Provided by IMC Peer Mentor Erika Brantner
There is pure excitement when buying a big item like a new car. It has never been touched by another person and it will be all yours, but is buying brand new items worth it? There is the saying that driving a brand new car off the car lot automatically results in it decreasing in value. This is actually true as it can be expected that the value of the car will decrease in value between 20 and 30% in the first year. This means that you will never get those thousands of dollars back if you ever choose to sell that car. This also relates to other purchases like buying furniture for a new apartment.
To make these expenses a little easier to handle and more worth your money, buying second-hand will help your bank account. There are great stores just in the La Crosse area like Savvy Home Consignments and the Habitat for Humanity Restore. They are both great stores to help you furnish your apartment but doing it at half the price of buying brand new furniture. There are also great second-hand clothing stores that have well-known brands like RootinCrown, Plato’s Closet, Oolala! Consign, and many more.
There is also the great resource of Campus Thread run by the Center of Transformative Justice on campus. Research has shown that people who spend their money on experiences are happier than those who spend more on material possessions because the excitement of getting new items wears off faster than the excitement of experiencing something new. While college is the perfect time to have new experiences, it is also the best time to learn how to live within your means and budget. Learning these skills now will make it much easier after graduating to know how to handle the larger income you receive.