Okay, so your ship finally came in, or at least your boss finally gave out those bonuses he promised last Christmas. However you got it, you are now a bit richer. I know it's really tempting to go out and buy that Les Paul you've been drooling over, but before you go out and do something that will dig yourself in deeper, why not do some things that will let you get that new axe anyway in the long run in a more painless fashion? Here are a few thoughts you might entertain the next time you find yourself with a bunch of nice extra cash to throw around.
MAKE DEBT DISAPPEAR
Savings rates are stupidly low right now, so shoving your new funds into a bank is just foolish in the short term. Sadly, many credit cards are at terrifyingly high rates, and pawn tickets or payday loans are even worse, so why not do what the debt gurus recommend? Pay off your highest interest debts first, or at least the smallest standing debts off that you can. Then you will have that cash and any interest you would have had to continue paying to roll into yet another smallest bill or highest debt load, and pay them off or down. Given a choice, it is always smarter to pay off as many tiny bills as you can, so you have that cash to cram into the other big interest bills or more small bills. Some people refer to this as the snowball effect-the more you do, the bigger the amounts you can pay off until it is all gone. The payments you then don't have to make and the interest you are no longer struggling with can enable you to probably pay cash or one of those 90-day layaways on that new geetar, without guilt and with your other bills now more under control because you had the sense to wait and not blow the funds on just the guitar.
PREVENT NEW DEBT
If you sit down and look at your yearly expenses, you probably have a few guilty pleasures you love to indulge in that a little planning can make nearly painless as well as save you enough to probably get that new guitar. Do you like taking a nice vacation? Buying your tickets ahead of time and shopping around can save you a lot, as can renting a car and driving instead of flying places. Can you consider a bed and breakfast or even a cabin for at least a night or two instead of the luxury hotel? Can you spend a night with different relatives and get in some great family time instead of just planning a total getaway this time around, just so you can save money for a change? Better yet, can you just stay home and clean the place, decluttering and perhaps even holding a neighborhood garage sale to raise even more of the green stuff instead of spending yourself into a rut that may take you months to pay off, and let your vacation be coming home to a tidy place where you can actually find things instead of science experiments and hungry pets? Do you really need that fancy pair of shoes when a cheap pair can do? Can you get by shopping at thrift shops instead of watching your windfall disappear in one afternoon going overboard at the mall? Sadly, many of us find we can get nicer and entirely more clothes shopping at the second-hand places than we can afford at boutique pricing-why not just save the extra and publish that new stack of songs you just cobbled together? Why not, too, consider paying cash for studio time for a bit instead of running up a credit card to pay for your new demo? Sometimes, when it comes to money, the best thing to do is to step back and think of all the ways you don't have to spend any cash before you start to dig into your new pile of fundage.
