How You Can Afford Expensive Purchases

Image from thriftyfun

Buying expensive items is always a touchy subject. From a personal finance side, as much as possible find cheaper or lower cost counterparts for those expensive stuff. Yet, when you get married there are indeed items that you need to buy. Albeit these are expensive, these are but essential.

When I was single, it was easier for me to dismiss expensive items because these would normally be upgrades on my gadgets, phones and clothes. Hence, these are just splurges. However, now that I am married there are purchases that are necessary but also expensive. A good example would be appliances.

So how will you possibly afford these luxuries? Here are suggestions to get you started.

Tip 1: Plan it out. It would be very important to plan out these expensive purchases first. When planning, decide on the maximum ceiling of the item and from there you can start budgeting. For instance, we have a lot of kitchen appliances we would want to have such as a microwave oven, blender and griller. But we do know that these are pretty expensive hence it would be inappropriate to buy the three things together. So my husband and I plan to buy one item every month. Our maximum ceiling would be 2,500 or close to that number. At least we got an appliance project in mind every month.

What if your desired item is way more expensive than 2,500? Here’s where crucial planning comes in. For instance, you badly need to replace your old broken phone and have something new. With that proceed to tip 2.

Tip 2: Save for it. This is a no-brainer on how you can be able to afford expensive items. Set your budget that a certain percentage will go to this expensive purchase. However, this strategy often fails because we want instant gratification. Saving for anything expensive requires months and even years of discipline and more so focus to redirect some of your money to this big purchase. The good news is, there are many perks of paying it in cash. For one, you can have cash discounts meaning the item would be a few thousands less. Furthermore, the value of the item would be lower when you can be able to afford it.

Tip 3: Free up money. I got a friend who really wants a new phone. However, we were students back then and this is something ridiculously impossible during those times. He has enough for his allowance and other school related expenses. Yet he was able to buy this phone in spite of that limited cash. How did he do it? He sacrifices some of his food money and saves up. There are little expenses that you can cut today in order to afford that big item. For instance, you can quit dining out, selling your preloved items or skipping vacation for now. Instead, you can use those cash to that expensive stash.

Tip 4: Extra income. Another tip to consider would be to look for ways to bring in more money for you and the best way to do this would be to find another job. You can opt to take a second job or find a suitable part time work. The more you pour in money to your pockets, the closer you are to that purchase.

Tip 5: Consider second-hand. There are already a lot of second hand stores and online websites where you can be able to grab that expensive item for way lower price tag. You might also want to visit garage sales near your vicinity or scout the market for second hands. It might not be brand new and the color might not be of your choice but at least you can be able to save thousands rather than buying a new one.

Tip 6: Do without. It would be best to revisit if that expensive item would be something that you really need or something that you can live without. Chances are there are still inexpensive counterparts that you can do and use. Find cheaper substitute for it or don’t buy one at all. We are resourceful beings and I am most certain we can be able to find lower cost alternatives this time.

The solution in order to buy expensive items would be having money to pay for it. With that this involves, saving, generating more income and cutting other expenses. Of course there’s always debt and varied financing that can help you. But at the end of the day, you are still going to pay for the debt plus the interest. If ever you resort to doing this, make sure you have sustainable and enough income to pay for the debt. Make sure that you won’t miss payments and you won’t sacrifice necessities.

P.S To those doing the 52 Week Money Challenge, did you deposit the next amount yet?

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