If you know me even the slightest bit, you would be quite shocked at this title. I mean, I am a money saving fiend! LOL. Millions of women come to this blog from around the world, many of them drawn to the idea of living a fantastic life on so little, and I do I guess, live on little compared to what the ‘norm’ is.
But, in being known for saving so much money all the time, there’s one thing you have to know about me…I don’t ALWAYS save money. Sometimes, intentionally, I pay more! In fact, just this week alone, I purchased 3 things that cost me $400 total when I could have gotten them all for around $125.
“This seems crazy,” you say, “why would you CHOOSE to pay extra.”
Well, there are a few important times when to not save money.
Top Reasons When to Not Save Money
You don’t want to pay the cheapest amount of money when…
It’ll cost you more in the long run
Oh, this was such a HARD lesson for me to learn and I’ll tell you what, after I personally learned this lesson, it took even longer for my husband to come on board when we were married. Like, years. I was so frustrated! Everything we bought seemed to break. And there came a day when I told him, “Look, if we buy this cheap-o one instead of that other one, it’s going to break and we will end up having to buy it again.” And he’d buy the cheap-o one and prove me right. It would break. Many a times we did that until FINALLY even HE saw it.
While you are not 100% guaranteed that expensive products won’t break, you have a MUCH better chance it won’t. Think of it like this…
You buy a car. It’s a brand new top-of-the-line car. You have a pretty good chance there won’t be anything wrong with it. But, in rare cases, maybe something does go wrong. Now, let’s picture you buying a used car. Well we all know that all SORTS of things can go wrong with a used car. Even if you do your BEST comparison shopping, read all the reviews, pull CarFax, do all your homework, it can still be a lemon.
Case in point, I paid thousands of dollars for a used car that the better business bureau laughed at me when I told them what happened. “You were sold a lemon,” they said. I wasted thousands of dollars on a car that I did all the research, and had a couple of guys from my church go with me to the car lot who knew what they were doing. You just never know what you’re buying. I can’t tell you how frustrating that situation is for me.
I saved and spent good money for a lemon. The day after I brought it home, I knew. It left me a nice present on my garage floor. Apparently, it couldn’t hold itself overnight. And I wake up to more of that “present” every day. But it’s not just the oil all over the floor, it’s got a bunch of other things wrong with it too. Our world is full of con-men. People who swindle you and take your money. I know that in the end, God will make it all fair; I do not worry. All I can do is my absolute best in the meantime.
But, it’s a great lesson for why you have to be careful when purchasing. Why I don’t shop at the Dollar Store or Walmart where they provide cheaper quality items. Places like Costco, even Big Lots, Fred Meyer, Target, are all the same prices, yet they are better quality. My favorite place to get dollar stuff, are actually craft stores. They have fantastic dollar sections and quality items. I’m sure you can get away with some things at the dollar store, like cards, stickers, etc. Things that are intended for one-time use; things you’d expect not to last, but not for things you want to last a while, like a cookware set, a toaster oven, a garden hose, etc.
When you are shopping, always think about the long term wearability of the item you are buying. It will vary per item, and is all up to you. I pay about $10 more for my purse because it’s a brand name and I just like it. I pay more for a vacuum, going for a brand name (I’m in love with Dyson’s and have 2 of them. Here’s my favorite one that I own) rather than a cheaper brand. I’ll buy the more expensive, quality things over cheap-o products because I know I can get brand names at the same price! Yes, it’s totally true. You can get your brand name items for the SAME price, sometimes lower, than the cheap-o products. Don’t believe me? Check out Slickdeals. It’ll rock your world!
I am a brand snob
That one is a little harder to admit, but none-the-less, it is true. I’m a complete brand snob. I like to invest in brand names. They last longer, are better made, and the quality is overall better. This is not ALWAYS true, some off brands are actually pretty good, so you just need to get to know the items you buy and what they should accomplish for you.
Likewise, for me, I know how to get brand name items at the same prices as the off brands, so that is a no-brainer really.
I don’t want to sacrifice
Listen, if I really want that Wii U and with the games and all the accessories, it’s gonna set me back $650, I’m going to buy it. I don’t have a problem purchasing it because I’ve done so well at saving every penny in other areas that I can truly afford it without going into debt to get it. I don’t live my life like I’m strapped for cash. I don’t have to beg and borrow to get by. In fact, I’m the one usually found going around helping those around me, giving bigger tips, and spreading my blessings and what I believe is wealth, though society disagrees with me.
It doesn’t make sense to save money
There are times, when it just doesn’t make sense to save money. For example, I saw an article about painting your vent covers instead of buying new ones. At my local hardware store, good quality ones are $2 each; the fancy ones are $4. Now, for me, I don’t have a bunch of painting supplies laying around to accomplish that, so I’d have to buy all the supplies, which would in turn lose me more money than saving, unless I planned to paint my whole house and use up the supplies or something.
But, just for ducks, let’s say you already have all the supplies. Let’s say you even use spray paint or something and you have it. Even still, it would take you a couple coats of paint to cover it well. You can probably do a few vent covers at once and it would take 15 minutes and another 15 minutes to do the second coat. I don’t know…you’re looking at 30 minutes of time to save you like $4.
For me personally, it’s just not worth it. I’d rather spend that 30 minutes holding my kids or working online and make more money than that. So, for me, it wouldn’t make sense. Everyone is in a different place in their life. It used to make sense for me, and I would save money that way, but now I’m just in a different place in my life and I don’t have the time. Every second I get with my kids is precious, so I want to make sure if I’m working, I’m pulling in good money, so that I CAN be home with my kids. Otherwise, I’d have to get a job outside the home, and I don’t want that. I’ve worked too hard to leave them with a babysitter now.
