There are a lot of big purchases in our lives – TVs, laptops, phones, iPods, Kindles. A lot of the time we think we can’t live without these items for more than a couple of days – maybe a week at most. Often if they break or wear down, we immediately go out and buy a replacement without thinking.

But for people who still receive some presents on Christmas or birthdays, having a little patience and the calendar on your side can lead to big savings with these big-ticket items.

Here’s how Corinne and I saved $750 on a laptop using this savings tip.

When Corinne came to Japan in September she came without a laptop because she wasn’t sure if she was going to find a company to sponsor a visa. Fortunately, she found a company, but we found ourselves having to share a laptop without a TV, books, or any other entertainment device readily available.

We were out of options.

We couldn’t find an American laptop anywhere in our city. We could’ve purchased a Japanese laptop but we didn’t want to deal with the keyboard and memory loss from the Japanese fonts. Buying a Mac was another option because Apple is the only company that provides free international shipping, but we didn’t want to shell out an extra $300-400 for a laptop we didn’t love.

Fortunately, we realized that by sacrificing for a couple of months we could wait until Christmas and ask for a new laptop as a joint present from different family members – saving us hundreds of dollars.

We could’ve shelled out the extra cash for the Mac and had the computer by October, but we waited too long – which played out in our favor.

We only had the problem of getting it to Japan, but when we realized another ALTs family were going to be visiting we asked them to bring a computer for us if we had it shipped to their house. Thankfully, the agreed.

Our savings plan

Our family wanted to get us presents for Christmas, but they didn’t know how to go about it with us being 6,000 miles away.

When we wrote them an email saying we were in need of a new laptop and we had a creative plan to get it to us if they helped finance the gift, they happily obliged to split the cost of the laptop knowing this was what we really wanted.

We ended up bunching our Christmas presents from my mom, Corinne’s parents, and my grandparents into one laptop.

By waiting 3 months until we were close to Christmas, we saved $750 of our own money on a laptop.

Were those 3 months difficult sharing a laptop? Yes. Were they worth the savings? Definitely.

Save with patience

Patience is an underrated aspect of savings. If you can wait until a birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, or Easter is near you can batch your presents from different family members into one big-ticket item.

You may have to wait a couple of months for the new iPod, but it’ll be worth the savings and your family/friends will be content knowing they helped get you a present you truly wanted.

If you think the price of the item will be too much for your family to cover, ask them to help subsidize the price of the item. It’ll still save you a ton of money and they’ll still feel content with helping you out.

This savings tip works out for both parties and also avoids the problem of wasted presents that plagues too many holidays.

So the next time one of your electronics dies, take a deep breath, and see if this savings tip can fit into your life.

Photo by MJTR

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