Stop Buying New Things, New is Expensive

Buying new things instead of using things that you already have that works is a deadly sin of personal finance. We all know that having fun money is necessary in the financial independence journey. However, there’s a difference between buying things for enjoyment and buying things just because.

I see so many people buying the latest iPhone, the newest Mac, or a new car even when nothing is wrong. My phone is a dinosaur iPhone 5s that I’ve had for the past six and a half years. It works perfectly and I will not buy a new one for the future.

Yes, the latest iPhone 12 is a technologically better performing phone than my current one. It’s significantly faster, has a bigger screen, and so much more. However, here’s the thing, convenience costs more money than people realize.

The iPhone 12 above will save me a noticeable amount of time in my life. Although time is the most valuable asset ever, the gains from having the newest gadget far outweigh the costs. Honestly, when I am ready to buy the newest phone, it will most likely be iPhone 6.

I’ve owned my 2015 Nissan Versa Note for four and a half years with zero plans to replace it. It has around 72,000 miles in it right now, I am hoping it’ll go up to 200,000 one day. Cars are just used to go from point A to point B. Nothing more and nothing less.

Businesses figured out that people are willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money on convenience. Amazon dominates online retail because of its convenience buying proposition. Be willing to spend more on convenience but recognize when you’re spending too much.

Avoid Buying New Things and Fix What You Have

I’ve had my Mid 2012 Macbook Pro for the past seven years. It still works beautifully and perfectly. Between years 4 and 5, I spilled a half full cup of water onto the trackpad and it went kaput. Two problems came out of it. The keyboard strokes wouldn’t even register onto the log-on screen and it wouldn’t even turn on.

I absolutely loved my Macbook. The trackpad is one of the smoothest trackpads I’ve ever experienced. The speed was phenomenal and it can achieve so many things that a Windows computer just can’t. The bulk of my data was stored in my Mac as well.

Until I figured out what to do about my computer, I ended up using my Dell Windows computer. I owned two laptops because Dell had a deal that I just couldn’t pass up. The 16-inch computer came with a brand new 32 inch TV and sold for only $500, including taxes.

I had never seen that kind of deal before. Thinking I might need another TV soon, I ended up purchasing it. The irony is that I didn’t use either for a solid 2 years. However, the benefits did kick in when I unintentionally broke my computer. It all worked out in the end.

However, I still had an affinity for Macbooks but the personal finance fanatic in me knew I had no need for another one. I dislike buying new things with a burning passion, especially when I don’t need it. How was I ever going to fix this problem?

After a year and a half of letting my Macbook collect dust, I finally decided to do something about it. Better late than never, as they say.

Multiple Opinions From Friends

My friends all knew that I kept a fun budget of $500 a month. All of them encouraged me to buy a new $1,200 Macbook. After all, it was only 20% of my yearly fun budget anyway. It wasn’t not that expensive.

Although the logic did make sense, the inner personal finance fanatic sense was tingling. It made theoretical sense but it didn’t make practical sense. Most likely because they didn’t consider other cheaper alternatives before coming to the conclusion. It made me think that they were just encouraging me to spend more money that I didn’t need.

One day when I woke up, it hit me out of nowhere. Why don’t I consult with a local repairman who fixes broken technology for a living? I should be listening to expertise, not conjecture or just opinions. That’s exactly what I did.

I visited a local repairperson and with one look he gave me a $200 quote to get it running again. Compared to $1,200 + tax that sounded too good to be true. Even then, I took the deal. I was happy that I could avoid buying new things yet again and just fix the things I have. Saving $1,000 sounded great to me.

In the middle of fixing the Mac, the keyboard did indeed need to be fixed as well. Although he would normally charge an extra $200, he only charged me an extra $50.

Otherwise, he reasoned, I would be almost better off buying completely new anyway. I was thinking that I could negotiate it but pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. Immediately, I said yes, no objections.

Difference Between Cheap and Frugal

After a week passed, it was exciting to have my beloved Macbook back into my life. Surprisingly, none of the data was corrupted, trackpad worked perfectly, and it was good as new. Taking the extra step of thinking through the optimal solution was better than the simple solution of buying new things.

That’s what made this a rewarding experience. I figured it out myself instead of spending extra dollars to find the solution. One of the reasons why I love do it yourself projects. Not only do you get to save money, you get to have a feeling of accomplishment.

You have to distinguish between being cheap and being frugal. Cheap is not the life you want to live. Extreme cheapskates is not the end goal and should never have been been a goal in the first place. These people don’t just avoid buying new things, they avoid buying things. Period.

Cheap is avoiding getting an x-Ray not because you don’t need it but because you want to save money. Cheap is feeding cat food as a reward to an ex-husband who helps clean the pool. Not an exaggeration, that’s one of the episodes in the show. Cheap is trying to be a penny wise and a pound foolish.

Frugal is being a penny wise and then that’s it. Frugal is carefully outweighing the gains, costs, risks, and benefits and recognizing when costs and risks outweigh. It’s the rational and sensible choice to do. Not everyone will agree with frugal 100% of the time. That’s ok. As long as you, yourself, fully understand how the costs and risks outweigh the benefits, you are frugal, not cheap.

Buying new things is not a bad way to live. Buying too many new things definitely is a horrible way to live. The former is a hedonistic care-free way to live, the latter is a frugal, well thought out way to live.

Five Things to Avoid Continually Buying New

Hopefully I’ve convinced you that the frugal way is the right way to live. Avoid consumerism like the plague. Consumerism is the life of excess where you have more things than you need. Of course, governments love consumerism because it pumps up their economy.

Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t things that you should buy. There are. However, most people struggle with understanding things they should avoid spending money on instead of the opposite. Below is a short list of things to try to avoid buying new on. At the end of the day, you might end up having to buy new. However, don’t do it unless you’ve explored other avenues first.

Unnecessary Material Things

1. New cars. New cars depreciate approximately 50% of value once out of the parking lot. Additionally, most cars built these days are very well designed and engineered. They are built to last 10+ years.
2. Latest computer, phone, or TV. Chances are, what you currently have works perfectly. The marketing ads you see are just too juicy and convincing to pass on.
3. Clothes. One you buy one shirt, it lasts for years and years, especially when you take good care of it.
4. Shoes. My Nike tennis shoes have lasted me a good three years and it will continue to do so.
5. Furniture. My dining table, TV stand, bed, futon, and coffee table have lasted me years and it’ll continue to do so.

This is just the start of the things to avoid constantly replacing with new things on. You will live a much simpler life that’s decluttered and has less noise. All things equal, simple life is much better than a complicated life, even if you enjoy complications.

There are definitely times when it is not only necessary but encouraged to buy new things. More often than not, though, it is not necessary. It’s up to you to get into the right mindset and recognize when or when it isn’t necessary.

Fight on and let’s be filled with money.