Welp, I just bought an iphone on ebay. But I forgot that customs charges GST + PST on everything marked over $60, so in the end I'm paying more than if I drove to Buffalo and got one myself (which I realize I'm going to have to do). Now I have to wait for the seller to ship it to me, pay the incidental fees, and then resell it. With the demand out there I'll recover my costs, but it's extra work that I could have avoided.
Moral of the story: don't buy items over $60 on eBay, unless it's shipping within Canada.
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What do you guys think about this purchase? I don't mean the eBay mistake, but getting an iphone at all.
Personally I am against extravagant spending, but with this I'm torn. Disorganization has been a thorn in my side since I was a kid, and I've been considering getting a PDA for a while now (paper agendas continually elude me). My rationale with the iphone was: a PDA with a decent feature set is gonna cost ~$300 anyway, so I might as well spend the extra $150 for an iphone, which would give me an added media player, camera, and phone. However, $450 is $450, and it being an Apple device makes me feel even more like a consumer whore.
So yeah... Godly struggles indeed... your thoughts appreciated. And Felix, glad to hear you're getting better.
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2 comments:
It's good that you put thought into your purchase. It's surprising how little people in this world (including Christians) don't even think about where there money is going. So many people subconsciously buy into new extravagant items hoping that it will in turn buy them some attention, but something new comes along and that item is almost worthless in a social context.
I often struggle with the same thoughts when I am making a relatively large purchase. To me, a big purchase is anything over $50 since my income is just enough to sustain my daily living. But I guess I can't complain because I'm still managing to get by, which is more than others could say in other parts of the world. But I'm torn when I buy stuff like clothes... I want to buy something that will keep me warm with material that will actually last, but I don't want to buy clothes that are just trendy and brand name. The clothes I buy usually have no branding on them, but I guess then I'm a bit of a hypocrite when I'm shamelessly sporting my Abercrombie or Hollister shirts my girlfriend bought for me. Although I must say, they've lasted me many washes and gone through some tough times and they still look pretty good. It's all about the bang for your buck.
I don't think that it's wrong to buy something expensive. The Bible does say that we should store up treasures in heaven rather than on Earth so that accumulating material wealth doesn't become a hindrance to our closeness with God. If your purchase mainly serves some sort of practical purpose that is much needed, it's reasonable to go for it, especially if it can be a tool that can possibly orient yourself towards God. And at the same time, I think that you should be able to be in a financial position to be able to spend proportionately between material and things like offering. I guess the bottom line is that if you know in your heart that youre not buying the item to impress anyone and you don't flaunt it, you can use it as a tool to make things easier for you without it getting in the way. It's a tough call sometimes because it's hard to avoid the attention factor, but I hope you make a decision that's right after careful deliberation and some prayer.
wow...nicely written Colin! Are you sure you're in health sci and not english?!
Anyway, Colin pretty much summed it up. As long as you are not using the item as a means of popularity or whatnot, then by all means it's fair. It's even better that the item can help you grow spiritually as well, so like if you can be more organized with the iphone, then even better! Just don't get caught with purchasing more expensive items now that you've made one big purchase...you can't use the "it'll indirectly help me spiritually" reason for everything.
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