How I Paid CASH for My Apple Watch

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Have you ever wanted something so much but you didn’t buy it because of the price? We live in an age of instant gratification. We can purchase items on credit and pay it off later, or we can strive to live differently and pay cash for them. That’s how I felt about the Apple Watch. I really wanted it, but I didn’t want to purchase it on credit. My husband challenged me to save money and pay cash for the watch.

 

For years I had a Fitbit and I was happy with it. It tracked my steps and it notified me when I received a text or a phone call. It was a great little activity tracker. The only downside was it broke. Then it was replaced through the warranty and the second one broke faster than my original. I started debating if I wanted to get another when I realized Apple was releasing a new Apple Watch last fall.

I thought long and hard about my husband challenge to pay cash for the watch. You see, I am a product of instant gratification and I wanted to watch and I didn’t want to wait for it. So I developed a plan of action of how I would pay for the watch. I new I had to come up with $269 plus tax.

Where the money came from

I quickly took inventory of all the money I had saved. I had saved money from my Virtual Assistant job, I had just over $75 saved. I have had my VA gig for just over 2 years. I love working as a VA because it allows me to work from home with a flexible schedule. The monies I earn is our fun money. We use it to pay for activities for the family and for the kids.

Ibotta

Then I looked in my Ibotta account. I had saved all my Ibotta monies and was saving it to help pay for my next activity tracker. I had saved $125 in Ibotta from grocery shopping alone! What is Ibotta? Ibotta is an app that has rebates for items you purchase at a grocery store, restaurant or clothing store. You can utilize it and plan your shopping trip around the app or you can purchase the items you normally would and see if they are on the app. After a while the money starts to add up. You can click my link and sign up for Ibotta. When you make your first purchase you will get $10! It took me about 8 months to save the $125.

Garage Sales Sites

My husband said he would contribute to my Apple watch but I was still short. So I gathered some stuff around the house and sold it on a Facebook Garage sale site. I quickly save up the last of the monies needed to purchase the watch. I hate garage sales, but these garage sale sites make it SO EASY to sell our crap stuff.

It took me about 10 months to save up for the watch. I started saving right after we “heard” that Apple MIGHT be coming out with a new watch. I bought the watch in October of 2016. When people ask about my watch I tell them I earned it by saving my money and through the Ibotta app.

What I love about the Apple Watch

The Apple watch has made it easier for me to focus on my daily tasks. When I get text messages I can see them on my watch and I don’t have to pick up the phone. I can also reply to the messages. I have answered the phone on my watch when my phone is in the other room and I am not close enough to answer the phone. The activity tracker part is awesome. I think I have a more accurate count of how many steps I take daily, but this post isn’t a review of the watch. Bottom line, I love my watch and I would buy it again.

Paid Cash

If you are saving up to purchase something, I highly recommend you do! My husband and I have been switching to the cash only lifestyle and it is so rewarding! We live in an age where people spend their money so quickly and don’t save their money to purchase something. It has taken a few years of practicing saving money, but it seriously does make life easier not having credit card debt. We started the switch a few years ago. We had gone through the biggest financial disaster of our lives. Since then we haven’t had a credit card and only make purchases if we can pay cash.

Maybe you want to save your money to buy holiday gifts this year with cash, or maybe you want to save your money to buy a new phone or tablet. I would love to hear how you make money besides working at your job. I love hearing other methods of earning money. Every time I look at the time on my watch I think about how I earned to monies to pay for my watch.