A narrow escape

Nearly every week I take time to visit the iTunes Store and download the newest free songs and music video (a money-saving strategy for adding to my music library, broadening my musical horizons, and finding new artists).

A few months ago I noticed something new: free eBooks. Since several of the free eBooks on offer appealed to me, I downloaded those as well, thinking I could use iTunes to read them. That did not turn out to be the case. After downloading the free Kindle app and having no success reading the free eBooks that way, I did some research and discovered that one can only read them on an Apple mobile device: the iPhone or an iPad.

When the iPad first came out I could not think of anything more senseless. It was somewhere between a smart phone and a laptop, but did not have the full capabilities of either. Who would possibly use this, I thought, and for what? But now a few of my co-workers and friends have iPads, and I've begun to see the possibilities.

So when I realized I'd need an iPad or iPhone to read the free eBooks, I started to think about it more seriously. I still viewed an iPad as a non-essential, luxury item, but since I could think of several ways I could use it, including using it to read these free books, I could start to justify a purchase. Even if it was (gasp!) $500. I had a tax refund coming my way--surely I deserved to be able to spend some of it on non-essentials?

What saved me was to think more seriously about that $500. What else could I spend $500 on?
a) New clothes--I hadn't bought many new clothes in the last couple of years; I lost weight last year and most of my clothes didn't fit me well anymore.
b) Ten nice dinners with friends--one of my favorite ways to spend "extra" cash is to treat my friends to a good meal and treat myself to their company.
c) An inexpensive, week-long trip--a priority in my life is to travel and experience new places and cultures, both in the U.S. and abroad.
d) A car tune up--my car is overdue for its next major service.

This kind of thinking helped me realize that if I do have an "extra" $500, I have other, more important spending priorities. I was on the verge of making an expensive impulse buy, and I'm glad I took the time to think about it differently. In the future I plan to use this reasoning more often to help me live in better alignment with my long-term goals.