Over the past 10 years or so, I have set up my life to avoid shopping.
Well, avoiding shopping is maybe too strong a term.
However, I don’t go window shopping or shop socially anymore. Some of this is related to the pandemic (trying to stay home and away from germs), some is related to long hours working (who has time to shop if you are at work all the time?), some related to our 1-car household (if I don’t have the car, I am not going on a shopping spree).
Other factors include wanting to avoid wasting money when I have other financial goals (paying off the mortgage, for example) and not wanting to think about having to declutter my purchase in a few years (considering how hard I have found clearing my office and living room).
Whatever the reason(s), this habit has served me well. I am limiting how much stuff I have to clear out of the house, and I save a lot of time and money by staying out of stores.
However, I have reached a time where I really do need to replace some important items, and I’m finding that I resent the time needed to get the job done. Online ordering is fine, and I did spend a few hours shopping for a new mattress set with Mr. PiN. We have been enjoying a better bed for a few months. However, we also want to get a new (additional) car; we are tired of being a 1-car household.
Making the effort to get to a dealership while they are open (not convenient for my schedule) to actually look at the cars just seems like too much.
And yet, there is no way I would buy a car without driving it first. If nothing else, I need to make sure that I can actually hit the pedals and look over the windshield at the same time (I really am that short).
My current cell phone has the battery life of a mayfly (actually, less; as an adult mayfly lives about 1-2 days). However, the effort to buy a phone and then get all of my work security redone just seems too much. My laziness has helped pushed my phone purchase forward by another year or 2, but this is no longer useful.
Having set up my life to reduce shopping, I find it difficult to find the time to devote to buying new, and expensive, items.
It’s a funny thing, having to work on breaking “good habits.”
Does anyone else struggle with this?
I see a lot on finance blogs about loosening up on spending when you’ve devoted yourself to compulsive saving. Getting a new car though is a HUGE PITA and getting a new phone is as well, even when you DON’T have a bunch of work security setup issues.
On the plus side, I heard recently that newer phones will now be supported for seven years.
I’m starting to realize that I have no problems with the idea of spending. It’s just that I’m too lazy to go out and do the work to feel that I’m spending well.
As for 7 years of support, I’m wondering what that really means, since it seems that each system update sucks up more memory than the last.