Hi Friendos,
I rarely say this but I was excited by an ad I saw on the subway.
A company called Back Market promises iPhones for “up to 70% less than new” and encourages people to “Downgrade now.”
I have been buying refurbished iPhones for years so naturally I loved an ad that seemed to confirm my own fabulous and environmentally-friendly decisions. I know some people relish getting a new phone, as I did many years ago, but to me in 2024, a phone is a utility where I want a “good enough” product at the best price I can find.
There are other products where I feel very differently. Why do I have so many preferences about sheets and towels??? It would be easier if I would just be happy with whatever was cheap and hard-wearing. Sometimes I no longer want to wear certain “perfectly good” clothing or shoes because I am a different person now vs. the Stephanie that made that purchase. Self-expression items are complicated and the items that fall into this category vary from one person to another. A phone is a utility to me but could represent adulthood, or something equally meaningful, to another person.
When people talk about building wealth, they often talk about cutting or controlling expenses because that can be so much easier than increasing income. This might sound obvious, but if you cut expenses by a dollar (after-tax), that’s equivalent to increasing income by something like $1.30 (pre-tax – the exact figure depends on your tax bracket). Increasing income could be as simple as working an extra shift for some people, but salaried jobs don’t have that option, and working an extra shift is more work! Not buying something is doing nothing and we all have time for that. And no matter how high someone’s income, if they spend it all their position is just as precarious as anyone else living paycheck-to-paycheck. So controlling spending is critical; I choose to think about this not as living with austerity (depressing, who wants that) but as necessary to have financial security (yes, I want that).
There’s a whole arsenal of tools and self-trickery I rely on to help with my own personal finances like automation for saving and investing, creating an annual savings plan, auto pay for bills, and frankly discussing financial/life goals with my partner. But this time of year it’s especially easy to have my head turned so I have to work a little harder to stay intentional with spending. It helps me to think about what type of purchase something is. Does it just need to be “good enough”? Will I actually appreciate the thing in the future when I use it, the way I truly appreciate fancy sheets and towels?
Sometimes I declare to myself that I’ll decide to like the free or cheap thing, which might be something I already have. Like maybe there’s a little home improvement project I’ve been considering, but I could just decide that things are good enough the way they are, so I don’t need to do that project at all. I might declare that the free museum exhibit will be as awesome as something else where I’d have to pay for tickets. I’ll never really know, because I can only choose to have one experience at that moment in time. The free exhibit could turn out to be awesome or only be ok…either way, at least I didn’t overspend.
-Stephanie, deciding on “good enough” this December
p.s. If you or someone you know needs to line up a tax preparer for next year’s tax filing, email me to reserve a place on my client list and see my services page for pricing and other details.
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