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Have you ever bought bling that you couldn't afford at the time?

pearaffair

pearaffair

Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Jun 15, 2015
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Just curious! Share your stories.

I have no bought bling that I cannot afford but I am always tempted to! Curses on my careful budgeting! ;)
 
No, can't say that I have. As much as I love jewelry, I consider it a luxury and not something that I would spend recklessly on. Better to try to save money for something rather than buy it and pay on it forever. However, if you have disposable income that you could comfortably apply to a payment on something that might be a different thing.
 
No. I stopped using a credit card almost a decade ago and only pay for everything with a debit card, so if I don't have the money I can't buy it. It's my built-in way of controlling my desires :mrgreen2:. Thankfully SO and I are on the same page with this kind of stuff and we agreed, when looking for/buying my engagement diamond and settings/bands, that we'd only buy what we could comfortably afford. I did stretch my budget a bit for his band but it was one of those purchases that I knew would be worth it and I'd save the money again in a short time.
 
No way- I save up until I know I have the money to spend. It takes a bit longer but I like having the peace of mind! I'd never go into debt for a jewellery purchase :naughty:
 
Only purchase what I can afford.
 
Nope, don't buy anything we can't afford.
 
Nope, we're both pretty frugal, and me more so. My hubby would spend more on my jewelry than I would! I'd rather save. I.e. my budget for our house was $200k less than his. Our only debt comes from mortgages on our two houses (one is being rented out).
 
I remember my DH and I buying wedding rings on credit so many years ago. I cherish my e-ring and do not regret that at all.
 
I can afford everything I buy, but I do sometimes take advantage of things like 24 months no interest to keep my credit score up, etc.
 
whitewave said:
I can afford everything I buy, but I do sometimes take advantage of things like 24 months no interest to keep my credit score up, etc.
Click to expand...

This ^^^ While I only buy what I can pay for with cash, I love using OPM to fund my purchases. It's been a source of additional discounts or rewards, and calms down our financial advisor by allowing our cash to make more... arguably, to buy more bling. :P2
 
Nope, I dont think I could enjoy it if I couldnt afford it.

I do have a story though. Many years ago when tennis bracelets had just come out one of my girlfriends got one for Christmas. It was 3 ctw if I remember
correctly. I was telling her how beautiful t it was and she said it was a bummer that she couldnt keep it. I asked what she meant and she said
that her husband bought it and they couldnt afford it. Some people may think that that is romantic. It was what he wanted to give her but I was really
mad for her. Her DH bought her something knowing she would feel too guilty to keep. Back it went...
 
When I was younger yes , not so much now . :mrgreen2:
 
Yes, but I'll still buy it ...:lol:
 
I think how you define 'afford it' is key - if you can afford to service a debt, is the item purchased affordable?

Or are things only affordable if paying with ready money?


I do wonder how many people buy bling for important events (e.g. engagements) when they can't really afford it, simply because it is expected, and/or because they want to 'do it properly, and/or because the moment is right but the funding is yet to come (due to waiting to secure a job after finishing education etc.).

It's not necessarily a bad thing, I guess, as long as debts can be paid over time - here in the UK upgrades are not really something that is really on people's radars, simply because 'the ring is the ring' and is taken to be the only one people will have, so 'doing it right the first time' might drive a lot of purchases on credit!
 
Yes I have done that recently.
I have been saving up for the last few months as I have always wanted a princess cut ACA from WF in a designer setting. I figured I would go with K colour as the cut would be so good and normally colour doesn't bother me that much and I don't consider myself colour sensitive.
I picked an 18k rose gold Ritani solitaire.
When it arrived, I didn't love the ring. The solitaire was beautiful, as was the diamond which was a sparkle-bomb. I just didn't like the lower colour ACA and rose gold together. Everything blended in and I felt like the diamond looked smaller than it should have.
I sent the ring back and chose an I colour ACA instead which also included an upgrade in clarity to VS1.
I didn't want to wait another few months so I put the difference on credit and have worked out a sensible plan to pay that amount off my card in 2 months. That's not so so terrible is it??
 
Bling it on said:
I didn't want to wait another few months so I put the difference on credit and have worked out a sensible plan to pay that amount off my card in 2 months. That's not so so terrible is it??
Click to expand...
Nahhh, very normal...we always make excuses to buy more jewelry...:lol:
 
partgypsy said:
no, but I want to :lickout:
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Hahaha yes THIS. I have never bought something I could not easily afford but man, yes, I want to spend over my budget often when it comes to bling. I have BIG eyes for beautiful BLING.:love: Wish I didn't but I do.8)

:halo:
 
when I am done making payments for my youngest private school (last payment in Feb) I may end up breaking down with something (like long desired 5 or 7 stone WF or other ideal cut band). But I did buy myself a couple silver band stackers and a turquoise band, and I am enjoying those. I also found a cz band I had lying around so I'm wearing that with my silver stackers right now. I want to be lean and mean regarding spending this year, so I can make some admittedly non-necessary purchases in 2018 : ).
 
Occasionally I dream about converting my 401K into bling. It's just an asset allocation, right? :confused:
 
Never. But I do regret not buying more 20 -30 years ago.
 
Yes, when we married we bought a .5 carat solitaire diamond ring . We paid cash for it, technically we could "afford" it ( in total about 1000$ ) but looking back we could have spent it on something else. We didnt go into debt but we could have paid tuition ( we were both in college) or used it on the honeymoon or even just saved it. I would have been fine with plain bands and bought diamonds later, but our families thought it was important to buy a ring and have at least a small wedding. ( i wanted to elope)
I would have been fine with plain bands and a quick ceremony and going out for dinner with the parents that night.
At the time we wanted to keep the family happy, but we spent money on things we didnt "need".
 
Nope. I sell stuff to buy new stuff. :lol:
 
If you mean putting it on a card, as opposed to paying in full at time of purchase... then, YES! But I tend to pay off my card within 5-6 weeks, so no big damage there.

The only time I "couldn't afford it" was when I upgraded my diamond. However, I put the balance on a card with 0% interest for 18 months. I just see it as a form of "layaway" -- the only difference is I get to wear and enjoy my diamond immediately instead of waiting until it's paid in full. ;)
 
Bling it on said:
Yes I have done that recently.

I didn't want to wait another few months so I put the difference on credit and have worked out a sensible plan to pay that amount off my card in 2 months. That's not so so terrible is it??
Click to expand...

Heck no!! I call that "money management"... ;-)
 
stonewell said:
This ^^^ While I only buy what I can pay for with cash, I love using OPM to fund my purchases. It's been a source of additional discounts or rewards, and calms down our financial advisor by allowing our cash to make more... arguably, to buy more bling. :P2
Click to expand...

This! I was able to "lower the price" on my upgrade because I took advantage of a 5% cash back offer on 0% intro card. #makingmyownsale ;)
 
No. I would maybe, but my husband controls my bling ;-) spending.
 
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