Why I don't Splurge on Gadgets and Travel

The title of this post may offer you the idea that I'm not a member of the mainstream Generation Y who, in my own and honest judgement, burn money here and there to get every "it" gadget of the moment. Well, I certify that with audacity. My current phone is probably the lowest range phone from one of the biggest Manufacturers in the world. It's also the cheapest. And to top it off, I didn't buy it. Or maybe I did, in a way, because I acquired the phone through a Globe plan. Most of my friends tease me, sometimes brainwash me to go and get a new one without distressing about the price tag, after all, it's within my financial resources. Yes I can, I have the means, to be perfectly frank with you. I have a good job with a good pay under a huge company. I work hard and I save enough. I have a mini online business as well. But then again, I can't and don't bring myself to stash out some cash and get myself those stuff.

Let me tell you something in contrast to what I've mentioned above though. Note that one of my favorite pastimes is watching "unboxing" videos of phones/tablets/cameras on YouTube. I am well obsessed with phones, basically. I am updated with every new release from Samsung or Sony, their respective OS, processors, size, resolution, memory, data and blah blah blah. Believe me, I even dream about phones sometimes. And this ludicrous fact is somehow being used by my friends to persuade me in getting the phone of my dreams so as to end my misery. :/

Related to this is another fad called "Travelling". If I am correct, I'm probably the only one in the office who has not yet ridden a plane and gone out of the country. I haven't even gone out of town with my friends, much less abroad. One of my greatest dreams is to visit Japan. I want to go to Akihabara, wear my cosplay costumes while doing the prideful catwalk on the streets where I can be surrounded with people who look exactly like I do: "Anime-ish". I love Japan. I'm certain I'd feel lie I'm home too. Just the same, I would hear again and again from the same group of people "why don't you go with us to blah blah? We'll be getting our bonus for that month, you can use that as pocket money". So on and so forth. I can only raise my eyebrow and recall how loud these people would whine and grumble whenever their salary bonuses can no longer touch their twitching palms and instead, are applied to their credit card outstanding balances. Some of my friends even give me tips on how to loan "strategically". Really now? I didn't think there was such a thing as that. Regardless of how you loaned, I'm sure as hell it's still a loan that needs to be settled. 

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't make you any less of a person if you don't want to exhaust your funds on some certain things that would probably make you happy and feel "IN", but instead, choose to close your eyes, sigh and turn your back against it because you know there are far more important things to life than material things that give you ephemeral self fulfillment. Think again. It doesn't really make you sincerely happy. You're just into the feeling of current coolness. Or at least that's how I see things. In fact, I'm sort of proud of myself that this is the way I see things. I want to save more, much more. I'll work harder, get promoted and save. I know someday, which is not that far from now, I can get to spend some and reward myself. I want to spend when I'm confident that I have more than enough, that there's absolutely no need for me to loan or use a credit card. I believe it would be better to endure for now and be happy eventually, than to be happy now and endure paying your balances afterwards. I mean, where's the fun in that right?

Let me end my post with a quote that probably says it all:

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." - Will Smith

PS:
My thoughts alone.

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