How I purchase things.
I am a consumer. I have been trying to change that for a number of reasons. Number one is to save money for the future. Number two is to reduce the crap I have in my house.
At this point I go through the following steps before I even consider buying something.
1. …1. Do I really need this?
- Write down every optional purchase over $10 and wait…
- for Every $10, I wait a day. If something is $50, I’ll write it down and wait 5 days.
- Ran across this on Get Rich Slowly, it’s a variation of the 100-dollar-a-day rule
2. DIY or Goodwill: Is it something I can pickup at Goodwill for half of the cost and/or make in a short amount of time?
- With a little thought and creativity, you can make some great things.
- My Hanging Bookshelf and I’ve made some other shelves out of some found Glass/hardware store parts (True Value Rocks!)
- Bill has a great, Simple, and surprisingly good looking towel rack for his bathroom
- This should coincide with my $10-a-day rule pretty well.
3. USA Made
- Spend at least a week looking for what I need, USA produced.
- If it’s not found, Start at step one again, Is this purchase really Necessary. If it is. Step four must happen.
4. If Necessary, and only if, Buy the item from where ever it comes from. But look for something good quality with High recommendations.
Recently I have been looking for a drill. I have a couple battery powered drills, They pretty much suck (good for a vacuum, not for drills) and are never charged when needed… Plus, I lost the charger.
Anyway, I started my search. After two weeks, nothing found.
I had to resort to Step 4. Wow… what a piece of junk. I bought a Hand Drill (was actually a bit brace), It was made in a country far east of here. The bit wobbled while drilling (thus defeating it’s actual name) and it was difficult to tighten. I finally got the required three holes drilled. Promptly returned the item and mentioned, to the fine employees and Manager, there were some German and British manufacturers of seemingly higher quality items.
I have a preference for the hand drill (bit brace). So, I’ll probably end up with one of the German or British ones. Amazingly, they run about the same price as the “far-east” one.
P.S. I think the drill (bit brace) I bought was this one, and I don’t recommend it. (I sourced and returned it at True value.)
∞Next Adventure…. A “Thermos”.
