How do you budget for tech items?

[JimKiler]

selling the stuff on ebay helps. whenever you buy one item, try to sell one item first.

agreed, but i always need the new part before i can sell the old part.

 

[holden j caufield]

there are certain things I almost always buy through outlet. My laptops all came from lenovo outlet, dell financial outlet, or off lease. Almost all of them came to me looking brand new with the new plastic sheet cover etc. I don't mind it. I used to visit fatwlt, techbarg, and the hot deals forum here. I stopped mostly and saved myself from buying too much stuff. When I was a teenager with a lower paying job I'd sometimes buy hot deals stuff and sell it back if I didn't love it. Problem is I'd end up liking it just enough to keep it for awhile. If the deal was hot enough I could use for a 6 months and sell it for what I bought it for.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Large tech items I kind of finance. I have an amazon store card and a paypal credit line that usually gives me between 6 and 18 months to pay for stuff interest free as long as I spend above a certain amount. The secret is to only buy one thing at a time. The time it takes me to pay off one expensive item is a natural buffer to my spending so long as I stick to that resolution. Usually by the time I zero my balance for one item, I've already got something else in mind to buy, so I just keep going.

 

[slag]

I like the delay tactic.

I'll use haircuts as a neutral example. Suppose a person gets a $15 haircut every 2 weeks (fairly common for men with short hair). That would cost $391.35 in a typical year. Suppose that person decides to delay them just a bit, just enough that probably no one would ever notice, to a haircut every 3 weeks. Now it costs just $260.90/year. A savings of $130.35/year. You still get regular haircuts, you still look good. But over a lifetime that is saving $10,000 just by doing a very slight delay in each purchase of a haircut.

The same is true with technology. Just delay each purchase a little bit. Then you'll save tens of thousands of dollars in your lifetime. But, even better than a haircut, technology gets cheaper and better if you delay. So, you might have better technology and more money.

You can take it even further and put the technology you want into camelcamelcamel.com or fatwallet.com or similar and use that to show you when to buy. This slight delaying tactic can actually be fun as you hunt down a better deal.

I just made a one time purchase of a decent pair of wahl or oster clippers and cut my own hair. Spent money once, and it pays for itself for years and years. Then again, I don't have much hair either...

 

[madoka]

Typically I just buy what I want and try to work a little more in the week.

My job is variable, so the more I work, the more I get paid.

Usually I try to earn $2,000 per day. During a busy week, I can ramp up the hours and make up to $30,000. I did that once last year because I bought about $8000 worth of headphones and an amp one week.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I used to spend more money on tech items, but my priorities have shifted over the years.

If your primary source of recreation is buying computer parts on eBay, you probably ought to get a bicycle or something.

 

[Harrod]

I get shift differential of 10% at work, I try to limit all discretionary spending to that per year. Fortunately I don't get new stuff that often, and if I really want to buy something I wait a month before pulling the trigger to limit impulse purchases.

 

[Tweak155]

Typically I just buy what I want and try to work a little more in the week.

My job is variable, so the more I work, the more I get paid.

Usually I try to earn $2,000 per day. During a busy week, I can ramp up the hours and make up to $30,000. I did that once last year because I bought about $8000 worth of headphones and an amp one week.

This just helps solidify my thinking that having a lot more money than I do now will not really net me a whole lot.

 

[Tweak155]

As far as adding to the topic, my best budget is thinking of reasons why buying something will not benefit me or has downsides vs thinking about how I will benefit from it. It naturally cuts a lot of spending.

I can buy pretty much anything I want but usually don't because I talk myself out of it. And then when I finally talk myself into something, it's a drop in the bucket anyway. This probably doesn't help because it's something I do naturally, even in video games where spending will not impact me at all. Just a mindset I've always had... I try to be the most efficient with what I have, regardless of what it is (not just money).

 

[poofyhairguy]

I tried to budget a certain amount, but I almost always blow past it. Now my rule is I never buy something I haven't thought about for at least a few times previously, nor do I buy anything at full price if I can avoid it. The things I impulse buy are always what I regret the most, but very rarely do I regret a purchase that was premeditated.

So if some really really great deal pops up unless I have thought at some point before that deal hit "I need/want that thing" I won't buy it. I will wait until the next sale (because by then I have thought about it On the inverse if I can think of something I really want/need I won't impulse buy it, I put notifications into camelcamelcamel or Slickdeals and get it only when I get a deal.

It doesn't work for everything, some stuff doesn't really go on sale. Plus there is always the time/value factor with technology- a new smartphone is a better "deal" full price day one than a year later at 10% off because the value has dropped so much by then. But outside of rare cases I try to stick to those rules, I try to avoid impulse buying.

Also someone that goes along with that (isn't quite budgeting but fits with premeditation) is I never buy ANY non-consumable item over $100 without at least an hour of research. Often times I even research sub-$100 stuff, like a month ago I spent three hours deciding what $30 yoga mat on Amazon was best. I refuse to be the sucker who is buying the low value product (that appears high value due to marketing), I aspire to be the guy who is negative margin on the books of these companies whenever I can. I will tip a waiter well, but Best Buy better pricematch Amazon and then let me stack my coupon on top or I am walking out without anything.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'm fortunate that I can talk myself out of buying most tech until there is a good reason to get it.

I spent $650 on a new video card last year, but that was after skipping the generation before, and I'll be ignoring this year's new cards. The rest of my PC is from 2012 except for the 750 GB SSD that I got for Steam.

I see all the laptop deals, feel the urge to buy one, think about the fact that I don't really need one, then don't buy it.

My HDTV is from 2006. I have a PS3 and 360 but not an X1 or PS4.

Thanks to ignoring 99% of the shiny objects I have plenty of money for the 1% that I'll really use.

 

[clamum]

I don't budget for anything. I just don't waste money and don't buy something I don't have the money for at that moment. I guess I just have the fiscal discipline to do it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I ask myself "do I REALLY need this? Is it going to sit on shelf unused, will the novelty wear off?" If I can convince myself that I really do need/want it then I save up if I have to, and pay for it cash. Never with credit.

There are some items I sometimes contemplate buying then realize I don't need/want it bad enough to justify buying. A laptop for example, would be nice to have one, but I don't really need it bad enough. I have a work one I use at work for movies/surfing on night shifts, and at home I have my desktop.

 

[Insomniator]

No idea, I don't buy that much stuff. I have a pretty good idea of what I feel comfortable spending vs what I should be saving.

 

[lxskllr]

There is no budgeting.
Buy it.
Use it until it breaks.
Buy the mid-pack performance level replacement.
Use it until it breaks.

<--running XP on an AMD Athlon II X4 640 in an Antec Plus1080AMG case.

This. I'll also add, I buy used as much as possible. Doesn't really apply as much to tech, but it frees up money for other things like tech. I did get a cell case from the thrift shop, and my laptop came from the pawn shop so it does work for tech sometimes, but you're not getting the latest/greatest. I also don't pay for software; not directly anyway. I give it away in donations to devs, but not for all the software I use.

Vermont Country Store said that this was an old New England saying...

"Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without"

Quaint and folksy, and it helps sell an image, but it's a good motto to live by in any case.

 

[Imp]

I used to budget a certain amount of discretionary spending per paycheck... then it accumulated into the four figure range and I had nothing to buy.

 

[TallBill]

I don't really buy tech toys..

 

[Imp]

Typically I just buy what I want and try to work a little more in the week.

My job is variable, so the more I work, the more I get paid.

Usually I try to earn $2,000 per day. During a busy week, I can ramp up the hours and make up to $30,000. I did that once last year because I bought about $8000 worth of headphones and an amp one week.

Good for you, but man, I bought one pair of Sennheiser Momentums. They're in their storage case and haven't really been used in two years now.

Two pairs (other two are amps?)? I'd be trying to Craigslist them.

 

[Muse]

I like to get a lot of bang for my buck. I do a lot of homework.

 

[marincounty]

My friend Richard used to say "just buy what you want and you'll find a way to pay for it."
He truly lived that way. I'm too cautious to be like him (also broke), but I do admire his optimistic spirit.

 

[John Connor]

I don't know. Is a new paint job for my Maserati a tech toy?

 

[John Connor]

:twisted:

 

[Spydermag68]

I save up over time. An easy way of doing this is like putting away $10 bucks a week. Over a year that would be $520. Another is to add a dollar each week so the first week would be $1, second week $2....last week of the year $52. You just saved over a $1000 in a year for tech toys. I did this for my newest computer. It pissed off my wife when all of the parts showed up at the door.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Bunch of braggarts in here.

Anyway, I so seldom upgrade that I plan ahead and when I figure there is something I'm going to want to buy tech-wise I'll start setting aside money for it. Same with any large purchase that is out of the ordinary, really. Often times I start picking up random side work to assist with paying for the various "wants." One of the side things I do does not pay regularly but rather comes in hunks throughout the year.

I have my budget for monthly bills and that leaves X left over after that, which honestly isn't a lot extra as I have budgeted even a hunk to monthly go into savings. I only have $15-ish a month not budgeted for anything. With some expenses having been lower for a while (gas for example) I've had some additional to reallocate for other things. The savings gets used for big ticket items down the road. Mostly those are necessary things though, like last year I put in a new furnace and AC, I'm putting in a driveway this year to replace the dirt/mud I currently have, etc.

 

[John Connor]

Back when everything to practically hear on a scanner went digital (P25) I had to purchase a $500 scanner just to listen to them all again. And I mean all! Here in CO most agencies use P25. State police, Sheriff, local PD, fire, EMS, state parks, water and power you freaking name it, they all jumped on the digital bandwagon.

So I didn't have $500 and never got the scanner for Christmas. While sad I was reading the paper and I saw an Ad for a phone book delivery job. I was happy! "That's how I'll buy my scanner!," I said. So I delivered phone books door to door at practically every damn house in this town in the cold late December, January weather and got my $500 for my scanner.

Sometimes if I want something bad enough, and I have something I don't want anymore I'll sell it on ebay to help pay for that item. That's how I bought a laptop I wanted. And it was the first time I sold on eBay. Made over thousand bucks that Christmas.