Why Thinking Things Through Is Never A Bad Idea

I did something...kind of silly yesterday. I'm now experiencing a little bit of what you might call, buyer's remorse. Mm.

So this woman I follow on the twitter, tweeted about thsis photographer on a website called kickstart. I guess you can create a sort of project venture idea ont he website, and ask for financial backers. If people like your idea, they donate money, and you can often even elect to have a sort of special "prize" that correlates to the amount you donated.

I watched the video this photographer put together, and thought, "Hey, that sounds cool!" And realized I could help support a fellow photographer! Well, alright, so I'm not yet a photographer, but the keyword here is "yet."

It excited me. The photographer's intended focus was on Lucha Libre wrestlers in Mexico. Again I thought, "That sounds neat!" And it does sound neat. However, I am less sure today that it is $20 worth of neat, as I was convinced it was yesterday. I'm one month behind on paying rent (yes, I live at home and pay rent - the glamour of my life isn't lost on me), and, hey, that's 20 bucks.

Granted, my donation will win me a small baseball card type of photo, and an original 4x5 print. I don't own any original photography prints, so I thought, "What a great way to start!" And the photographer in question is trying to raise $8,000 by next month. That's not a lot of time, and in the scheme of $8,000, $20 isn't really all that much. And he only had 3 backers when I saw the page. Of course, two of the three backers had donated a thousand dollars each. The third had donated a mere $20 like myself. So I felt like I was doing good in supporting art! But now...now I kind of wish I had either waited, when, say, I had finally paid rent (and my car insurance, and both of my student loans), or just donated, like, $5...because you could donate any amount down to $1.

Apparently, sometimes my heart gets a tad bit more generous than my brain and bullies it into submission. And then my poor wallet pretty much gets the shaft out of the deal.

I think I am going to have to instate a new shopping policy going forward: Wait a day, and if it still seems like a good idea tomorrow, then spend your hard earned money on whatever foolish thing has tickled your fancy.

I promise, waiting won't actually kill you. It might actually help you gain some perspective, and maybe even be the trick to remind you, "Oh, right, I'm saving up to buy my own dSLR, maybe I should redirect that twenty to my camera fund. Huh. Glad I thought of that!" 

BEFORE you spend it on photos of Mexican wrestlers*.


*Which, I am sure, will be awesome. But...still. Mexican Wrestlers? Or my very own dSLR? I know, very difficult decision. *cough*