sense most online business are having black friday is it worth buying something or should i pass and try to save my money. im a teen i have around 200$ but i would like to limit myself to 100$ or less. im probably posting this in the wrong place but im not sure, i just want to make a smart choice when it comes to money.
also i will not be investing in stocks or crypto so please dont suggest it.
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Unless you have something in mind that you want, that you know you can get a good deal on, I think you would be better off saving your money than buying something you don’t want/need just for the sake of a black Friday deal.
This whole black Friday thing gets hyped so much that you start to think “I better get in on these bargain prices,” but the truth is that some retailers actually raise their prices on some things in October and then lower them back to regular 40% markup and call it a “SIZZILIN SALE PRICE!!!”
So in conclusion, if there’s something you want, check different sources and compare prices. Otherwise, don’t get scammed into thinking you’re missing out, you are not. Source: I am 55 years old, have worked in retail.
This. Black Friday skus are made specifically for Black Friday. They are made cheaper specifically to sell on black Friday, they aren’t magical deals, they’re low cost crap.
Have more experiences as a teen. Take your friends out to a movie or a dinner, buy some snacks and stay up all night with them playing videogames. That will be more fun than a TV that breaks after 6 months
Surprised nobody suggested condoms.
Buy one for fun. Buy 144 and be gross.
It’s going to expire! Chicks are hard to get in teens.
Well, the question was “What is something worth buying as a teen?”
Condoms only cost a couple dollars, but can save you the much greater cost of dealing with an unwanted pregnancy or an STD. If the time for the seks comes unexpectedly, and you have a condom around, you’ll be REALLY glad you have one. Plus, they’re always a fun topic of conversation: “woah, what’s that?” “well, you know how I am, heh heh…” “oh yeah then why’s it almost expired?” etc.
They expire after 3-5 years. Then you can open them and inflate them and use them for a prank or art installation or something, and go get some more.
Personally when I was younger, I lost many account credentials and important files when my laptop got stolen at school so an external hard drive is worth it or even a subscription to a cloud based storage provider if you prefer that.
Edit: personally I’d go with an external drive (40ish usd for a tb)
Don’t buy makeup, buy yourself some backup.
A great rule of thumb I have adopted as an adult to save money, is anytime I wanna impulse buy something I write it it down.
Then I come back to it 2 weeks later and if I still really want it then, I buy it.
But so often after 2 weeks the novelty has warn off and I look at the list and go “ehhh, meh, nevermind I dont want it that bad actually”
If you can’t answer this question for yourself, then you don’t have any burning need to spend the money. Just keep it for when you find you actually have a need.
Unless you have something specific you want, I’d advise not to spend money just for the sake of it, even for perceived savings from deals. That’s part of the trick with Black Friday deals - marking things down to get people to buy things they wouldn’t even think to get in the first place.
Some wisdom I remember reading a while ago: if you’re looking at something that is 75% off, just remember you can save 100% by not buying it.
If you’re not willing to invest it, and you don’t already have something in mind you want to buy, then I say just save it.
Aside from that it depends on your hobbies. If it were me as a teenager it might be nice to get a decent fishing rod or multitool - something that you will use for a long time into adulthood.
Saving up to travel is also something you probably won’t regret, and will create lifetime memories that define you.
This might not be the most fun advice, but it’s the right advice.
The earlier you start saving the more money you’ll have when you truly need it.
Avoid Black Friday unless you really do your research on the category of products beforehand. If you want to find great deals on stuff, buying used items is usually a good idea.
The answer might be vastly different depending on where you live, what things interest you, and so on. If you have a hobby already, get something related to your hobby.
Do you like tinkering with tech? Maybe buy a raspberry pi (or clone) to mess with, which can be awesome both for learning and for doing useful things for so many purposes.
Do you want to get in better shape? Maybe a resistance band, running shoes, or some weights.
Do you have an interest in art? Maybe a watercolor kit might be a good idea…
Basically it needs to be related to your goals and interests.
Don’t spend your money because it’s a " good deal". In theory your guardian(s) are covering the expenses the rest of as as adults just accept. Therefore take advantage and spend your money on what brings you joy.
Great advice. This way they’ll never learn how to handle money!
It’s $100. In 2023 that does not even cover groceries for a middle class household of four for a week.
If you want to advocate absolute austerity to someone who has no expenses yet - go for it. Me? The world is shitty enough as is - of something’s going to make you happy, and you have no other expenses, go for it.
Agreed.
An electric toothbrush.
As someone in their 30’s who didn’t take care of my teeth for a while, I’m going to have to second this recommendation. It will save you a lot of grief down the road.
Just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean that you suddenly need it when you didn’t need it before.
And just because they tell you it’s cheaper doesn’t mean that it is cheaper.
So go price something you want now, so that when the price theoretically falls you know whether it should be bought at all.
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Smartwatches and analog ones are different products. The health features on a smart watch are genuinely useful
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“What are these health features that are so medically reliable on a smartwatch that becomes ewaste in 2 years?”
You act like half of these features don’t need government approval. There are some minor features on my watch that I can’t use because the FDA (the US’ health authority) didn’t authorize it. So yes, the data that decent smartwatches track is medically reliable enough for the FDA and other regulatory bodies to allow.
“Stop eating shit, change up your diet and lifestyle and incorporate 20 minutes of exercise everyday” Oh my god bro, I wish I thought of that! Man, everything makes so much sense now! All I need to do is turn off all of my impulses and just eat salads and drink smoothies all day! It’s so simple! I think I just lost 50 pounds right this instant!
I just changed your life and saved you thousands of dollars and the environment from ewaste.
All you did was give cookie-cutter advice. If you want to speak strictly from a population perspective, fine. On an individual level, though, this is dogshit advice because it’s devoid of nuance. Someone who works 2 or 3 jobs isn’t going to have time to take care of themselves, let alone have time for 20 minutes of decent exercise. Someone who’s a single parent working minimum wage will not cook a healthy meal for the family and will probably opt for fast food instead. Someone with broken legs can’t run, walk, or play most sports and thus have fewer opportunities to exercise. People with mental conditions like Autism and ADHD will hyperfocus on some Wikipedia rabbithole for hours and miss their exercise timeslot without realizing it. Stressed office workers and college students will be cramming or working overtime to meet quotas etc etc.
Literally all of those realistic and common scenarios involve major roadblocks that prevent people from “changing their lives.” Each person needs their own solution, and for many people, smartwatches fit incredibly well into that solution. Sleep through alarms? Your watch can vibrate and wake you up. Anger issues? Your watch can tell you when you need to cool down with breathing exercises. Sitting too long because you’re working? Your watch can tell you to take walking breaks. In your view, the alternative is probably to simply set a timer to take a walking break. In most people’s views, however, the alternative is probably not taking a walking break because they don’t even think about walking breaks.
Having tools to make healthy choices easier will inherently make it more likely to make healthy choices. If you think that everyone needs to follow your barebones advice instead of trying to actively use a smartwatch, then I want you to try the following:
- Buy individual parts for a Lenovo Thinkpad and build it from scratch. Then, after it works, install an OS without using another laptop or desktop.
Congratulations, you have a working laptop. Your coworker bought theirs from Best Buy and spent about 10 minutes, but they literally don’t use all of it! You obviously did the better thing, and assuming you’re most people, it only took 10 hours to build your first laptop! Hooray!
Now if that analogy didn’t work because you already know a decent bit about PC building, then replace it with building a car, or building a bike, or literally anything that you don’t already know. Regardless, having tools, whether knowledge based or tangible, makes building things easier, and smartwatches for many people are just tools for building healthier lives.
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Firstly, you are the epitome of clowns if you think $500 smartwatch ewaste is helping anyone with those kinds of issues over serious neurological, physiological and psychological advice, which would be very close to what I gave, and NOT BUYING $500 TECH JUNK NOT FIT FOR PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS.
You missed my point entirely. My point is that slapping on a $200 smartwatch is an easier solution for some people to improve their lives at least marginally
If my advice was “general” advice, so is yours.
The only specific thing you suggested implementing is the app. You spoke nothing of motivators that actually help achieve most of the goals you spoke of. Smartwatches are one way of providing motivation by gamifying metrics like step counts and hours slept. The people I know who actively wear ones appreciate having a multipurpose pedometer on them at all times.
ADHD people are even riskier since smartwatches overload you with unnecessary statistics.
This is more likely a symptom of health anxiety rather than ADHD. Even if not, not everyone with ADHD gets anxious and overwhelmed by random statistics. You cannot gaslight me into thinking that my watch doesn’t help me by telling me to walk around after, for example, spending an hour reading random news stories.
You know what is far superior to a watch with two millimetres thick vibration motor? Your ears being able to hear sound.
I’m not going to dismiss your app suggestion, but have you seriously never heard anyone of sleeping past their multiple alarms?
If you have anger management issues, therapy and meditation is a must
Yes, but in the same way that physical healthcare is inaccessible for many, mental healthcare is inaccessible. Finding therapists for a set of niche conditions is often time consuming, expensive, and mentally/emotionally draining. It takes experimentation to find a therapist that will click for a certain person. Using my insurance, it’s literally cheaper to buy a smart watch every 2 weeks to 2 months than to visit a therapist at the recommended 2 weeks interval. You severely underestimate the cost of healthcare and overestimate the cost of “ewaste,” and that’s ignoring the time commitment of healthcare.
Shit, did I forget some people can have allergy strapping rubber or clothing or metal on their wrists, since you are using that logic?
I am one of those people, and I still wear a smartwatch. If you apply the same logic to commonly prescribed medications (e.g. Adderall and dry mouth/insomnia; some asthma medications and suicidal thoughts), then you’d quickly realize that doctors do a cost-benefit analysis before giving a treatment and that your logic is wrong.
A smartwatch in in no form or shape a necessity for any person, and far superior physical monitoring tools for strapping to body exist, that are medically backed and certified for relevant patients.
I don’t remember ever saying it was a necessity. I said it was a tool. A Swiss army knife is never going to replace a drill because they serve different functions. If you don’t know how to use either, then you shouldn’t use either without learning first. I don’t see how a smart watch is different in that regard.
If you already have a hobby, invest in that. Otherwise try something new.
Or don’t participate in Black Friday and save it.
I wish I was a teen with $200 to burn again.
I have no idea what you should buy in particular but just have fun, you won’t be a kid for long.
Most of the “stuff everyone should buy” is stuff you really don’t need as a teenager, like cast-iron cookware or a stand mixer. If you have hobbies you want to pursue, you should find a specific group around that hobby and ask them. A lot of black Friday “deals” aren’t really deals, though - some companies will actually produce lower quality product lines specifically for black Friday sales, so if you end up buying something big like a TV or something like that make sure you do a little research.
If you want general financial advice, I wouldn’t put it in a retirement account like the other guy said. You have plenty of time for that, and you probably have milestones coming up that you’ll want money for - buying a car, graduation celebrations, going to college, getting your own place, whatever. So saving it for that kind of stuff is never a bad idea.
