For a fact, there’s a smart way to get good stuff in life. Don’t waste money on junk or on things that aren’t needed — yet are still wanted — until those things that are wanted can be paid for in an intelligent manner. Getting and keeping everything that we need versus spending wastefully to get all the things we want is probably a smart way to live one’s life.
As an example, consider how popular a digital book reader is these days. Now, it’s a fact that the real (i. E. ‘paper’) book is probably going to disappear one day, but that doesn’t mean that one should go into hock to get one of these readers right now. Instead, save up for one or make sure that one can reasonably afford it on an extended payment plan before getting it.
It’s important to keep in mind that getting good stuff in life means more than just getting material things. Gaining the love of a family or the respect and admiration of friends can be just as important as trying to make sure of being the one who dies with the most toys. On a shallow level, dying that way might be a fun journey but it’s certainly no way to really live one’s life.
The theme in this discussion is probably more on saving up enough money to be able to afford a classic Martin acoustic electric guitar (some of them can run thousands of dollars), for example, than on going deeply into hock to get one. It also means getting that guitar only when one can afford it, whether that’s by saving the money or by making intelligent, and affordable, extended payments.
Perhaps one is also looking at a black helmet such as the one that every Harley-Davidson motorcycle rider makes sure he or she has in his or her helmet collection. Of course, getting the helmet without the motorcycle might be unsatisfying, but convincing one’s self that going far into debt to get the motorcycle is just as bad. Save up for it or make sure it can be paid for on a reasonable schedule.
It’s probably more important to make sure that getting a lot of good things in the right way is the attitude rather than just acting like a squirrel preparing for winter and storing away nuts in anticipation of that winter. In the end, most shopaholics or people who just fixate on amassing things end up unsatisfied on many different levels, and also in way over their heads, debt-wise.
A good philosophy in life to have is that it’s very important to get the things we need but that we need to be able to single out the things we need from the things we want, whether they’re physical or things of some other nature. Making sure we can afford something — whether we’ve saved for it or we’re getting it by some other means — makes much more sense in the short and long runs.
