Comments on: Why You Don’t Save Money (Even Though You Know It’s The Right Thing To Do)

By: ericabiz

ericabiz — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:36:07 +0000

Hi Gary,

It’s an excellent point, but I don’t like either one of those cars. I could have kept my ‘99 Miata for a few more years, but just after I bought this car it required $1765 in repairs — and it will need more to get the A/C fixed. Older cars are sometimes more hassle than they are worth. Your point is worth considering for those who don’t mind cheaper cars.

-Erica

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:09:41 +0000

Using your calculations on returns, you could easily have leased a honda civic or toyota corolla type of car with the interest on that 33k. That way, you’d never have to worry about repairs and always drive a new car every 3 years or even more savvy every 39 months, to get a better lease deal. Mid year lease deals are usually better value. With a lease you would only pay for what you use of the vehicle and not be putting all your eggs in one basket. Plus you could grow the principal and just get nicer cars every few years. True consumer/service based society. You’d have a free ride for the rest of your life basically. Something to think about…

By: ericabiz

ericabiz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:03:09 +0000

@Christine - Great to see you over here! The thing is that you can do almost everything (’cept the flippy screen thing) with cheaper cell phones and service plans than an iPhone. I use my phone as a mini laptop, Twitter from it, play games on it…and I can upload to Flickr from it easily and view pictures on Flickr as well. But my phone is a Palm Centro, which runs $99 instead of $400, and my service plan is $60/month for two lines, 1000 minutes shared, including unlimited Internet access and tethering on both phones. I split the plan with my boyfriend and end up paying less than $40/month for my half out the door with all taxes.

Then again, I just bought a $30,000 car. So we all have some priorities.

A blog post on the 10% return thing is coming up. I have it slated for April.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:32:58 +0000

I’ve been quite well aware of the emotional purchases for years, and how the marketing people work on us. At the same time, I’ve made the frugal purchases before (cell phones are a great example) and ended up not having the functionality I needed or wanted. I refer to my iPhone as an iPhone instead of a cell phone because I use it as a mini laptop, an iPod player, to look up maps, to use Twitter without getting on the PC, to show photos and videos to people that I could potentially convert to clients (a HUGE factor in my purchase) and so much more.

Oh, and because as a photographer, it does make me look cool to my clients. When I flip it sideways while sharing photos with them, if they haven’t experienced it before, they oooh and ahhh.

I guess in a way I am using their marketing to enhance my marketing — and I am a brand of me, so it is really important to me that I do that.

At the same time, I follow the “don’t enter stores until I need something” rule, because it keeps me out of trouble. Especially at Target - that store has some power over me. Other stores, like Best Buy, I can go into and leave without purchasing anything.

In the end though, it really is about knowing yourself and being aware of what you are doing and the WHY behind it.

Now how do I get those 10% returns on investments?

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:57:19 +0000

I’d like to how to get a 10% return on my money. Any advice there?

By: mary

mary — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:21:37 +0000

I will be looking for your blog entry on the subject. I am sure it will be a great read.

By: ericabiz

ericabiz — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:46:34 +0000

@Johnny - I wish I could spend less on food, but here in California, eating out is expensive. I’d definitely be able to spend less if I lived somewhere less expensive. I have cut this back somewhat by eating at home more often (my boyfriend likes to cook.)

@Trent - Thank you for posting this on the Simple Dollar! There was a lot of great discussion that came out of it. And, of course, having new visitors to this blog is always fun.

@bethh - Still working on another blog post about that. Please subscribe to erica.biz and you’ll get an email once I post it.

@Frugal Dad - I love your blog and read it regularly. I’m honored to have you stop by here and comment! Thank you for the post.

@mschmulen - Completely agreed.

@speedy - Ouch! I do things a bit differently. I only go into a store when I’m ready to buy something, and I stick to my list. Occasionally I will buy something on impulse, but I don’t go to stores at all unless I’m ready to spend. This keeps me out of trouble.

@Norma - I did Home Ec (would have preferred Shop), but I didn’t get much out of it. I still don’t cook. Fortunately my boyfriend really enjoys cooking.

@mary - Excellent point. I may write another blog entry about this. Thank you for pointing this out!

By: mary

mary — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:47:22 +0000

Marketing and ads are one thing,but when you have to avoid your friends that are always talking about this trip or that new thing, it can make one feel like they are the only ones being frugal. I feel many people define themselves by what they have or don’t have. It’s not easy being frugal in a material world.

By: Norma

Norma — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:23:47 +0000

We use to have home ex in school but now teachers have to spend time teaching the state exam. Teaching to cook economically would be great. I have worked on churches “help” groups I know what they buy and a slight change would have given food for much longer. I also saw a group on TV saying they had only had cigarettes and coffee for breakfast and their child a doughnut. The price of cigaretes and coffee would have brought a lot of food the price of dougnuts would bought oatmeal which would have lasted a long time.

By: speedy

speedy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:44:31 +0000

In general, the more someone tries to advertise to me, the less likely I am to buy a product. When a salesperson tries to talk to me, I smile sweetly and say, “I’m sorry. You must have mistaken me for a customer” and walk away.

I beg to differ with your labeling of emotional attachment to brand names. I consistently look at ratings and performance of the products I am thinking of buying. I have only had problem after problem with PCs in my work environment, which require endless calls and visits from IT people. I chose Apple products because they are better quality, the company has native English speakers who provide customer support, and the computers I have not had a problem in years of using their products (BTW, no problems with viruses, either!).

I see it as a matter of buying the best product and having the tools to maximize my productivity.