The Better Advantage of Practical Buying!

The whole Dingdong/Marian wedding had triggered another part of me.  I felt like I can discuss about practical buying.  Before people can start to say, "You're just jealous." like that Troll guy at Get Real Philippines group, I can start to actually show the advantage of practical buying.  Practical buying is all about being practical with how you spend your money.  You make a budget but you also plan at the same time.


It's a common problem these days to have the economics of overspending.  Sad to say but a lot of Pinoys have copied the typical American habit of overspending.  I remembered the whole statement of, "When they can't afford it, they charge it to their credit cards."  It's always a problem when people just spend and spend without thinking about the consequences of spending.


Sure one can have all the nice stuff BUT do you have savings?  The problem is when one looks at status symbols as an indicator of wealth when it isn't.  Sure you can have a BMW but are you sure you aren't BWM with stands for broke without money.  Another is you may have an i-Phone but you don't have ipon (Filipino word for savings).  It's time to consider practical buying.  Having all the nice stuff may not be as nice in the long run.

It may feel good to actually have lots of fair weathered friends because you have an i-Phone, you drive a BMW, your laptop is a MAC, you live in an unusually big house, you have this and that... all the expensive stuff.  But behind all that, you might be heavily buried in debt.  It made me think also the impracticality when you are having all the "status symbols".

I remembered the time when my Samsung Laptop had a power supply problem.  I only spent PHP 2,000.00 inclusive of repairs.  I had much spare cash... but why didn't I choose to buy a MAC instead when I could afford it?  I want to be practical.  If it was a MAC that crashed, I would have to spend more cash and parts like those are hard to find.  The same goes on for me driving a Toyota car.  If I drove around an expensive BMW, the heartache is not only heavy when it crashes but also when looking for spare parts.  Non-status items are practical because you can really get spare parts or more affordable replacement.


One may have failed to look at the value of utility.  Some fans of One Direction may still tick me off if they didn't consider the value of utility.  While I could afford the ticket but it made me think the theory of utility.  The concert is just an hour or two, I won't own the band nor can I ask them to perform in my home.  Meanwhile, I could save that money and let my money grow in bonds or time deposit.  Even if I don't live by the billions at least I won't starve.  If I bought a laptop, I own it and I can use it for business.  For those who complained about the tickets running out, I wonder if they ever wondered if they considered the more important things in life.


Meanwhile, one may consider you may want to pay more for quality.  Make price and quality match as much as possible.  For example, either you are saving your money from what you buy or what you buy is making you lose your money.  Being a Mr. Krabs isn't going to work in real life especially if the price difference is just a few pesos or a few hundreds.

A bit of practical buying can be this.  Would you buy something that's cheap and easily breakable or something that costs more but durable?  If you buy something that's cheap and easily breakable, you are going to repeat buying too much until your money runs out.  Meanwhile, if I buy what is durable but of a higher price, I can use it for a longer time.  Like I was able to use my CPU for ten years before it inevitably broke down.

Also, it can reflect on the Krabs' error.  Just think of the episode in Spongebob where he wouldn't well off the rotten patty because he was only going to lose USD 0.60.  He had no customer in weeks because that rotten patty could KILL people.  It's just like you choose to eat in a dirty canteen vs. a decent restaurant.  Sure a decent restaurant may charge you more but think... if you got sick, you will have to pay for high medical bills and even your own funeral.

So in short, just be practical in buying.  Think of the long run.

Comments