Archive - February 6, 2008

It’s often far too easy to buy into the whole consumerism lie. It’s all around us and it’s so tempting to let ourselves start justifying the purchase of things we really don’t need.

I’ve mentioned before that my mobile phone is nothing special. It makes calls, it takes calls, it sends text messages. That’s all I really need a phone to do. It’s got no camera, no bluetooth, no extras.

When I think about it, having a mobile phone is a bit of a luxury anyway. A mate of mine has only recently succumbed to pressure to get a mobile and I think he’s still wondering if he did the right thing.

Over the past couple of weeks the on – off button has stopped working on my current handset. As long as I keep the phone charged that shouldn’t be a problem but if it ever goes off, it’s dead. Of course that makes getting on a plane in a couple of months a bit of an issue. I don’t think they’ll understand if I tell them I can’t switch off my mobile.

Time to get a new phone. I found a very nice one for just $199. It’s even got a 2 Megapixel camera and several other features that I’ve never had on a handset. While looking at phones a friend said he had one identical to my current one that he no longer needs and he offered it to me. I still thought a new one would be a better idea.

I was thinking about it later and remembered that not only don’t I have $199, I don’t really need a shiny new phone. I got in touch with my friend and I’ll get my ‘new phone’ later this week.

It would have been so easy to get a new phone and to feel very justified in doing so, after all, my phone needed replacing, but as is often the case there is an alternative.

How good are you at justifying the things you buy? I don’t think that we should never treat ourselves but are there things you buy that you really don’t need? Are there cheaper options that you ignore because you want shiny new things?