I either get rid of the source of dissatisfaction, or I find another, usually cheaper, solution.

Sound quality is (by definition) as good as a cassette tape or FM stereo, but you have control over what’s playing. You can also charge your iPod in the car, too, using a cigarette lighter adapter.

The best part is that nothing to do this is fantastically expensive, especially when compared against a new stereo or a new car.

And I suppose it is a good strategy, but when I first discovered the tightwad gazette as a 13 year old, that seemed to be the most awful tip in the world.

Instead of throwing away our tv though we simply got rid of cable and the temptation, and spending is completely gone. It saves money, time and our attention spans.

I like the idea of getting rid of something old instead of replacing it. Thanks for the post!

Excessive use of “Quite often”.

Fifteen yards, repeat first down.

I can manage with the J45xx, it’s sill under warantee and is out at the shop just now, but I am extremely tempted to get the 56xx fixed too.

Should I fix things that I am satisfied or buy something new that I would assume that Ill be more satisfied with?

I did that a few days ago while talking to Verizon Wireless as the rep fixed a different issue; and I wound up saving about 50% per month in both minutes allowed and dollars spent by going down to a lower plan.

If your phone doesn’t perform, figure out what you want and need it to do, then get a phone that does those things. That’s what I did. I got rid of my Fido phone, a fairly basic model that got horrible reception. I replaced it with a (free) Blackberry Pearl that I adore. For about $10 or $15 more per month my phone now gets good reception, has free unlimited calling for the 5 numbers nationally that I chose (i.e. the numbers I call or get calls from the most), has an unlimited data plan (including texts) and means that I can access the internet at my rural home (where I’d otherwise need to pay $35/mo for a satellite connection). Then I cancelled my landline, saving $50/mo. I couldn’t do that previously (even though the only people who called it were telemarketers) because I couldn’t get a good enough signal in my city house (in a major metropolitan area) to complete a 2 or 3 minute call!

We’re currently having issues with my husband’s old TV in the living room (snow, colour changes in the corners of the screen) so it only gets used when there’s a serious conflict. The rest of the time we watch my TV (in our bedroom). The downside for me is that my hubby will watch sports and reality TV 24/7 and our 7 yo will watch as much kiddie programming as we’ll allow. I rarely get to watch anything I want to any more and the TV is pretty well always on. We aren’t running to buy a new TV but, when we do (when we have the money for it), it will be a flat screen HD TV. My hubby wouldn’t consider anything else.

As for home decor, I buy 3 or 4 shelter mags per month and they get read over and over and over. I should say that I studied interior design and have repeatedly used photocopies of pictures from them in various presentations. I don’t throw them out or cut them up, but store them neatly in wooden magazine boxes. I spend a lot of my free time figuring out exactly what I want both my homes to look like and it’s relatively cheap entertainment (maybe $30/mo max for the mags). Obviously, it costs more money when I actually start to renovate or buy or replace items, but it’s carefully thought out spending, not impulsive. So, looking at magazines *saves* me money. The one way I could reasonably save more money is to get subscriptions to one or 2 of the magazines. The other ones aren’t really any cheaper by subscription than at newsstands.

I’m in my 40′s and have never owned one and I don’t plan on it any time soon. My friends get a little irritated about this sometimes, but they get over it.

Needless to say, when my phone broke, I did not look at Blackberries to find a replacement. I went with the Palm Pre (as an upgrade from a Palm Treo 755p which was an upgrade from the Treo 650 which was an upgrade from a Handspring Palm Device (and a Kyrocera phone) which was an upgrade from a Palm Pro from US Robotics.)

We move our furniture around pretty often. I’m still working on painting- changing the interior of the house from dark cave colors (previous owners) to colors that make us happier. Paint is cheap, and painting the rooms myself keeps the color-changing project cheap.

My car is still going really really well- 9 years old, great mileage. Sure, I’d love to have a car that’s bigger and has a place to plug in my iPod so I don’t have to suffer with the local radio stations’ playlists. But my car is paid off, doesn’t leak, too many other reasons that outweigh the perceived negatives mentioned above.

It’s fine for an occasional treat, but it’s not the stance I’d take on everything. There are definitely times when people could do to cut back. But there are also plenty of times where considered, thoughtful money spent means a better experience. For example, say you blog. You want to have pictures, but you’re not pleased with your camera transfer software. You could scale back and just not worry about pictures . . . or you could go out, buy a card reader, and be over the annoyance already.

I think the thoughtful, careful, measured use of money to make life easier is just fine. I don’t make a lot, and I used to pinch pennies until they bled. At some point (mostly via the Happiness Blog writings), I realized that there were areas where I could spend a little, glean great happiness, and not significantly set back my financial progress.

The key is to not spend indiscriminately in all areas in search of happiness via the act of spend.