The 5-Step Guide to Prevent Ridiculous Purchase

Amanda Spurgeon

I almost bought a pool on a whim. No thought or research or preparation of any kind. It was sort of hot out and floating in your own pool, no matter how small, beats sitting in a lawn chair and misting yourself with a garden hose every. single. time.

The kind of pool I was about to buy was one of those hard-sided DIY pop-up pools that are supposed to last 5-6 years with proper maintenance. They run about $300 -$1000 depending on size, shape and the season during which you make this impulse purchase. Pools are (not surprisingly) more expensive in July than they are in October.

Every Midwesterner who’s ever sweated through a 102-degree day with 1000% humidity knows summer is best when you’re near a body of water. So why not put that body of water right in my back yard where I can enjoy it whenever I want?

Well, after giving it even 30 seconds of thought I came up with more than a few really good reasons why not. The first is that my backyard is a border-line disaster. Weed-filled former flower beds and vegetable patches are the main attraction if you walk through our gate.

Don’t get me wrong, having to stare at some overgrown garden beds and the world’s largest dandelion patch aren’t enough to ruin MY pool day. But the bugs that come with that much greenery are. No one wants to swim in a mosquito sanctuary.

The second is that we have two rowdy dogs who run and dig and well. . . go to the bathroom in our yard. We hire a poop-scooping service to clean it up once a week (the most ridiculous expense I will never, ever give up), which helps but doesn’t solve the problem.

The third is that there is a significant amount of manual labor and maintenance involved with having a pool in your backyard. I know this because growing up there was a pool in my parents’ backyard and I was lucky enough to find pool duty on my chore chart regularly.

And yet, I spent an entire day scrolling through Amazon and various farm and home store websites looking for the best deal. You see, I have an occasional problem with impulse control (see how much money I’ve been known to spend on takeout if you don’t believe me).

When I get an idea in my head, sometimes I just run with it. And while that has turned out to be a great idea sometimes (I adopted our first dog because I had a bad day), it has had a disastrous effect on our finances in others that I’m not willing to mention here.

Luckily before I bit the bullet and clicked that Buy Now button on my dream of a more aquatic summer, I went through what I’m now calling my 5 Step Program to Prevent Ridiculous Purchases.

STEP 1: Can you afford to pay with cash?

In the case of the pool, the answer for me was yes IF I dipped into our emergency fund…

The thing is, no matter how badly I wanted to sip a cocktail while leisurely floating on an inflatable pineapple, being hot is not an emergency. So, I really couldn’t afford to pay for it with cash.

Another temptation to spend money you don’t have: credit cards. But your available balance isn’t cash, nor should it be treated as such. Carelessly using your credit card to make silly purchases you can’t afford to pay off right away is a great way to start drowning in debt.

Rule of thumb? Avoid making a large purchase with your credit card if you can’t afford to pay it off with actual, non-emergency-fund cash right away, and to only use your emergency fund for actual emergencies.

STEP 2: Does it fit your lifestyle?

So you’ve asked yourself #1 and determined that yes, you do actually have enough cash on hand for this impulse buy. You don’t have to dip into your emergency fund, you don’t have to borrow money from your brother and if you swipe your credit card it will be to take advantage of cash back or some other rewards and then you’ll pay it off pronto (because you actually have the cash).or actual emergencies.

That means you can buy it, right? Not necessarily, friend. Just because you can afford something does not make it a good buy.

Take a minute to consider whether or not this purchase will fit into your day-to-day life. Circling this back to the pool, asking this question revealed a BIG red flag for me.

The set-up for one of these pop-up pools can be tedious and labor intensive, not to mention the ongoing maintenance to keep the pool from turning into an algae farm/giant stink pit

But like I already said, my husband and I are kind of lazy. Especially when it comes to anything that even remotely resembles a chore. We aren’t pulling weeds in the backyard (which would’ve taken like an hour tops if we had done it before our yard became a jungle), and we definitely aren’t going to treat the water properly and test it or keep it clean enough that anyone would actually want to get in it..

If whatever you’re considering purchasing would require you to make a change to your lifestyle, my advice is to just walk away. Even if you have the best intentions, it’s unrealistic to think you won’t revert to your old ways. Not an active person? Leave the high-energy dog at the shelter. Constant traveler? Walk away from the houseplants.

Rule of thumb? Be real with yourself about what you can actually take on without changing your lifestyle.

STEP 3: How long will it last?

Or, in other words: does the expected lifetime of this thing you’re about to buy align with the amount of moola you’re about to drop?

Usually, price indicates quality which in return indicates lifetime. That’s to say that, generally, the more you pay for something, the longer you expect it to last. I dropped a pretty penny on a pair of high-quality, handstitched leather boots about a decade ago. They’re still in perfect condition, and I fully expect them to become a family heirloom. To me, that justifies the price.

On the other hand, you may not feel too guilty if the $2 Old Navy flipflops you bought in May blow out by the end of August. That’s a pretty good amount of wear time considering the price, and you could reasonably replace them every summer without anyone accusing you of frivolous spending.

Rule of thumb? With the exception of really great clearance finds, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do some research to determine the overall quality and how long it lasted for other people. If you’re dropping a couple hundred bucks on something that may only get you through one season, it may be wise to pass on it and look for something with a longer lifespan.

STEP 4: What kind of return will you get?

I’m not saying every purchase should make or save you money, but you should get something out of it. A monetary return is great, but something that will improve your physical, mental or spiritual health can absolutely be worth it, too.

Purchasing the pool for my backyard would mean I no longer have to visit the public pool, which would not only save me money by eliminating the cost of admission (in several years), it would also improve my mental and spiritual health because I’d get to float around with an ice-cold cocktail in silence instead of eating a lukewarm hotdog on a beach towel while some screaming kid cannon balls into the shallow end.

Rule of thumb? If it brings some kind of value to your life, it’s worth considering the purchase (if it passes all of the above questions).

STEP 5: Have you slept on it?

Even if something checks every box on the list and seems like a perfect fit, it’s almost always a good idea to sleep on it before you make a big purchase. If you’re anything like me, you’ll wake up with a clearer mind and hopefully an improved perspective of how this item will fit into your budget and your life.

Who knows, you might even wake up and find the thing has been marked down a couple bucks. Either way, it’s worth giving yourself some time to fully consider something before you buy it.