I’ve mentioned quite often that I tend to shop at Goodwill/consignment shops/secondhand stores for various items. Whenever I mention this, I tend to get a bunch of responses along the lines of this message from Tessa:

How do you find anything good at Goodwill? Whenever I go into one, all I find is a lot of junk. I can’t believe you find anything good there.

There are a few basic tactics that you should use if you’re shopping at Goodwill.

First, visit Goodwills that are located in upscale areas. Don’t visit the Goodwill in the poor part of town or even the medium income part of town. Look for the Goodwill stores and secondhand shops that are located as close as possible to the rich part of town.

What happens is that people in the rich part of town often have more money than sense, so they’ll often get rid of very nice clothes having only worn them a time or two – and they do the same thing with other items. I’ve been in Goodwill stores in the peripheries of rich neighborhoods that have had far higher quality stuff than almost anywhere I shop at. I’ve filled up my book collections, my video game libraries, and, yes, my wardrobe thanks to such visits.

I’ll give you an example. Once, I stopped into the Goodwill store at Washington and Racine in Chicago and walked out with about fifteen video games and about ten new shirts. The store was nicer than many Wal-Marts and Targets I’ve been in and the quality of the merchandise and prices were fantastic.

Second, be picky. If you go into a Goodwill that seems to mostly be full of junk, you don’t have to buy that junk. Walk out and put that one on your “avoid in the future” list.

However, having said that, there are a lot of gems to be found, particularly in areas of income disparity. A college town is a perfect example of this. A college town often has a wide variety of incomes and perceptions of money, which means that their Goodwill stores tend to include a lot of cheap stuff and a fair amount of good stuff.

You often have to dig for those gems, though. What I often do is look for examples of high-quality things, even if I’m not particularly interested in buying them. If I see some high-quality items, even if they’re not perfect for me, I know that there are some diamonds hidden in the piles here.

So, how does that really work? I’m often willing to try a Goodwill that’s in a decent neighborhood that I’ve never been to before.

The first thing I do when I go in the door is look for items that I know really well. I’ll look at their men’s shirts or their smaller youth clothes or their books.

I look for items that fit me or that will fit my children, of course, but I also simply look for quality items of any kind. If I can find good items with some consistency while looking around, then I know the store is worthwhile even if I don’t specifically find items that match my needs.

So, with men’s shirts, I’ll look for items that look like they’re reasonably close to new, not faded, and are well constructed. I don’t necessarily expect to find a treasure trove in my size (like I did at that Chicago Goodwill several years ago), but I’m much more likely to stick with it if I’m finding some indication of quality items.

If I don’t find anything that seems of reasonable quality, or if I only find maybe one item in forty or fifty that looks worthwhile, I leave the store and often don’t look back.

The trick is to investigate lots of Goodwill stores, consignment shops, and secondhand stores in your area with these tactics. You should fully expect that some of them are going to be of poor quality and not worth visiting again.

However, if you’re like me, you’ll eventually find a series of stores that you’re happy to visit time and time again because the prices are excellent and you often find incredible discounts on nearly-new stuff. Such discoveries are well worth the time invested in finding them.

I find it very easy to buy stuff online without adequate thought. I’ll click a few times and suddenly the item I want is on the way.

I particularly struggle with three sites directly connected to three of my biggest hobbies: Amazon (for books), Cool Stuff Inc. (for board games), and Steam (for computer games – and, yes, Steam sales are particularly my weak spot).

Over the years, I’ve had to build up some defenses against these temptations. I’ve tried lots of different things, but I’ve found that only three of them really work and make a difference in my buying habits.

Delete Passwords and Credit Card Info
Whenever I place an order at one of these sites, one of the first things I do is make sure that my credit card information is not stored at that site. When my browser prompts me to save the password for the site, I always say “no.”

For some people, this might seem like an annoyance. It’s supposed to be. The reason for doing this is to force me to slow down when I’m tempted to make an unnecessary purchase.

Let’s say, for example, that I’ve been reading reviews of some board game and I’ve talked myself into spending some of my extra money on a copy of that game. If I left my password saved and my billing information stored in the online retailer’s site, then I can have that game shipped to my house after a simple search and about six clicks.

On the other hand, if I’ve deleted my password and my billing and shipping information, I have to spend the time to type in my username and password, type in my card number and other information, and type in my billing address and shipping address. This adds up to several minutes of additional typing.

During that time, my mind on some level is rethinking the purchase. “Is it really worth it?” I’ll ask myself. Quite often, I’ll wind up never placing the order at all. This keeps money in my pocket instead of watching it leave for something frivolous.

Keep a “Already Have This” List Nearby
On my computer screen, I have three Post-It notes.

One says “Books to Read:” and lists about five books that I already have on my shelves.

Another says “Games to Play:” and lists about five board games that I already have on my shelves.

The third says “Computer Games to Play:” and lists about five computer games that I’d love to dig into more.

Whenever I’m tempted to buy another one of these items, I just glance at these notes and I realize that I already have more than enough.

Use the Computer Less
My final tactic is to simply use the computer – particularly the internet – less and interact with the real world more. Instead of surfing the web during my idle time, why not read one of those books on my “Books to Read” list or play a board game with my wife? Instead of playing a computer game, why not just go for a nice walk?

The computer is a wonderful source for entertainment, information, and contact, but in the end, those things are just a stepping stone for interacting with the world around you.

Keep these tactics in mind if you find yourself regularly tempted by online shopping. They guide me to better results; hopefully, you’ll find the same.

I recently read a wonderful post over at The Technium containing twelve simple shopping rules of thumb for various products, mostly technology related. Some of them are great. A few of them are outdated. I find I use some of them myself; here are the ones I really find value in:

Pay for RAM, not speed. The speed of the computer chip does not matter; the attention-span or RAM memory does matter.
Pay for components, not cables. Buy the best components, and the cheapest cables.
Pay for speed, not channels. For cable internet, with enough speed you can watch TV channels on the internet for free.
Pay for sensor size, not pixel count. On today’s cameras you’ll have enough megapixels; better quality comes from larger sensors.
Pay for reliability, not mileage. On a car, you’ll spend more of repairs and maintaince over its lifetime than you will on a difference in gas.
Pay for comfort, not weight. A bicycle’s feather weight is moot once you add water bottle, a bag, any extra clothes you wear, while its comfort never disappears.
Pay for glass, not shutters. In professional cameras, great lenses endure, while the camera bodies change and go obsolete.

(I included the two photography ones because I’m related to multiple professional and semi-professional photographers, so I’m at least a bit knowledgeable in the field.)

These simple rules of thumb for purchases can be a great starting point for the research that you do when deciding what products to buy. They don’t point you straight to a product, per se, but they tell you which features are more likely to give you value for your dollar when you do make that purchase.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been accumulating a number of these “rules of thumb” for more common household purchases. Here’s that list – hope it helps.

Pay for location, not square footage. A home in a good location will always retain its value. On the other hand, lots of square footage mostly means room to store stuff you don’t really need, you often have to be far from your job in order to have a huge house, and there are tons of empty McMansions sitting in the suburbs that are unable to be resold due to the housing glut.

Pay for utility, not quantity. If you’re buying kitchen implements, you’re better off buying basic tools that really work for a lot of things rather than tons of tools for specific things. You don’t need more than three knives (a paring knife, a chef’s knife, and a bread knife, along with a honing steel). You don’t need more than two pots, one saucepan, and one skillet – you can make about every dish imaginable in those four things because they’re so flexible.

Pay for hardware, not software. Most of the applications that people need for their home computer have quality free versions online. Need Office? Use OpenOffice or Google Docs. Image editing? FotoFlexer (and other such tools) do almost anything a home user would want to do.

Pay for the beans, not the coffeepot. My wife uses a cheap old coffee pot that she’s had since we were in college. The coffee you put into the pot makes all the difference, not the pot itself, according to her. A $200 coffee pot with bad coffee beans will still make you a poor drink.

Pay for speed, not size. If you’re buying a new computer and are comparing hard drives, get the faster one rather than the bigger one for home use, as it’ll speed up your computer substantially and you don’t really need another 80 GB. The fastest ones are the solid state drives, but if you’re buying a regular hard drive, get the one with the fastest RPMs. Get the smaller drive, too. You can always buy a far less expensive external USB drive for file storage if you manage to fill up your main drive.

Pay for reference, not entertainment. I only buy a book if I know I’m going to return to it again and again. For books that don’t fall into that category, I check them out at the library or swap them online.

Pay for energy efficiency, not features. When you’re buying a large appliance, the energy efficiency of the appliance outweighs virtually every feature because of the enormous amount of energy used by the appliance. For example, an older refrigerator can use as much as 1,400 kWh of energy per year, which adds up (at $0.12 per kWh) to $168 a year. A newer refrigerator may use as little as 200 kWh of energy per year, which adds up to $24 per year, a savings of $144 per year. Over a twenty year lifespan, that’s $2,880 in savings, far more than the cost of the fridge itself. Similar calculations are true for other large appliances, such as washers, dryers, furnaces, and A/C units.

Pay for freshness, not convenience. Paying for convenience with food is usually a very poor bargain and often results in either bland food or food loaded down with so many chemicals and artificial flavorings and preservatives that you don’t even want to imagine what it’s doing to you inside. Buy fresh foods, take them home, wash them, and prepare them simply. Knowing how to use a slow cooker in conjunction with fresh foods is a life changer, because you still have the convenience of coming home to a hot meal that’s ready to serve, only it’s made with fresh and naturally flavorful ingredients, without lots of preservatives and the like, and for a lower cost.

To close, here are two bonus tips that can be used to evaluate even broader choices in your life.

Pay for experiences, not things. A thing is something that takes up space in your house. An experience changes who you are as a person. One cannot be replaced, while the other can easily be replaced. Give me junky furniture and a lifetime of memories.

Pay for what you need, not what you want. This is the best tip of all. Figure out your actual needs before you ever go shopping for any item, then seek out the least expensive option that matches your needs. Your wants mostly just cost you money without giving you anything you need.

Please take a moment and watch this YouTube video before we get started. I’d embed it here, but the person who uploaded it has disallowed embedding of the video. If you’re unable to watch, the video is a series of clips from the movie Transformers, showing the absurd amount of product placement within the film itself.

What do I mean by that? Characters are often very deliberate about using certain products, like the repeated iPod use throughout the film. The camera angles are chosen to show the logos on various products, like the Hewlett-Packard logos all over the place. Many scenes use giant corporate logos as backdrops, like key discussions that take place in front of a giant Burger King logo.

Quite often, these product placements occur in scenes that highlight a particular emotion.

An intense, exciting scene might highlight a particular product that the maker wants you to associate excitement with, like the individual getting revved up while listening to his iPod.

A sentimental scene might highlight another product that a marketer wants you to feel sentimental about, like the family using an HP computer (ridiculously marked with the HP logo on the monitor) to teleconference with a member that’s far away.

One scene might highlight attractive people (like Megan Fox) eating and include an enormous Burger King logo in the background. If we’re even slightly hungry, our hunger might be triggered and we also see someone being satisfied with food… and there’s a big logo there to remind us who made it happen!

Here’s the truth: it’s not the direct advertisements that infest television and movie watching. It’s the indirect stuff, like this, that is incorporated directly into the program I’m viewing. The emotional tint of a well-crafted movie scene ends with me staring directly at a corporate logo with an emotion created by that movie running through my head and coursing through my veins. Even if it’s not on a conscious level, I make some association of that emotion – excitement, sentiment, humor, joy – with the product or product logo I’m being shown.

That association pops up when I’m making a purchasing decision. Should I buy this item right now? If I’m hungry and I see the Burger King logo, did my hunger not take a little bit more of a bounce?

I don’t mind the use of real-world products in movies or television. The problem comes in when the movies and television programs hit certain emotional chords with the viewer, then proceed to match that emotion with logos and products. Remind me again – am I watching a television program or an advertisement? I’m also not stating that people should never watch television or movies, either.

Instead, I offer the following suggestions.

Be conscious of product placement. If you notice them doing this, then it becomes at least somewhat less effective. You’ll laugh at the product placement and they won’t get the effect that they want from it.

Don’t spend idle time watching television. If you’re sitting around with some time to burn, do something else. Read a book. Do a sudoku puzzle. Get a little bit of exercise. Practice a musical instrument. Meditate. Take a nap. Put on some music and dance. There’s nothing wrong with watching a movie or a television program if you’ve been planning on watching it, but if you’re just idly web surfing, you’re not really thinking about what you’re watching, and that’s a perfect time for product placement to strike.

Use conscious buying techniques. Before you buy anything, wait ten seconds and think about why you’re buying that item. If it’s an item that costs more than $20, give yourself thirty days to think it over (unless it’s an emergency).

Understand why you like a particular brand. “I just do” doesn’t cut it, nor does “All my friends do.” If you can’t articulate why you like a particular brand or product, then there’s likely no reason for it other than marketing.

In the end, the best solution for being successful in the modern world is to be thoughtful about what you’re doing. The more thought and consideration you put into your actions, the more likely you are to find success.

I’ll start this post out by showing you three chef’s knives from my kitchen.

The top chef’s knife is a loose one that I picked up for $0.50 or so at a yard sale more than a decade ago – I’m unsure even what type it is. It’s serviceable, but it loses its edge fairly quickly.

The middle knife is from a Henckels kitchen knife set given to my wife and I as a wedding gift. It works extremely well for most cutting applications and holds its edge for quite a long time without honing. A similar knife retails on Amazon for $47.99.

The bottom knife is a Global chef’s knife, which I received as a Christmas present in 2008. It’s the sharpest knife (post-sharpening), holds an edge almost as long as the Henckels knife, and fits the best in my hand. It’s the best knife I own. It lists on Amazon for $115, currently.

If the Global knife is the best knife and I gave it a score of 100, what kind of score would I give the other ones? I’d give the Henckels a score somewhere around a 92 and I’d give the old knife a score of around 70, with 0 being the worst cutting experience I’ve ever had in the kitchen with a knife.

Now, here’s the big question: if I can get that 70 knife for $0.50, is that 100 knife really worth $115? In other words, if you have something perfectly serviceable for a very low price, is it ever worthwhile to spend significantly more to get a top quality, highly reliable version of the item?

Here are my thoughts on the subject.

Free (or nearly free) trumps everything. In the scenario above, I would go for the $0.50 knife every single time if I didn’t have a chef’s knife and needed one. That’s because the worst case scenario is that you’re out fifty cents. That’s the worst possible thing that can happen. On the flip side, the best case scenario is that you have a knife that meets your needs for many years to come. Given that the best case is very, very good and the worst case isn’t much of an issue, that would be the knife of my choosing. Free (or nearly free) means that the worst case scenario for an item you need is not bad at all.

If you can’t truly articulate the difference between a low cost item and a high cost one (and claims on the packaging or by the salesperson don’t count) then stick with the low cost version. Again, you have to take a look at the worst case scenario for each item. The worst case scenario for the high cost item is far worse than the worst case scenario for the low cost item, but they have similar best case scenarios. If you do not know specifics about the item, stick with the scenarios.

Have some domain knowledge. The more knowledge you have of the items at hand and their usage, the better buying decisions you can make. Don’t just buy a tire and forget about it. Note what tires you’ve purchased and compare how they grip and hold air compared to other tires. Know what suits your needs and understand fully the terminology used when describing a particular item.

Research, research, research. Whenever you spend money, you’re spending the fruits of your labor. The more you know about a purchase, the more effectively you can use your money. It’s always key to remember that the money you have is directly connected to the work you do. If you work at a minimum wage job, every $7 you spend (roughly) equates to an hour of your work. If you can save $50 by researching a purchase for 2 hours, that is very much worth your while. If that same research leads you to buying a much better item at a similar price or a vastly superior one by paying a bit more, then that research time was still well worth it.

Never go into debt for a consumer item. If you don’t have enough money to afford the high end version, then don’t buy the high end version. Buy the basic item that you actually need. Don’t use credit to facilitate purchases that you couldn’t simply make on your own. You’re simply adding a huge additional cost to that high end item, one that alters the best case and worst case scenarios for each purchase significantly. The only debts worth incurring are for your education and possibly for your home.

If you do truly understand the difference and you can afford to pay cash for the better item, then by all means do so. If you can afford the better item without negatively impacting other aspects of your life and you truly understand why the item is better (and, more importantly, why the item is better for you), then purchase the better item.

I think all of this can be tied together with a note about my own experiences with piano playing.

I practice a bit almost every day. I use an old electronic keyboard that sounds a little “off” to me – the reviews of it often chide the sound quality. However, the price – free – is something that I really can’t argue with.

I’ve often looked at electronic pianos, and some of them are quite good. However, the good ones often have prices well into the thousands of dollars.

I know why I would want such an item, and I know from experience and extensive research that such an item would be reliable and of a very high quality. I’ve even been to music shops and tried a few of them.

I haven’t bought one, though. The best case scenario still involves me plopping down a few thousand dollars, and that makes the best case scenario simply not add up to enough to really compare to just playing on that free one in the basement. It’s good enough for me.

This past week, we spent quite a bit of time visiting Sarah’s parents. Her mother kindly bought several items that I would be able to eat or drink throughout the week in advance of our visit (yes, I actually like my mother in law!).

One of the things she picked up for me was a quart of soy egg nog. On my first day there, I tried it… and I liked it! It was quite tasty and it was something I could essentially enjoy without violating my current doctor-ordered diet.

Every day, I’d consider having another glass of it. Every day, though, I’d think “well, if I drink it all now, I won’t have any later in the week, so I’ll wait to enjoy it later.”

Sure enough, the last day of our visit came. Sure enough, there were so many things going on that the egg nog didn’t even cross my mind.

Sure enough, the rest of that egg nog is now sitting in their refrigerator, several hours away, at a house where the occupants likely won’t drink it.

In other words, my desire to conserve that egg nogd meant that much of the egg nog simply went to waste.

This phenomenon pops up all the time with regards to shopping and personal finance. If you buy ten pounds of apples in bulk because the price is right, you need to use them quickly before they begin to rot. If you buy a large container of honey, you need to use it before it crystallizes.

On a straightforward level, good personal finance is about conserving things. You conserve your money. You conserve your splurges. You reuse and recycle things, finding second uses for them. You buy secondhand items, allowing these items to have a longer lifespan.

Yet, when you do this too diligently, you can often waste things – like the egg nog this past week.

After thinking about it a few times the past few days, I’ve come to a few conclusions about this.

First, if you have a desire to use something that can go bad, use it. If that egg nog is sitting in the fridge and you want a glass, have a glass of it. Don’t wait unless you’re waiting for a very specific event – for example, you might be waiting to specifically share a glass with someone who will be there later.

Second, the real decision with regards to being financially conservative with such disposable items happens at the store. Your choice with regards to the egg nog doesn’t happen at home. It happens in the store when you’re deciding whether to buy it. The same philosophy goes with regards to virtually any item you might pick up.

Once you have that item at home, use it. Use it when you want to use it. Use it until it’s gone, then make a decision about whether to replace it.

If you’re preparing a bowl of oatmeal and think to yourself, “I could put honey in this… but I should save that honey,” don’t. Use the honey. If you “save” the honey for some unspecified future event, you’re just increasing the likelihood of finding yourself with honey that’s crystallized into a giant brick in a month or two.

If you’re wanting a drink and think to yourself, “I could use some egg nog right now… but I should wait,” don’t. If you wait and then forget about it, you’ll find yourself with rancid egg nog – and wasted money.

Your decision to buy such treats should happen at the store – or, ideally, before you even go to the store, when you’re assembling your grocery list.

When you make the choice to write the words “egg nog” on your list, the decision of whether or not to have a cup of it in your kitchen a few days later should already be made for you. Otherwise, you’re spending money on items that will go to waste.

This pre-Thanksgiving year is the time in which the internet seems to be abuzz with what various retailers are going to have on steep discount on “Black Friday” in order to get people in the door.

For those not from the United States, Thanksgiving is a national holiday that occurs on the fourth Thursday in November, roughly one month before Christmas. “Black Friday” is the nickname given to the day after Thanksgiving, which many people take off of work in order to travel and enjoy time with family. Because so many people are off of work and the holiday season is approaching, that day is often seen as the “kickoff” for Christmas shopping and many retailers offer steep discounts to get their holiday season sales numbers off in the right direction.

Several times a day, I have an email from a PR firm telling me all about the latest Black Friday deals. As I browse across the web, I see countless articles telling me all about the things on sale on Black Friday.

And, frankly, I don’t care all that much.

Yes, I utilize Black Friday for part of my holiday shopping, but I do it in a way that’s essentially the “reverse” of all of this.

My first step in the process actually started long before now. I drew up my Christmas list several months ago and put some thought into what each person would like for a Christmas gift. What sorts of things would this person actually like? I actually wound up making a small item list for each person on my list.

At that point, I started watching for sales, making homemade gifts, and slowly eliminating (or partially eliminating) people from my list. If I had a complete gift for them, I crossed them off. If I had a partial gift for them, I eliminated some of the items on their list.

At this point in the year, I only have a handful of potential things that I might actually buy, which is where Black Friday comes in.

Starting with my list, I scan the Black Friday ads using online services like BlackFriday.com.

An example: someone on my Christmas list has a very high likelihood of receiving the Toy Story 3 DVD/Blu-ray combo as a gift this year. Knowing that, I start searching the Black Friday ads for Toy Story 3 until I find that some retailers are selling it for as low as $9 on that day.

Another example: I’m helping someone look for an Amazon Kindle as a Christmas gift, an item I might be contributing a small amount to. Thus, I can use Black Friday ads in advance to find which store is going to have the best bargain on a Kindle, saving $40 or maybe even more.

This doesn’t work for everything, of course, but it works for enough items that I’ll likely save a significant amount of money on Black Friday, either out in the stores or on the ‘net.

Why do it this way? There are several reasons.

First, by starting with the list, I’m thinking of the person first. If I look at a Black Friday ad without any goal in mind, I’m quite prone to convincing myself that someone on my list will want “sale item X,” which they may or may not want at all. By doing it the other way around, I’m ensuring my list contains items that will actually bring joy to the recipient, not just ways to make Black Friday fun for me.

Second, since I have a list of items already, using the Black Friday flyers in this way is basically the same thrifty technique I use for weekly grocery shopping. I have a list, I hit the flyers, I develop a plan, and then I shop – with a shopping list in hand, of course. This process works because it makes you do all of the decision making (or almost all of it) outside the store before you even go inside and be tempted by the sales and displays and marketing.

Here’s a tip for you all: make your Christmas list before you even look at a Black Friday ad. Come up with gift ideas you think people will really like – or even several ideas per person. Then, hit the ads and see if you can find any matches which will enable you to save some cash this holiday season.

Two days ago, I wrote an article discussing the damage done to my often-used iPod Touch and my decision-making process when it comes to a replacement for it. A great many of you encouraged me to straight-up replace my iPod Touch with a new one, and I appreciate the comments. I thought I’d walk a bit more thoroughly through my replacement decision and discuss what I ended up replacing it with.

How I’ve Used My iPod Touch in the Past
As I mentioned, I originally received one as a gift in 2008. I used the item extensively (averaging multiple hours a day, I’d bet) over the past two years. Here’s a list of the nine significant uses I’ve found for the item (in no particular order).

1. I’ve used it as a pocket notebook.
2. I’ve used it as a podcast and music player during thrice-weekly exercise.
3. I’ve used it as an exercise tracker as it records my distance and pace via Nike+.
4. I’ve used it to check email and reply to it.
5. I’ve used it to entertain my children, particularly on car trips.
6. I’ve used it for music in the car on long car trips.
7. I’ve used it to quickly record lots of small pieces of data here and there.
8. I’ve used it to check some internet services (Facebook, Twitter).
9. I’ve used it to keep my listened and unlistened podcasts synchronised.

Are These Uses Now Met By Other Devices?
Now that I’m in a situation where I need to replace the item, I need to ask myself if each of these significant uses is met by another device at this point. So, let’s walk through each of them.

1. I’ve used it as a pocket notebook.
I often use the free program Evernote to jot down notes using the iPod Touch. However, I do find myself alternating between using Evernote and simply using a pocket notebook, mostly because the input on the pocket notebook is so much more efficient (though I do sometimes end up re-recording the note in Evernote when I’m at my computer, it is very easy to type it in). Moving just to a pocket notebook isn’t a major loss to me.

2. I’ve used it as a podcast and music player during thrice-weekly exercise.
This is an existing need that isn’t replaced by anything I have.

3. I’ve used it as an exercise tracker as it records my distance and pace via Nike+.
This is an existing need that isn’t replaced by anything I have.

4. I’ve used it to check email and reply to it.
I can now do this on my cell phone with similar efficiency to the iPod Touch.

5. I’ve used it to entertain my children, particularly on car trips.
The “entertainment” that it used to provide was the ability to watch a children’s movie on it, like WALL-E, on a long road trip. For Christmas this past year, we received an in-car DVD player as a gift, which pretty much eliminates the entertainment aspects of the iPod Touch.

6. I’ve used it for music and podcasts in the car on long car trips.
Other than the dodginess of radio, this is an existing need that isn’t replaced by anything I have.

7. I’ve used it to quickly record lots of small pieces of data here and there.
This is a similar situation to the pocket notebook. It’s far easier in the moment to just record the information on my pocket notebook, but I have the additional burden of often having to re-record it. I think moving fully back to a pocket notebook isn’t a major loss.

8. I’ve used it to check some internet services (Facebook, Twitter).
I can now do this on my cell phone with similar efficiency to the iPod Touch.

9. I’ve used it to keep my listened and unlistened podcasts synchronised.
This is an existing (minor) need that isn’t replaced by anything I have.

What Are My Usage Needs for an iPod Touch Replacement?
This leaves the following factors as features that I want a replacement for.

1. I’ve used it as a podcast and music player during thrice-weekly exercise.
2. I’ve used it as an exercise tracker as it records my distance and pace via Nike+.
3. I’ve used it for music and podcasts in the car on long car trips.
4. I’ve used it to keep my listened and unlistened podcasts synchronised.

In other words, I’m looking for a device (or devices) that can do the above things.

It’s easy to find a device that handles 1 and 3 – pretty much any mp3 player will do that. The trick comes in with the other options.

I could simply buy a good pedometer or exercise watch to take care of the second option to some extent.

The fourth choice is very tricky. From what I’ve seen, the only devices that manage to pull this off well are iPods and Microsoft’s Zune device.

So, to put it simply, I can buy a low-end device (like the Sansa) that will handle just needs 1 and 3, and I can pick up a good pedometer ($30) to somewhat handle need 2 or a good exercise watch ($100 or so) to really handle need 2. This leaves the fourth need in the realm of some sort of additional manual management, which can be a pain.

Also, I could buy a Zune for $95 that would handle all but the exercise uses. Or, I could buy an iPod Nano for $135 that would handle all four needs in one device.

Of course, I could spend $200 on the iPod Touch replacement, which would also nail everything but mostly give me redundant features compared to the Nano and the items I already have.

My Decision
I picked up a Nano – and it works like a charm. I saved $65 over just replacing my Touch and I’m not missing out on any important needs.

Why So Much Effort?
In truth, this thought process took much less time than it did for me to write it – and probably for you to read it. I spent, all told, about 45 minutes actively evaluating what my real needs and wants were and what the various options were.

The easy choice would have been to just directly replace the Touch. However, spending some time really looking at my needs added up to a $65 savings, money that can certainly be well-used elsewhere in my life.

Why write it out in such detail? It shows, quite clearly, the value of thinking about whether you actually have a real use for something, what those real uses are, and what you can buy that meets those real uses. I cut away the fat to show what I actually used the iPod Touch for, then I looked at what other things I have already take care of those needs, then I just looked at the factors that were left. Doing that helped me to buy a lower-cost player, a decision that saved me $65 over just buying without thinking.

That’s what I call a win.