This time round, I had about 15 mins of research a few days ago when my printer started showing symptoms of breaking down. The printer had difficulties feeding paper and I had to stand around for about 5 minutes during my work to feed it again and again. It's a frustrating exercise all in all. Today, I just went down to sim lim square and got it straight for $270. There's a lot more functions that I can only dream of in my last printer and it even cost lower than my previous one. Fantastic buy!
A few things comes to mind:
1. Firstly, I did not spend a lot of time researching and comparing the specifications of the printer. I just needed a quick fix to my problem - which is I'm spending a lot of time trying to force feed paper into my 5 yr old printer. I was surprised at the speed in which I arrived at my decision into which model I'll be buying. I thought this is a step in the right direction because I'm not sweating the small stuff. Things that cost $300 to me 5 yrs ago is a big decision involving spreadsheets of specifications in order to compare, plus going to different places to ask for quotes to get the cheapest price and so on. Now, it's just a split second decision.
Success is to be continually challenged by bigger and bigger failures. I think I'm growing bigger than my problem, and that itself is a cause for celebration.
2. Cost aside, I think I'm really trying to use money to save time. There comes a time in your life where you are willing to spend more in order to save time, because your time cost more than the amount saved. By going straight to the store, I can skip the long queues and crowd at this coming weekend's IT fair. By deciding quickly to replace my aging printer, I can spend more time doing my work properly and less time troubleshooting the printer. By deciding on a printer based on certain key stats instead of comparing the whole entire spectrum of printers, I can spend less time and live more! I am probably also given the IT fair's pricing according to the salesman, which is about $30 discount plus some $50 shopping vouchers. But I'll have to check and confirm if it's true.
Increasingly my time is getting more and more expensive.
3. The new printer had so many new features, like wireless capabilities and automated duplex, plus longer warranty duration and it actually cost lesser than my previous one. Unbelievable! I certainly don't want to be in such a job sector where I have to do more and more things but earning the same amount of pay, or even lesser! It's such a sucky situation to be in.
Makes me think about the kind of sector we're working in. We definitely need to work less and earn more, not work more and earn lesser as time goes by.
For those interested to know which printer I bought, I got this:
 |
| MFC L2700 DW from Brother |
15 comments :
Hi LP, did your quick decision involve any anchoring? Since it is better price for more functions. Haha.
my eyes is going to go black again!
LP this i think is one of your best if not the best article you wrote and i fully agree your point!
people spend too much, no, way too much time on little things and let the big one slip by, especially in area of creating wealth or being productive in what you love most. i think you still can cut more time of buying that stupid printer haha...
LP,
You have gotten better at "spending" money ;)
Oh shucks!
Was going to write a song and dance post on why successful people are better at spending money...
Now I'll just put a link to your post.
Why re-invent the wheel?
Even coconut has beaten me to punch in complimenting you $#$%&**^%#!!
No way he is dyslexic... He can read beyond the words pretty well :)
Agree. That's why while the poor spend their time to earn money, the rich spend their money to buy time for themselves. Big decisions vs small decisions, they are all relative.
Btw, did you consider the ink cartridge / toner prices?
Cheap printers may not equate cheap inks or durability.
Hi Lazy singaporean,
Haha! Definitely has anchoring! I don't see it as a bad thing though, because otherwise I won't be able to make split second decisions.
Hi coconut,
You really put in effort to read, thanks thanks! Still can cut time ah? Hahaha, I might need to grow bigger in order to do so! Maybe next time I'll just outsource to my secretary to do it. I no need to think, just pay $ and let other pple solve my problems!
Hi SMOL,
I still want to see your post! So many interesting comments there. I'm sure you will have consolidated everything and have a nice heartwarming wrap up to this whole thing :) I think subconsciously affected by your post, that's why came up with similar theme as yours! It's only when you mentioned it, then ya hor, the posts are quite similar in nature haha
Hi 22°C,
I know the absolute price of the original toner and the 'cheong' type of toner. They sound reasonable to me. Last time I would have compared down to cts/page, haha! All are very affordable, hence no need to look further. That's why I said my mindset changed. I don't need to be in 'survival' mode anymore!
haha don't get me wrong, i'm not saying spend money like water. in fact its the opposite.
my point is if you need it like the stupid printer, then you have to have it, no matter what cost it is. you just have to spend it quickly. then soon you will realise you don't even want to bother at things that you don't need it, thats the catch! you don't even want it if is free!
i learn it from the hard way, through trading where if you need to buy, buy and don't look at the chart/price, and if you need to cut, cut before its too late.
Congrats! You made it to the next level of being self employed!
Will you be making a paradigm shift next?
Yes LP, anchoring can be good at times!
Hi coconut,
I know what you mean! You're right, sometimes when things that are free are given to me, I also don't want. It clutters up my home and I don't even want it! I think prevention is better than cure - prevent the clutter from even appearing in your home, so that you don't have to think about the ways to clear up the clutter, haha
Hi SMK,
Haha, haven't power up enough to hire pple to do the job for me yet! Work in progress :)
Hi LP,
Time is money for those whose time is worth more!
To those who do not understand, they thought those people are wasting money, but it was because their time is worth much less.
Very Informative! This blog is great source of information which is very useful for me. Thank you very much for sharing this!
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