Dealing with "Good Deals"

I had a small tussle with my wife 2 days ago. She read an advertisment on the newspaper on a "move-out sale". Apparently, a Swedish couple was preparing to return to Sweden, and is prepared to sell their furniture set and TV at a huge discount price.

According to the seller, the living room sofa set was originally purchased from IKEA at a cost of $6,000. And the TV was bought at $2,000. Their asking selling price to my wife, who has made a trip to their condo, was $1,500.

Naturally, my wife was excited at the seemingly "good deal", and called me for opinion. I declined the deal. The reason is simple, we already have a comfortable (though old) sofa set at home. We learn not to spend time watching TV, and have gotten used to living without a TV set for quite some time. As the current material status quo is comfortable, there is no need to spend the cash outflow of $1,800 ($1,500 for the used sofa set and TV, and $300 for the transport and labour), and the effort to dispose our existing furniture.

This is the problem of the current material world. If one is not careful, it is very easy to be sucked into "good deals" that will yield, at the most, temporary comfort. And there are so many "good deals" surrounding us. Such temptation is one reason why we find it difficult to save our hard earned money.

*This is the only time my wife listens to my reasoning and agrees with me.