On June 4th, I did a post called “The Dangers of Window Shopping” where I talked about my weakness with the activity. I also made up a list of the stuff I knew I wanted to buy, and how important it was. I thought it would be fun to revisit my ‘must-haves‘ from just a few months ago and see if I bought any or still want them now. Delaying purchases is sometimes the best way to save money, so let’s check out my old list:

♦ Patio set $300-$700
♦ BBQ $100-$200
♦ 50″+ LED TV $1,100-$1,700
♦ Stuff to put 42″ TV on wall in master bedroom $100-$150
♦ Blu-ray player for master bedroom $100-$150
♦ New couch, preferably a sectional but not rounded $700-$1,500
♦ Shelves & Other stuff to organize the small space nicely $200-$600

Of course, I wanted all those things brand new. We had the money to do it, but we didn’t. Boy am I glad today, I really don’t think we need any of these things. The very large LED TV still sounds pretty sexy, but we’ve been okay without it so far.

Another reason I’m happy we didn’t buy ANY of this stuff, is because our future goals have been shifting. Originally, we wanted to live here, in the US. Now, we’ve been playing around with the idea of living in another country. The more stuff we accumulate now, the larger the burden when preparing to move overseas.

I’ve heard and read all over the place, to put off buying things for a few days to see if you still want them. I can honestly say, that I still wanted all this stuff after a couple of weeks, so waiting a few days wouldn’t have done me any good. After about a month, I kinda forgot about most stuff.

What’s the longest you’ve waited on a purchase?
Did you still want it after waiting?
Could you make yourself wait a month or longer?