so easy to Live Above Your Means

[Live And Learn]

Except for 3 years when I thought I was a hot-shot I've always lived been a LBYM's type. I still don't have a smartphone, and can't imagine that I ever will; the only reason I have cellphone today is that I'm still w*rking and need it for that.

BUT ... I succumbed to the "app" craze and bought myself a 7" Tablet for my 50th birthday. Total cost, including case was $250 which is a full day of retirement expenses (do that 30 times and you've lost a month of retirement time !). I convinced myself it was ok because I redeemed enough credit card points to get a $200 credit to my checking account to offset the cost.

That was 7 months ago and yesterday the screen on the device went haywire and its now unusable. Its still under warranty so it will be fixed but I miss my tablet !!! And it's only been a day.

The old saying "you don't miss what you never had" is ringing SO true right now. I can see how people get sucked into living above their means - these little gizmos and gadgets can be addicting !

Normally on the weekend I'd be out in the backyard reading or playing a game or browsing the forum from my tablet. I miss that - badly ! I've been sucked in !

I can see how this can happen with fancy cars with all sorts of gizmos and gadgets - how one would miss those things when / if they had to 'scale it back' and how you'd just want more of it in the next vechicle.

Thankfully my car is 10 years old and the fanciest thing it has is a single CD player. My house still has its 1985 kitchen and bathrooms (mauve fixtures anyone ??) so when my next car (which will be only 3 years old at time of purchase) and my next house (which will have 1/2 the sq ft but will probably be about the same age) have the same stuff I won't feel like I'm missing anything !

 

[gerrym51]

Except for 3 years when I thought I was a hot-shot I've always lived been a LBYM's type. I still don't have a smartphone, and can't imagine that I ever will; the only reason I have cellphone today is that I'm still w*rking and need it for that.

BUT ... I succumbed to the "app" craze and bought myself a 7" Tablet for my 50th birthday. Total cost, including case was $250 which is a full day of retirement expenses (do that 30 times and you've lost a month of retirement time !). I convinced myself it was ok because I redeemed enough credit card points to get a $200 credit to my checking account to offset the cost.

That was 7 months ago and yesterday the screen on the device went haywire and its now unusable. Its still under warranty so it will be fixed but I miss my tablet !!! And it's only been a day.

The old saying "you don't miss what you never had" is ringing SO true right now. I can see how people get sucked into living above their means - these little gizmos and gadgets can be addicting !

Normally on the weekend I'd be out in the backyard reading or playing a game or browsing the forum from my tablet. I miss that - badly ! I've been sucked in !

I can see how this can happen with fancy cars with all sorts of gizmos and gadgets - how one would miss those things when / if they had to 'scale it back' and how you'd just want more of it in the next vechicle.

Thankfully my car is 10 years old and the fanciest thing it has is a single CD player. My house still has its 1985 kitchen and bathrooms (mauve fixtures anyone ??) so when my next car (which will be only 3 years old at time of purchase) and my next house (which will have 1/2 the sq ft but will probably be about the same age) have the same stuff I won't feel like I'm missing anything !

i just got a kindle-i love it.

 

[Moemg]

i just got a kindle-i love it.

I love my kindle so much I told my friends if someone broke in I would hope he would steal the big screen TV and leave my kindle alone.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Thankfully my car is 10 years old and the fanciest thing it has is a single CD player. My house still has its 1985 kitchen and bathrooms (mauve fixtures anyone ??) so when my next car (which will be only 3 years old at time of purchase) and my next house (which will have 1/2 the sq ft but will probably be about the same age) have the same stuff I won't feel like I'm missing anything !

Don't worry. You can only listen to one CD at a time, and mauve will be making a big come back.

 

[Mulligan]

Live and Learn, I am with you on the 10 year old cars. Mine has 185k and still going strong. Around the 5th year mark, I was getting antsy to buy again as I had already kept it longer than any other car I ever had. Then I said I will wait until it gives me problems. It still hasn't. Now it's become a source of pride paying my 6 month $150 insurance premium and my $95 annual property tax bill.

 

[Live And Learn]

Yep - I love being about to put that Tablet in my pocketbook and whip it out anytime I find myself sitting to read or play a game. I think the games have actually helped my brain function (I have several "brain games" that I downloaded).

On mauve making a comeback I hope it happens within the next year when I sell this house and move into the smaller house in a 55+ community.

Mulligan - 185000 miles is very impressive. I'm at 107k and have a strong feeling I'll be at 200k and it will still be with me.

 

[citrine]

I love my Nook! I don't have a smart phone either and I really didn't want the Nook, but DH gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago....best present ever!
As for the car, it is 6 years old and with only 58,000 miles....it will take me a long time to hit 200K miles on it!

 

[hsv_climber]

The biggest difference between Kindle / Nook / Tablet and a smartphone is a monthly plan.
Monthly plan is what sucks money out of your nest egg month after month in an inflation - increasing way.

BTW, I love my Kindle too. It is actually saving me $$ on books.

 

[hausfrau]

I think it can be very easy to get used to the comforts! When I bought my second car (used), it came with leather heated seats. Oh my, how nice there are! I think I would have trouble going back to cold cloth seats like my first car had.

I don't yet have a smart phone because I think I would like it too much and then I would be stuck with another bill to pay every month. Monthly bill creep really drives me crazy.

 

[gerrym51]

The biggest difference between Kindle / Nook / Tablet and a smartphone is a monthly plan.
Monthly plan is what sucks money out of your nest egg month after month in an inflation - increasing way.

BTW, I love my Kindle too. It is actually saving me $$ on books.

what got me to get the kindle is graphic novels(comic books) i love superman and download any superman related comics. my wife always complained about the paper space. I am NOT a collecter-just a reader.

the kindles panel read ability for comics is terrific.

i was also able to download some older charlie muffin books. i love charlie muffin-my kind of spy

 

[tkopel]

I have gone the complete opposite on some things. We thought we could never live without Cable, then 9 years ago I started vetschool and could not afford it. Have not looked back since! I don't miss it at all and every time I travel where there is cable I am reminded of how much of a useless time-suck it is!
Now when it comes to cars, driving a '64 VW beetle for three years as your only car will really make you want the bells and whisles (you know, air conditioning/heater, power breaks, an engine that is not so loud that you can not have a conversation or listen to the radio, a gas tank that does not leak if you fill it too much)!

 

[tkopel]

*brakes

 

[jclarksnakes]

I seriously LBYM. No tablet. My dumb phone is a Tracfone. I buy time for it once a year but never use even half the minutes. My ZO6 Corvette is almost 11 years old.

 

[Live And Learn]

I seriously LBYM. No tablet. My dumb phone is a Tracfone. I buy time for it once a year but never use even half the minutes. My ZO6 Corvette is almost 11 years old.

I giggled at "Corvette" and "LBYM" in the same thought. But for some, I guess it is !

I have an 11 year old car also. I LOVE my car. No widescreen or flatscreens for me either. And lots of clothing from GW.

 

[freebird5825]

My faithful LG DARE cell phone (approx 2008 vintage?) just bit the bullet 2 weeks ago, so I upgraded to an LG Lucid smartphone for a net cost of $19.99.
I know there are problems with the standard battery life on the Lucid, but the price was right and the touch screen display on my DARE was dying by the minute. I had to tap it at least 5 times to get it to wake up.

The new Lucid...it rings, it makes calls, it texts plus the touch screen keyboard is larger than the DARE. The camera is great. All is well.

I do not use it for internet browsing at all. I have 300 Mb per month , which is the minmum included in my unlimited calling/texting plan. I've used 0.2 Mb so far, checking to make sure I didn't leave the browser open while I was learning to use the smartphone.

 

[Live And Learn]

I have gone the complete opposite on some things. We thought we could never live without Cable, then 9 years ago I started vetschool and could not afford it. Have not looked back since! I don't miss it at all and every time I travel where there is cable I am reminded of how much of a useless time-suck it is!

I would LOVE to ditch cable but DH won't hear of it. Of course it makes it difficult to convince him when I don't a clue how I'd stream anything onto my 12 year old big cube type 32" TV.