Today I needed a portable hard drive in order to transfer some very large files and sure enough I never had the need to buy one before. As a result I had to go to a store and get one and it just felt like such a waste of money in many ways where I was buying the product mainly for a single purpose.

While I’m sure I can make use of it now, this is definitely something that I usually try to avoid as it can definitely become a habit where you are spending money everywhere and simply justifying that you needed it all the time. I usually try to see if I can borrow the item in question from others as even for myself I usually don’t mind lending others these types of items to help them save money.

Over the weekend I was talking to a person who was looking to buy a GPS device of some sort for his car. He mentioned that he didn’t really need it but felt that it would make his car complete and may be useful in the future.

I used to do things like that when I was teenager such as buying accessories for products just because it felt like I was not taking full advantage of the product if I didn’t. What discouraged me from doing that wasn’t by say disciplining myself not to do so, but rather it was just one of those silly things where it made more sense to be more knowledgeable about your purchases and wanting to try and get it right the first time. Basically, really think about the present and future of your purchase. At the same time, more often I found that if I truly did need to add something of this nature that it usually was cheaper and better to get something new entirely.

While this example is very specific, computers in particular are an example of items where I really want to research thoroughly before purchasing as continually buying add-ons to try and be complete to current offerings can be costly and not to mention conflicting at times. It usually feels worse when you buy something just for the sake of being complete/updated and then seeing the price drop like a rock when it truly becomes a standard.

I’m probably going to get an ear full from certain fashion designers over this post who always insist you need to buy all the trimmings and accessories to stay updated.