What does "being able to afford" something mean?

submitted by RatherSmallPotato from self.whatever

Having enough money to pay for it in cash? Having enough money to pay for it and maintain it for 1 year? or what?

all 7 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]magnora7 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Depends on how wise and frugal you are :)

For some it's simply "I can get enough credit to pay for that right now, I'll worry about the payments later". Which is of course exactly how you wind up in debt slavery.

The smart way is to calculate in the entire lifetime of the object in both expenditures and revenue, including depreciation and maintenance.

Then there's a million shades of accuracy in between

[–]useless_aether 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

if you have to ask, you can't afford it ! :-)

but to answer the q, for me it means i can pay for it in cash, but also without being stressed about it in any way later on. almost like it didn't even happen. life goes on as normal.

[–]RatherSmallPotato[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I always ask. tl;dr; I grew up not being able to afford anything, and now, it seems that no matter how much money I have I feel unable to afford anything. Just bought my first car and it cost less than a month's wage, so I guess I could afford it.

[–]useless_aether 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

congrats on your car!

i was also feeling sometimes poor as a child, and once your brain is calibrated that way, to be frugal, you will stay frugal even when you have enough disposable income to spend later in life. that's how i am a 'prepper' i guess.

[–]RatherSmallPotato[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks! It's actually a van, and I'm converting it into a camper, so I'll save considerable money on hotels at ski/mountain resorts during my trips.

Prepper is good :)

[–]TiwakingMy Pronouns are Nigger and Boss Nigger 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It depends. For example "I cant afford a pet" probably means "I cant afford to buy, feed, house, and care for a pet". It probably doesnt mean "I dont have enough money for a pet" as you have to include all of those costs in your calculations. Unless you are a dumbarse

[–]Zerorush 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It means something cannot be acquired without a decrease in your quality of life or taking on debt which isn't repayable. It can also mean you are unable to acquire the necessary capital at all. The phrase is used to discourage an individual or group from conducting a transaction and it is then to the recipient of the message to evaluate the warning effectively.