1) Will it be useful?
This is by far the most important thing which may seem common sense, and yet is most helpful when I consider buying new gear. And it's not just "will I use it", but will it actually add qualitatively to my life in a way that might in some way at all help me move towards my goals or towards being a more loving person/blessing to other people? Even if it means destressing me helping me feel more relaxed during my R&R time.
I've ended up selling quite a few things and letting myself have a few others based on this filter.
2) I break things/lose things...will that be ok?
If something is expensive and awesome but fragile I may not get it.
Or maybe it's awesome but small and I'll lose it....in that case I may get the cheaper one.
Case in point/Product reviews: Pens, bluetooth headsets, headphones.
I remember going to Staples and thinking "I need an awesome pen." I bought like an $8 pen that also functioned as a stylus for my PDA and also a pencil! It was awesome.....for all of 3 weeks until I lost the thing.
I've never bought a super expensive pen again, realizing that I routinely lose pens/pencils. So I have a huge stack of papermate pens
of the cheapest kind and have just left them EVERYWHERE. Then I got a smaller collection of Pilot G2 Gel pens
and left a few of those everywhere. I haven't bought pensf ro a long time sense, because I'll lose a few, find a few, and always have a few.Similarly, back in the day I decided I would get an awesome balls-to-the-wall bluetooth headset. So I did research and paid like $50 for a Platronics Voyager
, which was by the way totally awesome. A few months later I lost it, and I have no freaking idea where it is. Determined to prevent such similar nonsense from happening again, I got a Jabra BT350
for about $15 somewhere, and this perfectly serviceable headset I actually have to this very day (though I actually am selling it b/c I got another one on the cheap which is better).Headphones: At first I spent a decent amount of money on a pair of Shure
headphones, which were, back in that day, pretty expensive. They were then promptly lost. I owned a pair of Koss SportaPros
, which by the way sound terrific for the price. But the gem of them all was my purchase of some Grado SR60s
from a friend for $40 (thanks, Ina!!), and I have to say, I've never heard anything quite as good for under $100. For daily casual usage and travel to block out sound, I actually ended up finding a pair of Skullcandy Titans
for just $17 on ebay! These are probably the best cheap buy I've found....they even have a mic on them so I can use them with my phone to answer calls, etc.Needless to say, after my initial mistake, I've never spent more than $50 on headphones, and I've been very happy with the mileage I've gotten out of most of my purchases. Shout-out to www.headphone.com for giving me some of the greatest headphone recommendations for the money that I've ever known.
Oh, and NEVER buy crap like those Dr. Dre headphones.....super not worth it.
I started this entry with some kind of point in mind, but after half-finishing in last week, I don't remember. So I'll end it here.
