How has Food Spending Nearly Doubled, What’s Gadget Depreciation? (W11:D1) Debt Free Millionaire Pod

Simplified Explanation: Frugal shopping is where you go out and buy only things that are essential; frivolous shopping is where you go out and buy things that you really want, that are not important; and intentional shopping is where you make a list of items you want to buy and only buy those specific items.

Real Life: When trying to get out of debt, it is always a good idea not to put yourself back into debt. When you are in major debt, it is much easier to spend frivolously than when you are out of debt. The psychological reasoning is that you worked so hard to get out of debt, that there is a hesitancy to add any additional debt that may make you struggle to get out of it again. You worked hard and want to be more intentional in your spending. 

Now, you cannot go through life not buying these items. You will pay for them in one way or another. Not to repeat this example, but take a new car, for instance. No one needs a new car. Even if you are trying to impress clients, every time a car drives off the showroom floor, it loses $5,000 to its value, because the value we give to a car that no one else has driven makes that car psychologically worth more. But you can buy a slightly used car, and drive that without much difference. 

A boat, on the other hand, is never an essential item. You may want it, but almost nowhere will it ever be an essential item. There is an old saying: “boat” stands for Bring Out Another Thousand (BOAT), meaning that boats are notoriously expensive, even after you purchase one. You may spend tens of thousands every year to maintain and store your boat. I would shy away from this purchase - unless you were debt free, with plenty of income each year, and a strong retirement portfolio.

Computers are essential these days. When I was 14 years old, in 1996, I asked my dad to go to a computer fair in San Francisco, so I could purchase my first computer. My family had an obsolete computer and I had been working and saving my money. When we got there, my dad asked if the family could use it. I told him no, and that I was buying it for myself. He said, what if he paid for half? I said no, because a family computer would be bought by the parents. He said, “what if we pay half and you can have it in your own room?” I said yes. It was top of the line, in 1996, cost $2,000, and did a small fraction of what a phone can do today. My parents had that computer until about 2006, and I upgraded it multiple times for them. Today, computers cost very little, compared to what they used to cost. Even now, though, they are being replaced by tablets and smartphones, so the need for certain devices are not as essential as we may think they are.

There are other devices you may think you need, such as a gaming console or appliance. You may want to buy them, but are they essential (beyond your entertainment)? Appliances are essential, if you are moving into a rental unit without laundry. You can live the inconvenience of the local laundromat, and the added expense, or you could buy the washer and dryer and have it in your home. What about other needed appliances, such as a dishwasher, oven, or fridge? Each of these are expensive and may be needed for your kitchen. Most of the time, you will want to buy these new, because of the wear and tear of the strain we put them under. You never know what issues you are buying, until you run it in your own house. Consider new but dented or scratched appliances. You can buy these for a fraction of perfectly new appliances.

Not a gadget, per se, but furniture is a side purchase you will need to make, at some point. These you can buy slightly used, on the web, or at a store. Making sure these are good quality will allow them to last longer, so you won’t need to purchase a new piece of furniture to replace it soon afterwards. Much like clothes and most non-essential purchases, you can purchase good quality and use them for a long time, or buy inexpensive, and replace them on a constant basis. You get to choose what suits you best. Please know, big brand names do not indicate high quality. You can buy a pair of jeans at Wal-Mart for $14.99, and replace them every two years; or you could buy a pair of Levis for $29.99, and replace them every five years; or you could buy a pair of stylish jeans for $99.99, and either have to replace them a year later, or, if they go out of style, need to replace them each year, when the style changes. Clothing and furniture are the same - you can find quality without spending a lot of money (finding quality may just take some effort). Look up online reviews on your items before buying them. This includes brands that you have and haven’t seen, depending on how much money they put into it.

Now comes the notorious device that people feel they have to spend $1,000+, because of how they look. Phones may be essential, like a car, but like a car, you don’t have to spend your life savings on them. Most likely, your friends and colleagues won’t even know you spent a ton of money on it. Now you could go to your cellular provider and spend an extra $50 on your phone contract to lease the new phone, but in the end, you will spend more than the originally priced $1,000 on that phone. Instead, you could pay cash for it, so they can’t take it back when you upgrade or change your carrier, or you could go to a discount website that markets slightly used phones, provided by other users. There is a website, called Swappa.com, where you can buy slightly used or new phones for nearly half the price. A cell phone currently selling for $1,200 can be for sale at one of these used sites for $800 (and you would own it outright), spending less money over the life of the phone. Or, you can always wait on the newest phone to be replaced, and buy an older phone at only a fraction of the price. After a cell phone cover, you wouldn’t even know which phone it was. With each new phone that comes out, there are only slight improvements, that would be considered non-essential, and you wouldn’t miss them if you didn’t have them. So, in other words, you may as well buy a slightly used phone for $300, and save nearly $1,000, rather than purchase a new phone.

For less expensive used gadgets: https://swappa.com/

Also read: https://www.picodi.com/us/bargain-hunting/spendings-on-food-2023 https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-prices-and-spending/ https://explodingtopics.com/blog/iphone-android-users https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-to-save-money-in-2024/