Hello again Lemmy! I have another question.
Context: I took a motorcycle safety class, was nervous but enjoyed it, researched motorcycles, found a few I liked, talked to a dealer about them but ultimately, I couldn’t finalize a deal, talked myself out of it basically
I was curious how others might justify a purchase that has no purpose other than wanting something.
For clarity, I don’t need anyone to justify me buying a motorcycle. I want to read about your thought processes for buying something you want 🙂
As always thanks for replying and have an awesome day/night!!
Budgets (formal or informal)!
Permission to spend granted!
Further before I buy something I’ll write it down on a list and essentially not buy it for a period of time (7 days? 30 days, a year?). I’ll come back to that list and gauge my interest again. Many, MANY times (most?) I don’t care about the thing anymore so I don’t spend the money.
Then I’ll usually try to get the cheaper version (possibly used) of the thing first to make sure it still holds my interest in using it before I would justify buying the more expensive one. So many times the cheaper version does everything I need and I never need to buy the expensive version. When I do exceed the capabilities of the cheap version, and it is still holding my interest, I can then justify spending on the expensive (new?) version. Example: I wanted a bicycle to ride around the neighborhood for fitness and enjoyment. I looked at higher end brands and models, but first I bought a $200 Big Box Store Schwinn. I’m still using that same bicycle 6 years later with no need to replace it. One note, about two years into ownership I took it to an actual bicycle store for a tune up. The cost was about $80, I think. I wish I had done that on day 1! The bike’s brakes worked much better and the gear shifting were MUCH improved! Prior to the service, I would regularly have the chain come off from bad shifts. The last time that happened was 3 years ago prior to the service.
I agree with te cooling off period. Although I might argue the length of time. If I wait a year to decide on something, I know it won’t have as much interest as it did before.
I think, personally, there’s a period of do it now or just don’t bother. For motorcycles I’d be hesitant to wait a year and then buy one, and try to learn. The lessons from the training are still fresh.
Thank you for the bike story. I’m glad you’re still enjoying the bike and getting use out of it!!
Obviously I’m not talking about everything having a 1 year waiting period, such as a $10 video game from Steam, but I waited close to 3 years before I spent well over $50,000 on solar panels for the house. Some large things just need time to work the numbers or gauge the value.
Ok, fair enough. Yeah 50k on panels would definitely need more time for budgeting and planning.
Thanks for the qualifier!!