How Much Are Your Gadgets Costing You

I’m pretty sure you have heard of the phrase “Things are not made like they use to”. Maybe you’ve said it yourself and it it true. Everything from household items, to cars, electronic devices today are not made to last that long. Manufactures nowadays engineers a product just to last a certain number of years before the products fail and you get to buy a new one. And over time, the prices of many consumer goods have fallen. In the good old days, things were designed to last a lifetime, sometimes 2 lifetimes. I still remember a used, heavy, metal-body vacuum cleaner which we bought and still manage to last us several years after that. It was so strong and heavy, you could stand on it and it wouldn’t break.

However, nowadays, product manufacturers still came out with new devices which cost a lot to buy and yet don’t last very long. So you end up paying top dollar for something have a lifespan of 3 to 4 years. Do you remember the days of the Walkman? It cost ranges from about $ 80 to $200 for higher end models. When mp3 players came out, it cost much higher than that but it cost a lot less to produce compared to the Walkman. And if you got yourself an Ipod, the price is perhaps double that of the early Walkman. But, a Walkman probably lasted twice as long as an Ipod. Same thing with things like television sets, computers, laptops, cars and even furniture. We have been programmed to be a throw away society as new products cost cheaper to replace than to repair.

How does all this affect your money? If you think about it, it is like renting or leasing your things. Let’s say you buy a digital camera for $ 600 and you can afford that money. But very likely in 3 years, your digital camera will be dead. So you are actually paying $ 200 a year for the use of your camera. Traditional camera’s would probably last 5 to 8 years before they give up the ghost.

It’s the same when it come to your high end mobile phones and your car etc. And it has become a trend to purchase high end mobiles phones that comes complete with pda, GPS, 3G, music and camera, and everything else. Just several years ago, it would be almost unthinkable to sink such a large amount of money into a mobile phone or even digital camera. These gadgets are fairly easily damaged, stolen, accidently dunked in water and needs to be replace. Money out of your pocket again.

If you total up the value of your electronic devices and give them an average lifespan of say 3, or 4 years, if you are careful, you’ll find out how much you are actually spending per year. Having said that, new products are actually very handy, especially a digital camera or a mp3 player. I not saying, don’t buy it. We need the benefits given by such product. What you can do, is don’t be an early adopter. Wait a while so that the prices of these gadgets drop, before you buy them. And don’t go for the top end models unless you are a professional earning a living from the product that you buy.

Some of you may disagree with what I wrote above and say that if inflation were factored in, then the cost of such products have actually fallen. It is true in many cases. But then, incomes have not grown in-line with inflation when you measure it from a graduate’s starting pay or someone who just joined the work force. And it is usually the newer generation that are being targeted by manufacturers to buy the latest, slickest and coolest products, that cost more than the basic products.

After all that’ been said and after you have calculate your annual cost of owning something, it still back to the basics of managing your needs and wants. And I hope I’ve given you a new perspective when you buy your next gadget.

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