Adventures of a Pawn Star

July 24, 2010 4 Comments

I’ve never been to a pawn shop.  Never, that is, until today.

I’ve been fighting a battle against Stuff for a while and finally decided it was time to sell my Ruger 10/22 rifle.  Finding the easiest, most convenient method to sell my rifle was my primary objective, not money.  A pawn shop seemed like the most logical choice since I probably wouldn’t get a good price for the gun but it would be easy to sell.

When I arrived, I was a little turned off by the place.  The windows and door were covered in steel bars and to get in I had to ring a doorbell and be buzzed in like a maximum security prison.  Inside it was small, cramped and full of people making deals at the counter.  DVDs, flat screen TVs, musical equipment, rings, old coin collections and a plethora of Stuff hung from the walls, was displayed in glass cases and leaned against the counters.

When it was time to do business it didn’t take long to be asked the question I had no answer to, “How much are you looking to get for it?”  I walked in there thinking I’d be lucky to get $50 but I went high, knowing it would be easier to negotiate if I gave myself some room to work.  ”I was thinking about $150,” and then I began describing all the improvements I made to the rifle; the new stock, scope and bi-pod.

 ”Well, it looks like $80 is as high as I can go,” the clerk said, punching keys on the keyboard of his computer.  He pointed out flaws in the rifle that I already knew about and made his case for why $80 was his limit.  Since all I was really concerned with was getting rid of the thing, I accepted the offer.  Afterall, it was $30 more than I had expected to get when I walked in.  He entered my personal information (name, address, phone number) into the computer and I signed a sales receipt before leaving with cash in hand.

Erin came along with me wondering how much money she would be able to get for an old ring.  It took the clerk about a minute to come to a definitive conclusion, making it obvious that jewelry is something they deal with regularly.  “$135.”  That was more than I’d told her she would get.  She wanted to check around other places so she thanked him for his time and we left, visiting two more stores; another pawn shop and a store that buys gold.  The second pawn store offered $40 less than the first and the gold store could only offer $85 for the weight of the gold. 

While I was waiting for Erin to finish talking to the clerk at the second pawn store, I began looking around at all of the merchandise for sale.  They had all the same things as the last place; DVDs, CDs, musical equipment, electronics and televisions, jewelry and watches.  As I was looking around, it dawned on me that all these items probably came from people in dire financial situations who were selling their worldly possessions just to make ends meet.  The iPods, video games, DVDs and CDs, the flat screens and computers, the musical instruments and stereo equipment; all the material items that we convince ourselves that we can’t live without become the first things to go when we reach financial bottom.

Somehow these things that we “can’t live without” lose their importance when we find ourselves in situations where we might be without a place to live or are unable to put food on the table.  I wonder, had these people never bought all of this Stuff in the first place, would they have found themselves in a situation where they needed to hock their possessions to survive?

Filed under Consumerism, Life, Money

June Wrap Up: Rock Climbing Edition

July 17, 2010 5 Comments

I’ve always wanted to learn how to rock climb.  Its one of those skills that seems practical since a few of my goals involve climbing something.  Not to mention that its also pretty damn cool!  The first time I went indoor climbing was a couple of years ago and I found that I had a natural ability, or, what I perceived as being ability anyways.

My second time climbing was about a month ago, before leaving for Hawaii, and by the time we were done for the day we were already making plans to take our skills to the next level by taking the basic safety course offered by the gym.  That lesson happened a couple of days ago and I feel like I learned a lot.  Some of the “mystery” of climbing was unveiled and now I know how to tie a knot and safely belay for another climber.  After our lesson we found some of the more challenging walls in the gym that had been previously off-limits but now, with our new skills, we were able to tie in and climb.  As for that “natural” ability of mine, well, it seems I have a lot of work to do!

At the beginning of the year I laid out a number of specific goals which I hoped to accomplish over the course of the year.  How are things going?

Diet:  “I will no longer treat my mouth like a garbage can and junk food will find its way to the trash where it belongs.  I will learn about healthy eating, teach myself how to prepare healthy meals and reduce the number of times I visit restaurants significantly.”

Our goal for the month of June was to cut our restaurant spending to $190.  Here are how the numbers shook out for the month:

Grocery Spending: $258.50

Restaurant Spending: $237.80

Hawaii Food Spending: $290.67 (does not include food paid for with cash)

We didn’t reach our goal of $190, which, admittedly, we didn’t strive to accomplish this month.  We did cut our restaurant spending by nearly $20 compared to last month without any effort to improve.  This leads me to believe that if we just put our minds to it, $190 could easily be reached, even surpassed.

Much of our “trouble” comes from rewarding ourselves with food.  At the end of the week we like to go out to eat.  Nothing fancy, just a night away from the kitchen.  Now that summer is in full force, ice cream is a treat we indulge in a little too often.  Summer classes started last week and we are on campus for 8 hours a day, meaning we can eat on campus or walk to Subway.  We could brown bag our lunches but I feel like that would limit us to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday.

What are your thoughts?  How often do you reward yourself with a meal out or ice cream on a hot summer evening?  Any suggestions of how we can spice up a sacked lunch?

Personal Resolutions

Travel: My goal is to travel 50,000 miles in 2010.  This month we traveled to Kauai, Hawaii, adding another ~8,000 miles, for a grand total of 29,300 miles so far this year.  In two weeks we leave for Orlando, Florida to visit Disney World.  This is our last scheduled trip of 2010.

Unless someone can convince me of a good reason not to, I am going to mark off Goal #99) Visit Disneyland from The List.  I’ve never been to either and either one will satisfy this goal in my mind…unless you know something I don’t.  Have you been to both?  What are the differences?  Do you have any suggestions to have the most enjoyable experience possible?  Where’s Mickey hang out these days?

Education: My goal is to maintain a 3.5 GPA.  Currently I have a 3.619.  Earlier this summer I took a Personal Finance class which I expected would be an easy A.  I was right.  I learned a little but, honestly, not a lot.  The teacher was a nice guy, though, and I did enjoy the class.  It was a nice refresher of some basic concepts.

As I mentioned earlier, I am back in school again, taking Chemistry, and so far, so good.  The teacher seems like a great guy.  The students in the class are very vocal, asking lots of questions and stimulating some interesting conversations.  The professor is very patient, willing to help and explain when we are confused.  Our first test is this Monday, so I guess we’ll see how I’m doing at that point but for now I feel like I’m actually understanding what I’m learning.  That’s always a good sign!

Well, that’s the update!  Anything else you’d like to know about or get updated on?  Let me know in the Comments!  Have a great weekend!

Filed under Updates

Goal #66) Study a World Religion: Buddhism

July 10, 2010 2 Comments

Disclaimer: This article describes my personal journey to understand religion and is not intended to offend, attack or question anyone for their personal beliefs.  I encourage open and honest dialogue about this challenging subject but reserve the right to edit or delete comments which are not conducive to the conversation.

Heaven, Hell and God are all concepts which I’ve never been able to convince myself to believe and as such I’ve always had an atheistic view towards religion (though I prefer not to use the word ”atheist” to describe myself as it implies an acknowledgment of what I consider imaginary).  And though I can find value in the teachings of the Bible or Qur’an, I view God (by any name), Heaven and Hell as being as real as ghosts or UFOs.  Creationism seems like a weak explanation for the origin of man, especially considering the scientific evidence supporting evolution.

Traditional Western religions, therefore, are a hard pill for me to swallow.

Six months ago, I realized that I’m going to die and death was no longer a nebulous concept for which I had only a superficial understanding.  This revelation caused a lingering sense of despair, leaving me questioning the meaning of life.  Knowing that I couldn’t turn to God for comfort, the answers to my questions would have to come from somewhere else.

While in the airport waiting for my connecting flight, I was browsing around a bookstore where I found a book about Buddhism.  Flipping through the pages, reading a little here and there, I realized almost immediately that the ideas in the book matched many of my own opinions.  Page after page I felt like someone had taken the thoughts from my mind and written a book with them.  It all made sense.  I bought the book and spent the next two hours reading.

Religion should come natural to the person practicing it and in the past I’ve tried to embrace the unknown, or “have faith”, but always found myself feeling at odds with what I consider to be ”truth”.  I shouldn’t have to force myself to believe in something.  And while I feel strongly that religion provides an abundance of benefits to humanity, I believe meaning and purpose in life can be achieved without God.

Buddhism falls in line with many of my personal beliefs; there are no Gods to worship, I am not required to put my faith in anything that I don’t understand or can’t comprehend and seeking Truth is at the core of Buddhism.  Thus, Buddhism will be the world religion which I study in detail.  Though I have no plans of becoming a monk, there’s much I can learn which will expand and solidify many of my own beliefs.

Are you religious?  Have you ever found yourself facing the same sorts of questions as I am?  How were you able to overcome these uncertainties, or have you?

Filed under Life, Religion

Guest Post: Credit Cards, Fancy Cars and Caviar

July 3, 2010 2 Comments

The following is an article written by Brandon Bailey.  Brandon’s blog, Adventure Deficit Disorder, is about enjoying life in the present, simplicity, and seeking adventure.  If you enjoy this article, check out his blog and be sure to sign up for free email updates!

As humans, we are horrible at knowing what will make us happy.  From a psychology standpoint, we generally avoid actions that will inflict some kind of pain or suffering and actively pursue what we think will make us happy.  In our modern capitalist culture we have been socialized to think the consumption of goods will make us happy.

But does it?

On a recent trip through Aspen, Colorado I found myself falling into a sort of trap.  Seeing the smiles on the faces of all the beautiful people drinking expensive wines on restaurant patios, the flashy cars rolling through the streets and the gorgeous ski-in ski-out mansions made me envious of the wonderful lives these people seemed to live.  Then I started asking myself questions like,  “Why am I envious of such a lifestyle?”, “Are these people really as happy as they seem?”, “How do so many afford a lifestyle of such luxury and extravagance?”

Envy is a powerful emotion.  According to British philosopher Bertrand Russell, “envy is one of the most potent causes of unhappiness” because it reveals our self-perceptions and desires in relation to others.  At a time when the MTV-lifestyle is seen as the epitome of success and credit cards are readily available, we (or at least people under 35) have been taught to think we need - and deserve – a celebrity lifestyle.  This kind of entitled attitude is dangerous and despite having previously explored a high-life image of expensive dinners, exclusive parties, “celebrity” friends, penthouse apartments and European cars, only to discover that I was more unhappy than ever, I still find myself occasionally drawn in by the Siren’s song of the high-life.

A few years ago it dawned on me how absurd and unsustainable such a lifestyle is while in the VIP section of a nightclub with several well-known NFL players.   I found myself surrounded by so-called beautiful people, wearing oversized watches embedded with diamonds - one more extravagant than the next, drinking bottles of champagne costing several hundred dollars each.  I could feel envious eyes peering in from beyond the red velvet ropes – wasn’t this what I was supposed to aspire to?  MTV and other social indicators told me so, but I couldn’t have felt any more like a fraud.  After I left the club that night, early and alone, I never heard from any of my “friends” again, confirming that I had made the right choice to walk away from that lifestyle.   Through this experience, I now realize that the so-called happiness derived from living this type of lifestyle is fleeting and only surface deep.  

In the subsequent years I’ve discovered that by cutting my expenses, not increasing my earnings, I have more time and freedom to pursue the same things I enjoyed and dreamed about as a kid.

So what did I cut?

Big nights out.  Dinners at trendy restaurants.  Drinks into the early morning hours.  These things can add up to big bucks.  A nice dinner here or there with people that you really enjoy is perfectly fine, if not important, but should not be a lifestyle.

The wardrobe.  I can’t figure out why anyone really needs multiple pairs of jeans or shirts that are exactly the same (especially t-shirts that cost upwards of $100).  If you are worried that people will notice whether or not you wear the same thing every day, they won’t.  Think you will never have enough clean clothes?  You will.  Clothes are rarely legitimately dirty after one wearing.  Donate anything you have not worn in a year, even if it is a “nice” article of clothing that you “forgot about”.  You probably won’t wear it again anyway.  When getting new clothes, buy things that will serve multiple purposes and can be worn year-round.

The fancy car. This doesn’t mean we should all drive a beater - a car should be safe - but it does mean that having a car that is losing value faster than Lehman Brothers is going to hurt you.  For some reason people seem to forget that cars depreciate and are therefore not an asset.  You’ll also save on insurance and registration if the car is even just a few years old.  Better yet, ride a bike.  Gas is expensive.

The cable. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day.  That is 28 hours each week and 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year!  In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.  Figuring in a fixed average cable bill of $71 per month for those 9 years ($71 x 12 months x 9 years) you would save $7,668 just by cutting out cable.  If you think you need television for news or entertainment, try going without it for a little while.  Suddenly that extra 28 hours per week will be obvious.

So how do so many people afford a lifestyle of such luxury and extravagance?  Well, many don’t.  If you follow the news even just a little, you’ve probably heard that the average American carries more the $8,000 in credit card debt.  According to Liz Pulliam Weston at MSN, this isn’t entirely true, claiming that 50% of credit card users owe $8,000 or less.  Still, 1% of the 84 million American households who have at least one credit card owe $21,400 or more – that’s 840,000 households that have racked up some serious credit card debt.  Additionally, as of May 2010 there were 2,082,113 foreclosed homes in the US.  In some states, the foreclosure rates are as high as 1 in 78.

As for the smiles, fancy cars, and castles in Aspen - it’s mostly surface deep and difficult to maintain.  Credit cards are maxed, the fancy cars are just for show, and the ski castles are for sale.  There are a lot of $30,000-millionaires out there living lives well beyond their means who will never achieve the freedom to pursue their childhood dreams.  Don’t be one of them.  Cut your expenses to get the time and finances for doing the things you really want.

Filed under Consumerism, Debt, Freedom, Guest Posts, Money, Prioritizing, Spending

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