I do this sometimes and it works out fine. The first thing that comes to mind is the hosting for my blog here. Of course I could have gone and gotten free hosting for my blog but instead I went straight to paid hosting.
Normally, this is something bloggers do later on when they’ve seen success for their efforts. It usually involves moving everything from their free blog over to a new one. I’ve never done this before, but I’m guessing it takes some time to do it. Also, sometimes in the transition things can get lost. I’ve been to blogs who’ve made the move and ended up losing their comments from before.
I had two main reasons for starting off with paid hosting. First, I knew that if I was paying to blog, then I would be much more likely to stick with it. I wouldn’t want to waste all that money—no sir. Secondly, I didn’t want to have to deal with moving later on and the possibility of losing information or any comments that readers took the time to leave.
Sometimes it just makes sense to buy the cow even when you can get the milk for free. Other times, we just make ourselves look silly or wasteful. Like how I only drink bottled water…my picky habits cost us money.
I’ve tried drinking tap water as well as filtered water and filling my own containers but I just didn’t like it. This is still something I’m hoping to get over and not just because I’m wasting money, I feel rather silly. I do recycle all of my bottles so that they don’t pile up in landfills or anything.
Another thing I do, buying books when I can easily check them out from the library. I love to read and like to own the books so I can reread them whenever I want, this comes at a price.
There are so many things that we all do this with and that’s okay, as long as they are the wisest decision for us. If I were to go and buy books knowing good and well that I would never read them again, then it would be wisest to check them out from the library or borrow from a friend, right?
Or paying a ton for cable every month when you’re fully aware that all the shows you watch are available online for free. This might not be the case for everybody, but there are a lot of shows that you can watch online.
When do you buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Does it make sense to you?
I think the “buying the milk” scenarios you’ve laid out here are pretty common. I’m trying to think of some more situations – oooh, buying books when you know you could easily get it from the library!
I wish I didn’t have to pay for cable TV. Sometimes, especially with the DVR, it is easier to just record a show each week than to go online and watch it for some reason, but I think this a false conception on my part.
Filtered water tastes fine to me, but I find I like it more when it’s cold. I don’t think the bottled water is much different than the filtered tap water I drink. I will say that unfiltered tap water tastes pretty bad though.
Sometimes it’s just way more convenient to do things a certain way, even if we know we can save money by doing it another.
Was the same for movies for me, always running out to get the blu-ray, but very tarry would I watch it again. Now just do pay per view and save about $10.
And +2 points for south park reference
We used to do that with movies too, once we had like 300 or so and rarely watched any of them.
I love me some South Park. I wasn’t sure if anybody would pick up on that. 😉
We’ve paid for painting contractors when we could have done it ourselves. Hate that waste. I think this fits into this category?
It does but painting can be a really big job, depending on the project. Did it save you guys a lot of time?
Yes, I suppose it did. Probably a wise investment. We have too many unfinished projects on the go around the house.
I started out with a free blog. I did have to work a little to adjust with a new theme, but most of my info transferred just fine. I too, am addicted to books and owning books. Although, I have been pretty good at not buying as many. I have been utilizing the library more and more to save money.
I’m glad that the transfer went so well for you. Props for using the library, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to do that. We’ve just cut down on buying them, we used to buy way more than we do now.
I started out with self hosting too. And I spend a lot on books. I just like having them I guess. I do try to borrow the book first before buying them. But somehow I end up buying most of them anyways. We have more books than rest of the stuff put together in our house. For that reason I would love to cut my book buying habit. Recently I have been giving me a limit, I can buy books for the amount I earn from amazon affiliate income. That pretty much curbed my habit.
That’s actually a really good idea to keep your book spending in check, Suba. Have you been happy about your decision to start out with self hosting, or would you have rather started with free and move later? Just curious.
I love the title of the post. lol. When I launched my blog, I was torn between free hosting sites and paying for my own hosting. But then I decided to bite the bullet and pay for my own – I had read stories about how difficult it was to transfer information etc. and I did not need that stress because I’m not that tech savvy.
Thanks Elle. Yeah, I’m not tech savvy at all, so in my opinion, it was well worth avoiding all that drama.
Ignoring the blog stuff that I outsource to fellow yakezie members…I would have to go with coffee. I have done less and less of it but we have a coffee machine at the office but years ago I would still stop for iced coffee and starbucks. I have stopped recently since I was just literally throwing money away lol
Coffee is a great example. Great job with the quitting, some habits can be really hard to break.
I started off with a free site and moved to self-hosted. I haven’t lost anything in the migration except my sanity! I’m actually glad that I moved because I’m learning so much.
One thing I do is pay for music. Sure I can listen to Pandora for free but I like to buy from iTunes. It’s a small thing but it makes me happy.
That’s good, aside from losing your sanity. I use Amazon gift cards I earn to buy my music and I don’t get a ton at once, just some that I keep wanting. Happiness is important.