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Edwin's Vignettes - 8 Simple Rules for Making Those Big-Ticket Purchases

February 25, 2005

Family, friends, and readers of this web site have sometimes expressed surprise, shock, and at times, awe in my ability to purchase big-ticket items with seeming impunity or minimal repercussions from my better half in marriage. I’m here to tell you that it ain’t quite as rosy as it appears, but there are certain rules that you might consider for your future purchasing. I offer these strictly for entertainment value only and whatever repercussions you face from your better half is at your own risk J

Before we get into the rules though, I need to point out that all of my big-ticket audio purchases were made before I got married, before I even met my wife. So, the audiophile stuff doesn’t count because I was carefree, single, and stupid with nary a worry or nag about my future expenses and spending habits.

The photographic equipment…that’s a different matter and at times I surprise myself as to how much bullshit…er…plausible explanations that my wife has accepted over the years. Alas, I think I’ve reached her limits, because initial enquiries into a Nikon D2X purchase have been met with threats of divorce. Even Jedi spending masters can hit the wall of the dark side of the force. However, I’ve done well enough that other family members have taken to using me as their excuse for buying their own big ticket items, as in, “Come on honey, this big screen TV is still cheaper than Edwin’s last camera purchase and your sister didn’t seem to mind.”

Timidity - It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission – an oldie, but a goodie, but very apt in my case, because I’ve begged for forgiveness many times, e.g. my F70, F90x, F100, Bronica…ah hell, everything I’ve bought, sooner or later I’ve had to beg for forgiveness.
Arrogance - Buy it and then use it like you’ve always owned it – treat it nonchalantly like any other piece of gear, even if it’s the crown jewel of your kit, e.g. my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8G AF-S VR lens.
Deception - Buy it and then hide the receipts until the next tax year when you have to figure out your capital expenditures, write-offs, and profits or losses for the year – only relevant for those that can claim photography related expenses to the taxman, e.g. my Nikon SB800 flash and assorted little items such as Sensor Swabs, White Balance cards, filters
Divide and conquer – if permission is denied at first, find a respected third-party to bolster your case, make the purchase, and treat it as a fait accompli, e.g. the purchase of the NikonLinks website was not looked upon favorably at first, but by getting my wife’s brother involved as a partner, she was outmaneuvered – a little Sun Tzu never hurt J
Whine, beg, whimper, and/or temper tantrum that she’s holding you back from fulfilling your destiny as a photographic artist, e.g. my medium format purchase
Bribery – smooth the path towards the purchase of your big-ticket item by buying her a big-ticket item of her own, e.g. before buying the Nikon D100 in 2002, I bought my wife an Omega wristwatch for her birthday.
Ingratiation – whenever the wife’s family has an event, bring your biggest and most expensive gear and take photos of everyone and everything then hand out prints of the event to everyone. Nod knowingly at how good and kind you are in your wife’s direction when the family praises you, e.g. wife’s uncle’s 70^th birthday party when I brought my medium format kit to take some photos and scared the beJesus out of everyone with the flash bracket system.
Kids – have them. Mothers will not go without photos of their precious little ones. Perfect moment for upgrading older equipment. WARNING do NOT purchase or upgrade equipment when wife is still pregnant with hormones running rampant through her system. Example here is not actually photo-related, but I thought it was pretty funny when I heard it – after a year of dithering on a family house purchase, one brother-in-law of mine bought a house when the wife was in the hospital giving birth J

While all of my examples above are indeed based on reality, in all seriousness, there are other things that I do to make the big-ticket purchases possible. My salary is modest and it isn’t climbing at the rate that would allow me to spend with impunity. Neither are my photographic-related activities earning me as much as I’d like.

Frugality – while I like to think of myself as a fairly generous person, I do prioritize my spending and make goals for what I’d like to have for a given year. Or, if I know something big and good is coming in advance, I start saving immediately and crunching numbers to try and have enough for when the product is available. I may not be chaste like a monk, but I’ll live and spend like one to meet my acquisition goals.

The 70-200 VR lens is an example of knowing it was on its way well in advance and ensuring my savings allowed me to actually purchase it shortly after it became available in the stores. The D100 was a little more impulse and I was just lucky to have had the money available when the decision struck.

The real-life changes such savings requires means brownbag lunches to work and getting my daily caffeine fix from the free coffee machine at work. No $4 Grande Lattes from Starbucks two or three times a day, as I see other workers indulge in. If I ate out everyday, that would probably end up being about $100 a week and over a year that ends up being a very significant capital expenditure available.

Thank goodness for not being a smoker, or a boozer. I sometimes say to my wife that she should be thankful that I’m not the kind to spend my days and money at the bar J
Prioritization – unless you invested in Microsoft when it was still considered a startup, you can’t have it all, so you have to really zone in what will give you the biggest impact for your kit. I already had an excellent 80-200 f2.8 lens in the kit when the 70-200 VR was announced, but I knew that Vibration Reduction would be an excellent piece of technology to invest in and help me in the everyday kinds of photography that I find myself in, especially for weddings. Thanks to Nikon’s excellent resale value, I was able to finance a good portion of the new lens purchase by selling the old one first. It made for an immediate improvement in the kinds of handheld photos I could take and deliver.
Compromise – while I would have loved to have added the Nikon 28-70 f2.8 AF-S lens to match the 70-200, I just couldn’t do it financially. Which is why I compromised on the 24-85mm AF-S lens. It’s about ¼ the price of the larger pro lens, but quality is still pretty good for general people photography. The range is very flexible and if I had to, I could photograph an entire wedding with just this one lens.
Self-awareness – know yourself and understand how you operate so that equipment purchases reflect what you really need and will use and not as a paean to the flavor of the month. I admire and covet certain fine pieces of photography, such as rangefinder cameras, but won’t buy into them because they don’t fit in with my style of photography.
Reality Check – related to compromising, you have to realize in the end that photography is a hobby, an enjoyable pastime, and not one that should consume you to the point that everything else in life is ignored. Use photography and the equipment to enjoy life and to discover your own unique vision and creative output. Don’t be blowing the mortgage and/or kids college fund to buy that 600 f4 lens just because you’ve got an itch to try some bird photography a la Arthur Morris.

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