Verizon just loves digging their claws in you every two years by advertising great upgrades to newer and better phones, so you will fall into trap of a contract plan. Two years later, my boyfriend’s contract is now ready to ‘upgrade’, and he has the new phone bug and is salivating at the thought of getting a bigger and better piece of electronic glory. Of course, the phone he wants is not one of the new or fairly cheap upgrades. Even though it is out of budget, he has already begun a vulture circling the iPhone 4s (price $299). Fortunately for him, his Motorola Droid has begun its shameful walk to death; thus, I now have to budget a new phone into his February birthday.
Ebay, here I come!
With college starting back soon, this new want for technology is not going to drive me to get a second job; however, I am going to turn to EBay and even to writing articles on Yahoo to get some of the extra money I need. I have noticed I have plenty of ‘treasures’ and junk around my house that I can easily turn over on EBay for a little bit of extra cash. My junk becomes someone else’s treasure, and I get closer to my goal of making his ‘phone dream’ come true. Plus, old computers and technology around my house can even be traded in towards money or purchase credit at several retailers such as Best Buy.
Tightening the Budget
Unfortunately, all Apple products are typically fixed prices with very rare discounts. Luckily for me, there are still several ways I can save money over the next few months. The next two months are going to be no restaurant trips, and at least some of my gas usage is going to have to be cut back some. Coupons may not work on Apple, but they make me so happy in that they work on my groceries. I guess I’ll end up spending an extra hour in my day hunting down coupons just to save on my grocery bill. I’ve even recently managed to find several discounts that allow me to save extra money on my car insurance and phone bill, so that helps put extra money in my pocket for the iPhone.
Cash Only!
The oldest trick in the book is always saving money aside from every check. I plan on sticking ten dollars a week into my ‘mad money stash’ for his new phone. I still have eight weeks, so that will allow to save up the rest of the money I need for his new birthday gift. After all, I really am not going to put anything I can’t save for on credit. This is a cash only enterprise.