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Black Friday

November 27, 2020

My wife and I got up just after 6am on Black Friday to go shopping. We hit Home Depot and Walmart to get a few things. Nothing really that we HAD to have.

We are both in our 50s now and we really don’t have things that we NEED. We see the big TVs and the electronic gadgets that some 20somethings and 30somethings NEED and just kinda laugh. Do you need a Echo to turn on your air conditioner 30 minutes before you get home? Do you need an Alexa to turn off your lights instead of getting up from your chair and turning them off? We don’t.

We are living in some really cool times that there is so much technology. New gadgets come out every year that seem to top last year’s gadgets. Prices have come down dramatically over the years. I must admit that I am almost drawn into the consumerism that all the marketing forces you to bow down to.

The price of large screen TVs is just unbelievable. I saw a 58in Samsung TV for under $400 at Walmart. It is 4k, LED, smart TV, AND it will even be delivered to your door within a few days. High Tech, low price. I understand why people keep buying the newer better things every little while, but I just can’t agree with it.

Back in Time

I remember back in about 1973 or 1974 my parents bought our first color TV. I was only about 4 years old at the time. The TV only had about a 24in screen, but it was COLOR. It was a Zenith and it was about $100. There were no Black Friday sales way back then.

Zenith was one of the best quality and most up to date technology at the time. Our beautiful television sat on the floor. It was what was called a console TV. That means that it had a big kinda plastic-y looking wood cabinet that it sat in. We thought we were the richest kids on our block because we had a color TV.

The place to be was right in front of the TV on the floor with your pillow. We watched cartoons right after school. There were many Saturday mornings where we would watch cartoons also.

My mother was like most mothers of the time. She was a housewife. That meant that my father would work outside of the house at a job and mom would work inside the house taking care of the family. She made 3 meals a day, cleaned up and made sure that all of us 3 kids and dad had everything that we needed.

By 7pm the kitchen was clean, kids were getting bathed and ready for bed. If clothes were needed for the next day a load of laundry was done during the afternoon. Mom took care of everything that was needed.

So how did we get a $100 television with only one income where dad was making less than $3.00 per hour in electronics? Rent was about $90 per month for the duplex that we rented with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath for 2 adults and 3 small children. Now remember this was over 40 years ago, but $100 was more than a month of rent.

These days a month of rent in San Antonio for a middle class family runs about $1,200 to $1,500 per month. How could we pay the almost equivalent of $1,500 for a TV??

I must say that I learned early on about how to afford things. Mom would always tell us to buy quality items that would last us a long time. There was not enough money to purchase things every little while. “You buy it once and take care of it” is what mom would always say. I think more people used to feel this way about buying things. Times have changed, but I think that I never have.

She would say that we needed to work extra, save up and buy good quality. That was the formula that laid the foundation for my frugal-ness. It is a formula that has never let me down in my 50+ years. Let me give you the short story of how my family bought the equivalent of a $1,500 TV on one income.

With Hard Work Comes Reward

My mother would wake up at 4am to make flour tortillas from scratch to make tacos. She would make the tortillas by hand and set them aside. After they were all made, she would start cooking the potatoes for the “potatoes and egg”. The beans were soaked and cooked the night before, but they needed to be mashed and heated up.

I remember waking up super early a couple of times and saw what looked like a commercial kitchen. There were pots on the stove, tortillas cooked off and in piles and lots of containers of beans, eggs, and foil all over the place. There was an ice chest that was used to transport and keep the hot food hot.

Dad would take the ice chest to work and I heard that he would sell out in just a few minutes. Everyday for months they made a little extra money to take care of all the little things that we as a family wanted.

What it all came down to was that mom would wake up early and spend several hours a day to make some extra money. That extra money went for a high dollar TV. It also went for a washing machine (we hung up clothes to dry “on the line”). It went for just about anything that we needed including clothes, Girl Scouts, car repairs, whatever was needed.

I grew up with a great example that set the tone for me throughout my life. Sometimes working the 40 hours per week is just not enough. Wake up earlier, work a little later and do what you need to in order to get the little extras. Buy the quality items so that you don’t have to keep buying a new TV every year.

I think people seem to get a little bored with what they have because things come very easy these days. When you have to work a little harder for what you have, you tend to take care of it just a little better.

My wife and I got a 55in TV a few years back for our new living room. We actually had saved some money and happen to find it on sale for a Black Friday. The problem was that we were just moving to 350sf while we rehabbed our house. We felt so funny with a huge TV in such a small space. After we finished remodeling and moving in, the TV fit right in the living room. In our bedroom we bought a 42in for about $200.

Nowadays I hear lots of people making $100k per year with both spouses working and they say they can barely make ends meet. Maybe they are just buying new TVs every Black Friday. The 50in is just not big enough, the 70in is just not big enough. Maybe they are buying all the latest gadgets that they HAVE TO have. A new car every couple of years. Maybe they go out to eat too much.

Conclusion

We enjoy spending our money and time on real estate. Sometimes it is a rehab that will make us more money. Sometimes it is a note that will pay us for 25 years. With these payments, it raises our income $300 or $400 more every month. THIS is what makes us happy.

We enjoy talking with others about how to become financially free or financially independent. Just like getting that first color TV, it takes lots of extra work as well as being frugal for a long time, but the time will come to be free. My wish for everyone on this day after Thanksgiving is that we can all be free from having to work for someone else and be financially free!!

What does financially free really mean? It means that your investments bring in enough money for you to live without having to go work for a living. Or it means that your investments take care of you financially.

There is soooo much to be thankful for this year and every year. Corona has made 2020 a little crazy, but we are still alive and need to be grateful for that. Do what you need to do to be happy.

We pray for your safety and health in the coming year. Hopefully with a vaccine on the way we can get back to normal in the next 6 months or so. Save up and be ready for anything that comes your way.