117

[spryng]

I have a bit of a confession to make; I have a new camera. No, that's not the entirety of the confession. I have a new camera I got off ebay, accidentally, for a pretty good price, but still much too expensive. After watching the various bids on ebay for a week for what I wanted, I saw one near to ending, saw that it was still quite a bit below what the others tended to be, checked the seller, checked the photos and description closely, and said, sure, I'll bid and keep it under everything else currently going and I'll probably get sniped.

Go to bed. Forget about it. Woke up, found the email saying I'd won it. And freaked the heck out, because even as cheap as it was, it was still a ton of money. My lesson was really and truly learned that morning about not bidding on an item unless absolutely serious, but much to my surprise, that whole shindig gave me a fresh start with my finances and has led me down a path of saving and saving some more. It also gave me a really freaking cool camera which has way more functions than I could ever dream of. I've already named him Hyde.

I'd been reading a blog called Get Rich Slowly, which is a collection of fairly common sense articles on how to save and work within your means. Before the ebay lesson, I'd just been reading it on a lark, thinking, yeah, I'll put money in savings whenever I have anything left over. But that was just not happening. Then the camera incident occurred, and I've taken to reading their posts in a whole new light. I'm putting away money for savings each month, as well as saving for the lenses I will soon need. And I still have a teensy bit left over for the odd food thing. Time will tell where this will lead and whatnot, but for now it's kind of nice.

Comments

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

oh, get rich slowly.
i used to really like it but i think in the past year and a half it's really gone downhill; JD Roth has let BLOGGING FAME go to his head and he has all these weird, nonsense partnerships with e-snake oil salesmen (like that "I'll teach you to be rich" guy). the older articles are still really useful though. i do think - and i've written about this on my blog - that most financial advice is designed by & for the middle & upper classes (and since there is no more middle class in america, it's just the upwardly aspirant class), and so there's nothing for me.

just my 2 cents (HA. HA)

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Yeeah... I have noticed a definite leaning towards higher middle class in most of the articles. And the recent article about renting expensive fashion handbags instead of buying them was really stupid. I've been going through the highlighted articles, though, and still learning a lot about finances in general. So it's not a complete waste in my book, even though too many of articles are like, "yeeah... I don't have that kind of income."

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

it's definitely worth it for the early stuff - before he became a douchebag really. there's not too much there that hasn't been said elsewhere, but once upon a time JD Roth was humble and self-deprecating and it was pleasant to read. it's a shame. someone really needs to give financial advice to people who aren't rich. i'd do it on my blog, but a. i don't know anything and b. most of my suggestions are probably neither useful nor ethical ("Go to Panera & pretend you're a foster mom for free bread!").

[therealbenni.livejournal.com]

Will actually came up with a pretty good system for us now that we're both employed... I like direct deposit, so my paychecks go directly to our checking. Will likes getting physical checks, so he deposits his paycheck into checking as well if we still need more money to cover rent and such that month, and into savings if we're doing okay. So far it seems that he's putting every other check into savings, which makes me somewhat optimistic again.