The Key To Money Saving Is Patience
What is the key to money saving? Well, let me tell you a recent story…
Roughly a two years ago I decided to build a new computer to run some new games coming out. I took our old computer, left it intact, and gave it to my son as a hand=me-down computer. When I handed down my old computer, I kept my current speakers as they were pretty decent. I’m guessing they were maybe $75 when I purchased them 10 years ago. So, we decided to hook up some headphones to his computer, turned the volume up all the way, and used these as faux speakers for the longest time.
The Key to Money Saving is Patience – Temptation Creeps In
For whatever reason, one day I woke up and said “son, we need to get you some proper computer speakers.” As a result, we scoured the yard sales for weeks looking for some good computer speakers, but none turned up. Then, one random day my wife brought home a pair of Bose Speakers
Then, one day while on our normal yard sale jaunts, we ran across a JVC Stereo Receiver
The Key to Money Saving is Patience – Even More Patience Needed
After we transferred the old speaker system to his computer and hooked up the received and Bose Speakers to my computer I noticed something – no bass! I had gotten so used to the bass from my old speaker system that it sounded freaky listening to music with almost no bass to speak of.
So, we set out on a new yard sale quest to find a decent sub-woofer. Now, everywhere we turned there were great computer speakers for sale (where the hell were these a couple of weeks ago?!?!?) But, we could not find a sub-woofer to save our lives! I remained patient – I was determined that sooner or later we would run across a good deal. After an additional 6-7 weeks of Saturday yard sales, we ran across a mega-sub-woofer. It’s a beast of a sub-woofer too! It’s a Klipsch (the closest thing I could find to it is this: Klipsch Beastly Sub-woofer
The Key to Money Saving is Patience – It Saved Me ~$600
By remaining patient, I was able to save an incredible amount of money by not giving into my desires to experience immediate gratification. Now, I have a great new speaker system (much better than anything I probably would have sought out to purchase) for only $15. I would have easily spent more than $600 for something similar (not that I really ever would, but that’s what it would take to get something similar if I were impatient). My son also got my old speaker system, which is much better than anything we’ve run across at yard sales so far.
The Key to Money Saving is Patience – Final Thoughts
This is just one recent example that has really led me to believe that patience is the key to money saving. The more we are able to keep our desires for instant gratification in check, the better able we are to find the best possible deals for ourselves. Many times, patience can lead to great deals that we would have never even recognized if we just went the instant gratification route. As an added and unforeseen bonus in this story, I also got a great leg stand (ottoman) for extended computer sessions at the desk (it really is that big) 🙂
Does anyone here have a great story where being patient helped them save a ton of money?
I kept telling my son this same thing as he is saving for his own computer – he wanted to buy one as soon as he saved up enough money to buy one. I keep telling him that things are going to go on sale in the next 6-8 weeks and he can get more for his money. But as you would imagine, the typical teenager wants his new thing NOW. I keep pushing him to wait….he doesn’t like it, but I think he understands where I’m coming from. he’ll understand even better when we find that deal in the upcoming weeks. Great post!
Brock @cleverdude recently posted…Budgeting for the Holidays Late, Again
Have you ever thought of building your own? You can typically save even more if you want until black Friday and head over to newegg for their deals…
I was much the same way when I was a kid. I didn’t really grow monetary patience until I was in my late 20’s 🙂 Good luck with the lesson!
Awesome story packed with great lessons. I totally agree with this, I have been on the market for some decent home office desk, didn’t want to go the IKEA way, wanted something of an antique, something that would perhaps appreciate in value with time. Ofocurse it takes a while to get something striking but I did after almost 2 months of hitting antique stores, sales etc…landed it for somewhere way below my budget!
The lesson also goes to saving money say for investment. Patience and holding your investments for the long term is what will be rewarding.
Simon @ Modest Money recently posted…Scoremio Review
Simon,
Great corollary drawn between saving and investing! Very true! You should make a post about your desk. I’d be interested to see it 🙂 Thanks for adding to the discussion.
Another key to saving money is to create a budget plan. It works all the time for me.
Max,
Great point – I think budgets are great if you’re just getting started with personal finance! As you get more advanced, you’ll find that you can move beyond the budget to an overall shift to frugal thinking in everything that you do. Thanks for commenting!
This is a great story and a great lesson. Absolutely agree that fighting the desire for instant gratification can help save money. Also in my case I use a bit of pre-planning to save money, especially when it comes to my son. For instance, I know he will have outgrown his bike by next summer so I patiently kept an eye out at garage sales and was able to snag him a practically brand new one for $15. It will be perfect for next year!
Green Money Stream recently posted…Green Money Stream Takes the Plunge – Yakezie Challenge
GMS,
Great point! We do much the same, and it really does pay off huge dividends if you can pre-plan. Thanks for stopping by 🙂