Can you afford it?

[sjleworthy]

A few hundred bucks, for the majority of people, is a fairly tall order whether your a kid, a student or an adult in full time employment.

How are you going to pay for yours? Have you saved? Are you saving? How long will it take? Will the patents surely pay? Will the crefit card take a battering? Will you juat go into debt? Will you sell your posessions? Will you steal? Or just go unsatisfied and sad?

Personally speaking, even though i've a job, a house and a family, i have got the funds at the ready, but it isnt that easy of course. Family, mortgage and costs of living come first.

So its a fast savings regime for me. The wife is happy about it but im looking at around a 5 - 6 month wait minimum, and im soooo eager!!!

Oh well, what else can i do? I'll probably save half then use a credit card.

Sk what are you doing?

 

[Seadog]

I will not be buying one, which is why I will have the money when I do decide to get a new model. It is all a matter of money management or being rich. Since I did not inherit a fortune, I have to be patient.

 

[packaok]

My wife and I subscribe to the belief that if you cannot pay for something in full 100% at the time of purchase, then you cannot afford the item. This is true for cars, electronics, furniture, etc... Anything beyond a standard mortgage on a home.

We save up and pay for our stuff. As a result, we actually have money in our accounts instead of charging everything on a credit card and then making payments to the bank every month.

This philosophy helps us make more reasonable decisions about our purchases. It makes me ask the question "Do I want iPad 2, or will my old one be good enough until iPad 3 or iPad 4 comes out?"

Personally, unless a disaster happens and my iPad gets broken somehow, I'm holding off for iPad 3. However, to answer the original question, when that day comes, we will simply pay for it in cash because we do not believe in consumer debt.

 

[jhood2323]

The real decision maker will come for me friday. As i do not for definite if garageband and imovie will work for an ipad 1. If so then its 32 refurb for me

 

[Truck Guy]

Afford it, yes. Paying cash for this one, no.
Been saving up CC points and this is a good time to use a chunk of them

 

[iPadOhana]

With my trade in for my iPad 1 "yes", will I "no"...I'm happy with my current iPad...

 

[pencerm]

I'm a broke college student, but I really have been wanting an iPad since the first one came out. Luckily, I am a communication/journalism student and have been writing for a sports website for quite some time. With a little begging, I got my boss to pay for $300 of the costs since it is a great reporting tool. I sold off a an autographed Fight Club movie poster and now I have the funds to afford the 16 gb model. I am still considering throwing an extra $100 out there to get the 32 gb model though.

 

[iPadOhana]

I'm a broke college student, but I really have been wanting an iPad since the first one came out. Luckily, I am a communication/journalism student and have been writing for a sports website for quite some time. With a little begging, I got my boss to pay for $300 of the costs since it is a great reporting tool. I sold off a an autographed Fight Club movie poster and now I have the funds to afford the 16 gb model. I am still considering throwing an extra $100 out there to get the 32 gb model though.

I highly suggest you try and do that if you can...64 could be a luxurious overkill, but I think 32 is a great amount of memory...

 

[the_john]

I've searched around the house and found things that I don't need / want anymore and have sold them to raise the funds. I'm putting it all on the Best Buy card to get the reward points but will be paying it off completely in the first two months.

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

By spending less than I receive.

I find that electronic devices half such a short life, that they should only be bought, if I can pay the whole price upfront without stretching myself.

The other contributing factor is, that I only receive income on a quarterly basis, which means I have to pay a lot of attention to what I spent money on. The first time was hard, but now I am used to watch my money and hold of larger purchases until the end of each 3-month period. I don't earn all that much, but have always money left over.

 

[Rlarson_mn]

I passed up upgrading my HP 2140 net book and saved the money for this upgrade.

 

[Demandarin]

My wife and I subscribe to the belief that if you cannot pay for something in full 100% at the time of purchase, then you cannot afford the item. This is true for cars, electronics, furniture, etc... Anything beyond a standard mortgage on a home.

We save up and pay for our stuff. As a result, we actually have money in our accounts instead of charging everything on a credit card and then making payments to the bank every month.

This philosophy helps us make more reasonable decisions about our purchases. It makes me ask the question "Do I want iPad 2, or will my old one be good enough until iPad 3 or iPad 4 comes out?"

Personally, unless a disaster happens and my iPad gets broken somehow, I'm holding off for iPad 3. However, to answer the original question, when that day comes, we will simply pay for it in cash because we do not believe in consumer debt.

Great Philosophy!

 

[BearsBairn]

$100 discount on the original version

I am still considering throwing an extra $100 out there to get the 32 gb model though.

Now that apple has put the original on sale in their clearance area, you might want to think about going that route rather than the ipad2. That way you can get more memory for the same cost as the 16GB ipad2.

 

[sjleworthy]

My wife and I subscribe to the belief that if you cannot pay for something in full 100% at the time of purchase, then you cannot afford the item. This is true for cars, electronics, furniture, etc... Anything beyond a standard mortgage on a home.

We save up and pay for our stuff. As a result, we actually have money in our accounts instead of charging everything on a credit card and then making payments to the bank every month.

This philosophy helps us make more reasonable decisions about our purchases. It makes me ask the question "Do I want iPad 2, or will my old one be good enough until iPad 3 or iPad 4 comes out?"

Personally, unless a disaster happens and my iPad gets broken somehow, I'm holding off for iPad 3. However, to answer the original question, when that day comes, we will simply pay for it in cash because we do not believe in consumer debt.

my parents are like this. we found it a very good way to financially live, but as kids we were never bought anything 'expensive' or cool

i too dont like going into debt, but you can always get an interest free credit card to use. i find this the same ethos as saving up

 

[Mike_73]

My wife and I subscribe to the belief that if you cannot pay for something in full 100% at the time of purchase, then you cannot afford the item. This is true for cars, electronics, furniture, etc... Anything beyond a standard mortgage on a home.

We save up and pay for our stuff. As a result, we actually have money in our accounts instead of charging everything on a credit card and then making payments to the bank every month.

This philosophy helps us make more reasonable decisions about our purchases. It makes me ask the question "Do I want iPad 2, or will my old one be good enough until iPad 3 or iPad 4 comes out?"

Personally, unless a disaster happens and my iPad gets broken somehow, I'm holding off for iPad 3. However, to answer the original question, when that day comes, we will simply pay for it in cash because we do not believe in consumer debt.

+1 for this one. I don't really have to save on it, but I usually ask myself whether or not I really need (or just really badly want) something.
I still take a look at my account before purchasing anything to see how low my baseline will go if I make a purchase.