TV? Tablet? Tablet? Future Goals?

Last week I wrote a post about how I was tempted to go out and buy a new TV(which has been on my wants list for 2 years now) because of a sale I saw. Now another sale popped up in the same week and it had even better prices for the TV. I was sold at first and was going to go buy my new TV on Friday. I didn't though after a lot of thought on the decision.

First up was the cost. The one I chose cost $700. Just thinking about spending that much money in one go was eating at me. Now I had to option to split the cost over three months so the TV was extremely tempting now knowing I wouldn't have to fork out the full price right away. I really was sold on the TV but then I began to think about the $700 and began asking myself how many other things I could get for $700.

The first things that came to mind where my future goals; raising my net worth, travelling, etc. After thinking about those, I moved on to other wants. My other immediate want is a tablet. I've really been moved to get one since starting school last year but it just hasn't been a necessary expense as I can still get by without owning one. This semester, the need came back for one again and even stronger, as travelling with my laptop isn't as convenient. The tablet I had first settled on was the Google nexus 7. It will cost me about $450 give or take a few and it will do what I want. Recently though I've been swaying towards the iPad mini. I'm really no apple fan but something happened recently that I haven't mentioned yet on this blog that has swayed me slightly towards apple. Anyways. the iPad mini will cost me about $700. That's $250 more the nexus 7 and the same price as the TV, so you should see where this is going now.

The TV and the tablet will cost me the same $700 given I go for the iPad mini. When I looked at the uses practically, it became obvious that the tablet would be the more worthwhile purchase. It would make school more "convenient"(notice the choice of word), and I would use it more than I would the TV.

So I decided to get myself a tablet; but it had the same problem as the TV. I would have to fork out $700 and unlike the TV, I have to fork it out up front and I just couldn't stomach such a drop in my money now that I have finally been able to start growing it a bit. I decided to save for it, but that $700 price was still bugging me vs. the nexus 7's $450. Also playing against apple was the low quality screen which was really turning me off. Anyways, I sat down and read some comparison reviews on the iPad mini vs. the nexus 7 and tried to focus on what was really important to me, which was portability and the ability to read documents. In the end the nexus 7 won, not only on price but also in what was the main features I wanted. As much as I already have a phone running android and I wanted to "diversify" my technology, the apple wasn't the best for what I needed and the premium price didn't help it's battle either.

I have now decided on the nexus 7 and I was ready to order it. $450 dollars isn't as bad as $700 and I would be using it for school right? Right?

Sadly I didn't order it, at the end of the day, the cost was too much for me to handle at this point. My account is really close to having $1000 in it for the first time with nothing necessary to spend it on and I also didn't want my net worth to take that hit so easily. I decided to hold out for now and save separately for it, just like I was going to do for the TV before being tempted by another sale. I'm going to save the money and order it at the end of April. Given nothing drastic happens or changes, this isn't a bad date to get it; the semester will be over by then but I'll have it for the next one and I would have saved for it so I won't feel bad about spending the money either. The plan is to set aside $50 every week and not record that money in my net worth. It should help me avoid feeling bad about paying for it when April comes.

Anyways, this is the end of a long rant. Just wanted to share with you how my thought process is recently when it comes to buying things. Hope you enjoyed.