Monday, August 29, 2011

Not quite vaulting over the first fence

I'm doing pretty good with the budget and the cash in my wallet. I just replaced a typical $50 Bloomingdales “necessity” with a perfectly good $15.76 version from Walgreens instead. However, there is an item that does generally fall more into the "need" over "want" category that caused a bit of a scuffle at the first real test of my newly reformed ways.

I need to get a safe for my house. I'm not overflowing with valuables and I'm certainly not keeping wads of cash lying around, but I do have certain documents and things that could use a bit more security. It's one of those purchases that I've put off (in favor of real needs such as a Burberry trench coat) but now with a vacation coming up, I'm getting a bit itchy about the fact I don't have one.

I've done the research and finally settled on the purchase (for anyone interested in a home safe, consensus tells me this is a solid choice:     http://www.amazon.com/First-Alert-2096DF-Waterproof-Digital/dp/B000WUJ5X6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1314652650&sr=8-3). I'm really blown away by a cool fantasy of the future when I'm debt free and can envision a James Bond-style safe with stacks of 50's and a couple of different passports. So, having looked again on Amazon last night I decided this was definitely a need and a $367.77 charge to Platinum (current balance only $24,999.38) was completely justified.

After 10-minutes of guilt and feeling like I literally jumped off the horse as soon as I saw the first fence (let alone sat tight until I fell) I went back into my Amazon account and cancelled the order. It was a great relief but I still felt shitty for the rest of the night.

Accountability is important in this process (hence this being a blog and not a private diary) so I told my mum (in a round about sort of way) that I'd identified the purchase and was saving up until I could afford it. God bless her, she called me this afternoon and she's buying it for me. She’s impressed by my will to save up until I can afford it, but equally she feels I need that added bit of security. I'm thrilled of course but can't help feel disappointed in the instant gratification of it all. Saving up and really earning the safe would have been a good lesson. I am telling myself at least the instant gratification isn’t shoes, or bags or clothes this time, and ultimately I'm very grateful to have a solid piece of equipment in my quest to build wealth. Hopefully it won't be too long until my new safe will be James Bond-style after all, and in the absence of available stacks of 50’s, in the meantime my passport will have a really secure (albeit lonely) new home.


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