Living Like These Happy Golden Years: Shiny Things

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He was cutting the oats and wheat again with the old cradle. A harvester cost more money than he had, and he would not go in debt for one. “This giving a mortgage on everything he owns, to buy a two hundred dollar machine, and paying ten percent interest on the debt, will ruin a man,” he said. “Let these brash young fellows go in debt for machinery and break up their land. I’m going to let the grass keep on growing, and raise cattle.” These Happy Golden Years p. 197-198

I’m sure we’ve all had that moment…you get to the store to look for an item. When you spot the item you have 2 choices; a nicer, fancier, more-bells-and-whistles version or the still-going-to-work-but-not-as-spiffy version. Which one did you pick? I’m going to guess that there’s been many times when you just couldn’t pass up the fancier version, even though it was more expensive.

My husband never seems to be able to figure this one out. He thinks that we should always go with the more expensive version because it might be better and it might last longer. I go with the version that we can afford. The one I can pull out cash for instead of having to put on a credit or debit card. It may not last as long, but it’s what we can afford at the time and I know it will get us by just fine.

There are cases where I do believe that you should save up for the more expensive version. If the product is proven to be better and will last a significant amount of time longer….it might be worth it. BUT it’s still only if you have the money to pay for it!

What about you…do you always get the more expensive version, no matter what? Or do you only get what you have the cash for?

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13 Comments

  1. My husband and any kind of tool… sigh… He seems to think he is a construction worker, when in reality he is a very, very amateur diy-er… lol

  2. I’m with you. I have a vitamix that we paid for that I believe was worth every penny we spent. I was given a dehydrator by my grandparents that is not the best dehydrator on the market, but was FREE and that beats paying for something by a long shot.

  3. I agree, it’s a fine line. My husband has been a teacher for almost 25 yrs; I was a stay-at-home mom. We did w/o a lot of “things” this world works like crazy to get. As much as we could, we bought once and bought well. Make sure you do some research. We bought a few “investment” purchases( i.e. Kirby vacuum, on 12-mo-same-as-cash) but overall paid cash up front. We have been totally debt-free, including mortgages on 2 homes, for several years. Even with kids in college, and one wedding. It can be difficult sometimes to go against society’s flow, but it has been a good lesson in contentment. After all, we live better than 75% of the rest of the world!

  4. I buy used as often as possible. Many times the item has years of good use left. Sometimes I believe it is better to go with a more expensive item but not always. Yes, do your research. One thing we did splurge on was our water filtration system. We bought a Berkey and we bought the largest model but we have a family of seven but we DID NOT go into debt. We saved for it. Sometimes it’s hard to wait but I believe it’s better to do so if at all possible.

  5. for me, I’ve done a mix…buying the less-expensive version or buying the spiffer/spendier version .It really depends on my experience with the product…I’ve had good/bad experiences in both areas…so the deciding factor is the performace…because even if an item is cheap, if it doesn’t do the job, then it’s wasted money 🙂 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂

  6. I like to buy the one we can afford. My husband likes all the bells and whistle on certain items but he usually agrees with me on the cheaper items. I see it this way “If you can’t pay with cash, you cannot afford it”.

    Your website is great. Thank you.

  7. I love my Kitchenaid mixer too(a gift from my husband)! And my stainless Kitchenaid dishwasher which we picked up for $100 brand spanking new (a gift from me to me)! It was a floor model (originaly 900)and it had a teeny tiny dent in the left bottom corner. Barely visible…..or maybe it was the tears welling up in my eyes from the shear joy of scoring such a great deal that made the dent seem invisible…..

    I ride the fence on this one, to spend or not to spend. But I don’t think you should spend what you don’t have. BTW I usually choose not to spend and my husband goes for quality not quantity. Good balance.

  8. Pa made sense — debt is a hard thing to get rid of — we can learn from our pioneer ancestors.

  9. I usually buy what I have cash for- and usually what’s cheapest (having had good and bad results). Does your family use cell phones? I know that seems like a dumb question in 2012. I’m just curious about your usage and how much you save . . . . Thanks!

    1. Yes, we do have cell phones, but no home phones. We don’t have any phones with data packages (just the normal ones!) and we don’t ever pay for ring tones, games, or anything like that. We also save over 20% off our cell bill through my husbands work…it’s worth checking into to see if your company offers a discount!

  10. It really depends what it is. Sometimes I might see a “more fancy” version of the item I went to the store for and because it isn’t that much more and the features really seem worth it, I may go for the higher priced item. But usually I’m on a budget and I want to stick with what I came to buy. That’s why I do my research before I hit the store.

  11. I like to pay cash for things. I don’t like credit cards. For me if I don’t have the money to pay for it, then I don’t get it. If it is something I really need then I will go check the item out. Go home and think about it. When I am in town go and look at it again and think some more. Then I will make up my mind as to what I should do. If I think the cheeper one will work good for me then I get that one. If I feel like the other one might be of better value in the long run. Then I get it. But for me to spend the extra money I would have to use it a lot to make it worth it to me.