Author Topic: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"  (Read 4057 times)

Dicey

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"The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« on: August 17, 2018, 10:22:59 AM »
OMG, this great article was linked by our old pal, J.D. Roth on his blog today. It is crazy good. Talk about an A-HA moment!


https://nosidebar.com/relying-on-our-purchases/

G-dog

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2018, 10:30:43 AM »
OMG, this great article was linked by our old pal, J.D. Roth on his blog today. It is crazy good. Talk about an A-HA moment!


https://nosidebar.com/relying-on-our-purchases/
But it then ends with the offer for the 30-day course to help you. A bit ironic to me....

But yes, we definitely want quick fixes needing little-to-no real effort on our own part.  I’ve never gotten into retail therapy, but I saw myself in some examples for sure. Good intentions are not execution.

Freedom2016

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2018, 03:35:44 PM »
I think I'm not the target audience of the article b/c I don't particularly relate to hoping objects will 'save' me...

Our Roomba has been awesome and has inspired better home tidyness habits. Which has made me much happier with our house.

My Garmin running watch has been awesome and has inspired me to workout more, longer, and harder.



cats

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2018, 04:00:25 PM »
I think I'm not the target audience of the article b/c I don't particularly relate to hoping objects will 'save' me...

Our Roomba has been awesome and has inspired better home tidyness habits. Which has made me much happier with our house.

My Garmin running watch has been awesome and has inspired me to workout more, longer, and harder.

Interesting.  What exactly is it about the objects that helped you get around the block of developing better tidiness or fitness habits?

In the case of tidiness, my husband and I have periodically considered various "buy new stuff" solutions like a roomba, a cleaning service, organizational systems, etc.  A good chunk of the time we decide a better solution is to just have less shit that needs tidying, cleaning, or organizing.  My husband has also made a good case for a tidier and simpler home being a safer home (no tripping over stuff in the dark, for example, and I know exactly where the flashlight is if the power goes out), which is a powerful motivator for staying on top of things.  I suspect if we had bought a roomba right at the same time that I happened to "get" the value of tidiness in some new way, the roomba would be coinciding with more tidy behavior, and otherwise it would be gathering dust.  So are you sure the roomba made you more tidy, or did you have some wake-up call about tidiness and then the roomba happened to be a good part of the solution?

Similar with a fitness tracker like a watch.  I added a running app to my phone a while back and it certainly helped me in being motivated to train for a half marathon, but having a regular running date with a friend who was also training for the half marathon was probably a bigger inspiration.

I just don't think these things are going to do anything for you if you don't already have some internal switch flipped to achieve your goal.  The things might helped, but if the switch is flipped you're probably going to get 85% of the way there anyway.

I do observe a LOT of people falling into the trap described in this article.  And buying stuff/"treating yourself" is so often part of the advice given to people who are struggling with a problem.  I so often see tips on how to motivate yourself to work out, for example, that involve buying cute new gym clothes, treating yourself to a magazine to read while on the elliptical machine, treating yourself to a manicure if you maintain a workout streak, etc.  When really, you should view exercise as treating yourself to some endorphins and a longer life expectancy.  If you read a mainstream article on organizing your home it will almost certainly tell you that you need to buy something (containers, a new shelving system, whatever).  There will likely be discussion of decluttering but rarely will an article come out and say that a big key to staying organized is to simply buy less stuff in the first place.

Dicey

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2018, 01:55:37 AM »
OMG, this great article was linked by our old pal, J.D. Roth on his blog today. It is crazy good. Talk about an A-HA moment!


https://nosidebar.com/relying-on-our-purchases/
But it then ends with the offer for the 30-day course to help you. A bit ironic to me....

But yes, we definitely want quick fixes needing little-to-no real effort on our own part.  I’ve never gotten into retail therapy, but I saw myself in some examples for sure. Good intentions are not execution.
Oh, I got the irony, but I have zero desire to enroll in the course, so no temptation there. It also doesn't negate the author's pithy words.

Freedom2016

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2018, 08:06:48 AM »
I think I'm not the target audience of the article b/c I don't particularly relate to hoping objects will 'save' me...

Our Roomba has been awesome and has inspired better home tidyness habits. Which has made me much happier with our house.

My Garmin running watch has been awesome and has inspired me to workout more, longer, and harder.

Interesting.  What exactly is it about the objects that helped you get around the block of developing better tidiness or fitness habits?

In the case of tidiness, my husband and I have periodically considered various "buy new stuff" solutions like a roomba, a cleaning service, organizational systems, etc.  A good chunk of the time we decide a better solution is to just have less shit that needs tidying, cleaning, or organizing.  My husband has also made a good case for a tidier and simpler home being a safer home (no tripping over stuff in the dark, for example, and I know exactly where the flashlight is if the power goes out), which is a powerful motivator for staying on top of things.  I suspect if we had bought a roomba right at the same time that I happened to "get" the value of tidiness in some new way, the roomba would be coinciding with more tidy behavior, and otherwise it would be gathering dust.  So are you sure the roomba made you more tidy, or did you have some wake-up call about tidiness and then the roomba happened to be a good part of the solution?

Similar with a fitness tracker like a watch.  I added a running app to my phone a while back and it certainly helped me in being motivated to train for a half marathon, but having a regular running date with a friend who was also training for the half marathon was probably a bigger inspiration.

I just don't think these things are going to do anything for you if you don't already have some internal switch flipped to achieve your goal.  The things might helped, but if the switch is flipped you're probably going to get 85% of the way there anyway.

I do observe a LOT of people falling into the trap described in this article.  And buying stuff/"treating yourself" is so often part of the advice given to people who are struggling with a problem.  I so often see tips on how to motivate yourself to work out, for example, that involve buying cute new gym clothes, treating yourself to a magazine to read while on the elliptical machine, treating yourself to a manicure if you maintain a workout streak, etc.  When really, you should view exercise as treating yourself to some endorphins and a longer life expectancy.  If you read a mainstream article on organizing your home it will almost certainly tell you that you need to buy something (containers, a new shelving system, whatever).  There will likely be discussion of decluttering but rarely will an article come out and say that a big key to staying organized is to simply buy less stuff in the first place.

I agree with you, I just didn't make my point very well.

I was indeed already moving toward a mindset of 'our housekeeping/cleaning needs more attention' and I had done some Marie Kondo-like purging already. Roomba reinforced and further inspired me. I might be weird, though: Roomba is loud and it annoys DH, but to me it is a motivating sound: 'oh, the machine is cleaning away. I'll spend a few minutes now to clear away the breakfast dishes!'

With the Garmin watch I had already spent a few months focusing more on health and fitness. I got my Garmin at a point where its data tracking inspired me to hit the road, rather than a few years ago when I got a Fitbit that did nothing to change my (at-the-time) sedentary habits.

I was clumsily making your point: that objects can be useful tools to reinforce or strengthen or otherwise help, but they are useless if the internal motivation isn't there.

And I shouldn't come across so blithe about this. There was definitely a time when I was more susceptible to this kind of thinking.

Mr. Green

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2018, 04:42:00 PM »
I ONLY spend money to make my life better, but that spending actually makes my life better by eliminating a hassle or streamlining a chore, something along those lines. I buy expensive underwear that is lifhtweight and breathes so I can only have 3 pair and pack for a week in nothing more than a book bag.

Dicey

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2018, 11:21:20 PM »
I ONLY spend money to make my life better, but that spending actually makes my life better by eliminating a hassle or streamlining a chore, something along those lines. I buy expensive underwear that is lifhtweight and breathes so I can only have 3 pair and pack for a week in nothing more than a book bag.
Badass!

HenryDavid

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2018, 01:23:20 AM »
The things you buy won’t save you.
Neither will not buying things.
Freedom is when buying, not buying, saving, not saving . . . all disappear below your horizon of interest. To be replaced by relationships, art, humour, nature, music, life.
The fact that it’s hard to get there says a lot about the kind of world we have right now.

mm1970

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2018, 12:15:20 PM »
Just wanted to add a comment on the Garmin watch.

Years ago (a decade, really), I got a fancy Garmin watch when I was training for my first 1/2 marathon.  It really helped motivate me and help me get faster, along with a specific training plan.  I ran 2 half marathons that year, and having the data to look at helped me shave 6 minutes from one half to the next.

Then, I got injured and stopped running.

Fast forward almost a decade and started running again.  Slowly.  Run/walk.  Realized that the Garmin still worked!  Big, old, and a beast.  It no longer synced with any software, but it at least could tell time and let me know my current pace.  Very useful.  Then it really died.  I went without for awhile, because I ran with my phone and a mapping app, with my phone in an ultra-cool early 90's fanny pack.

So I bought a new Garmin.  Because while I could look at each run after the fact, I wasn't getting real time info.

The usefulness of the real time info has helped me get faster - when I'm supposed to be running 400's a pace A, and 800's at pace B, I can see what my actual pace IS.

When I feel like I am dying, I see my heart rate at 199 and think, uh, duh.

I can program it for various run/walk combos.

When I trained for the same uphill half that I did last year, I could look at my pace each mile and see where I made improvements.
It's also helped me work on my cadence.

The combination of working with a running coach AND having the pace/ info/ etc. on my wrist has improved my pace tremendously.

Walterbl

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2018, 10:37:13 AM »
The only time when it makes sense to spend lots of money on objects is something you are going to be using every day, such as your phone or your laptop. Otherwise is better to save the money.

Dicey

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Re: "The Things You Buy Won't Save You"
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2018, 11:08:28 AM »
Ha! I have spent over $17k in the last two days and I'm not done yet. We're flipping a house and the tariffs start kicking in on Monday, so I'm trying to stay ahead of probable price increases. I am really struggling with spending so much money, even though it is in the budget and in the bank for this express purpose. FWP,  spending money to make money, blah x3, I get it, I'm just surprised at what a struggle it is.

To your point, @Walterbl, there are many useful things I don't use every day, so I can't agree with you on that matrix.