Skip to main content

The Pullback

Yesterday, I had a moment of weakness.

It began when I decided to solve my freelance dilemma by upgrading the operating system, but first, I needed to do research to see if the software I use would still work. Turns out, it doesn’t -- at least not very well anyway. Therefore, upgrading the my computer means purchasing new software. My next thought was, “Well then, I might as well just buy a new computer.”

So, I did some web surfing, checking out computers. I picked one out and made peace with the cost of the software. The combined purchase would be approximately $2,500 once taxes were figured in.

Rather than buy right at that moment, though, I got up from my computer to clear my head a little. Odds are, I won’t make that much in freelance work this year. I’m barely on track to make $1,000 at this point. So when I got back to my computer, I didn’t head to the virtual checkout to make the purchase; I closed the window instead. I’m proud of me.

Ultimately, I might opt to buy both computer and software this summer when my iDisk quits working. But I don’t want to make a rash decision.

I wish I had shopped like this years ago.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Finding a use for gifts you don't use

( Stuart Miles / FreeRangeStock.com ) Question: Someone gives you a present. You open it, give the gifter a sincere smile, and say, "Thank you," but you know that gift is something you'll never use. Not once. What do you do with it later? Me? I keep them. I just can't shake the feeling of guilt that goes along with regifting or selling them. As a result, my family and I have lots of items we either haven't used in years or have never used at all: An electric knife, electric griddle, a big mixer, something called Yonanas. The list goes on and on. But the bottom line is, Yonanas and electric knives don't fit my family's lifestyle. They never have, and I doubt they ever will. So I think I might need to get over feeling like it would be ungrateful to get rid of them and post them in places like Craigslist or some of those online sales sites on Facebook for sale. That way, at least we can have the cash to pay toward part of our debt. Wouldn't...

Trimming the Grocery List

This week is another grocery shopping week, and I'm dreading it. I had at one point managed to get my grocery spending under $175 every two weeks, the last few trips have not gone that well. They've all totaled more than $200, not including any supplementary trips I needed to make later. I'm not really sure what I can do to cut it more at this point beyond rethink what we've been eating. Over the past few months, the price of ground beef has gone up quite a bit, and much of what we eat has ground beef in it. I had been buying the leanest beef available, but on my last grocery trip, I bought 90/10 meat. Perhaps we'll need to eat more chicken.

Getting Ready for Etsy Debut

One of my hopes for making a little extra money is to see some of my handmade crafts on Etsy. I have a few items I'd like to list -- a couple of bracelets -- but the beads on them are so small that I'm having trouble getting decent photos of them. Hopefully, I'll have something usable by the end of the week.