Change a few words and you have a questionnaire for your love life. Another article written!