Is anyone else going broke because of deals "you just can't pass up?"

This is another not-so-good sign. Withholding spending/financial habits from your SO is a key indicator of being a bit out of control. Believe me, I'm not speaking from a high horse, I've been there. Think about it this way if it helps. You get hit by a bus on the way to work today. Then she finds out you had tens of k of credit card debt with no real plan to pay it off. What kind of emotional and financial situation does that leave her in? Spoiler alert: you could get hit by a bus on the way into work today, or tomorrow, or next month. Tomorrow is not a guarantee.

There's a fine line between maximizing life and putting yourself in a long-term situation financially. Like anything else, practicing a particular type of behavior over the long term develops habits, and they're quite hard to break. A key milestone on the road to realization for me was my grandfather's unexpected passing in a brush fire at 71. He left behind 3 barns full of crap and a totally drained retirement account for my grandmother and mother to sort out. They ended up taking a washing even on the property sale (125acres of Texas hill country) due to the sad state of hoarding that had set in.

From a more practical standpoint, you're paying a mountain of interest on that much accumulated credit card debt. That is totally negating any deals you may be achieving by buying stuff on clearance/sale. All you've done is add yourself some extra stress.

Breaking the cycle is harder than it sounds, but from a practical standpoint it's pretty simple. Stop buying non-essentials (food, water, shelter) until the cards are paid. Once the cards are paid, keep stopping buying stuff for another 2-3 months and put the money you had been paying towards cards into a checking account (you can also use a work bonus or sell some stuff to charge this up quicker). Magically, you've now got a budget that you can spend interest free, just never let the cards get higher than the amount you have in checking to pay them off each billing period. You will save thousands of dollars a year simply in not paying interest on that much CC debt. You're killing yourself with that, total it up on your statements over a period of time and see for your self, especially once you compare to totaling up what you've "saved" with all those deals.
Sage advice! What you said about the dying unexpectedly part particularly hit home. Not as young as I use to be and have had a couple of health hiccups. While the card I quoted is interest free for another several months, and I can make up to between $1000 and $1350 in a single shift, plus I have about 60% equity in my home if disaster struck, I'd not want to refinance at what would certainly be a higher interest rate. Plus, I'm working extra at a high-stress job to keep it all covered. This will detract from my health and take time I could be enjoying travels with the wife and grandbaby. My philosophy has always been "it's just money. I can make more." But what if I couldn't? Most people have more practical sense than me, including my wife and all you guys. I really appreciate the perspective of all of you!

I think it's time to maybe hit the panic button and start a massive sell-off. Even at 50 cents on the dollar recouped, I could pay the cards, and you'd have to figure I'd get a little more than that for most of it. Hopefully the stocks will stay strong, as I have some small investments, but that could easily fail, too.

Best-worst-case scenario is we do a full home refi, pay everything else off, then sell the house. If I'm still working, we can amass enough quickly to purchase a lot on which to build ia small cabin or similar, as we've planned to down-size big for awhile. The reason we haven't already is I've been tied to the area due to being under contract with work. That contract is now up and I can transfer nationwide, though I don't see us going far from the grandbaby or my in-laws who are aging. We both have grandparents here that require special care, but probably not long. Also, I have dogs that could not be a part of a lease agreement on another temporary place. I just lost one dog, bymut there are 3 left. We might get away with 1, but certainly not 3.

I've got to decide what's going to go and get it listed in all the usual places for a price likely to lead to a sale. It's going to take a few months to get through it all, but I have months...unless I don't. Problem with shipping long guns with long barrels is UPS charges such ridiculous prices now if your rifle box is 48" or more in length regardless of weight. An empty 49" box was going to cost $75 to 2 states over. Most factory boxes are at least 48" if not more. Having it keeps the value of the gun high. I shipped the empty box last time through the PO for $25 and shipped the gun in a 46" box for $27 or so. That was as cheap as I could make it. Many buyers don't understand this and think sellers are just gouging when they charge $75 or more for shipping. If you appear to be price gouging on anything, you can forget selling. That's why auctions are best where you can start bids at almost nothing and let the item sell itself with competition among bidders.

Dealing with people in general now can be a chore or worse. Not many are respectful and will lie, back out, or try to rip you off. It's much worse now than years ago.

Wish me luck, and keep the posts coming.
 
Well, especially when you factor in that the same people $17K in Gun and hunting debt ALSO have that jumbo truck loan with $1000+/month payments and houses they really can’t afford. House rich cash poor.

But $17k at 24% interest is not an insignificant debt. That will take most several years to pay off and that’s if they stop spending.
$17k is a bad month if a real hoarder decides to clear out a lil
 
I find it hard to pass up good deals. Thankfully for me that may mean spending <$100 on an article of clothing or something like that. Even then I have done a fair amount of self reflection on this exact topic over the last few months. I’m getting much better about asking myself if I truly “need” something. The answer is an emphatic “no” probably 90% of the time. If it’s something I want, and I sit on it for 2-3 months and still want it, then I may buy it. Oftentimes I have found that 2-3 months later my interest has waned and it’s on to something else. Then the process repeats…

If it’s a good deal and something that my entire family can enjoy (not just me), then I have zero problem pulling the trigger.
 
I feel for the OP. I have on occasion bought things I didn’t need. Good example is a browning .243, scope, $500 worth of bullets, $300 worth of powder, $250 in reloading equipment. For a practice rifle. I coulda bought a lot of ammo for my other rifle for that kind of money. OTOH I do shoot it a lot, and enjoy it.

There are other things I won’t get into. I will say this. Buying things is absolutely not a way to save money. Buying things is a way to spend money. To save money, you take it out of circulation … you don’t spend it.

I’ve seen many people dig themselves some deep holes using credit cards. I’ve never run a credit card balance in my life, except I use mine for every day purchases to get the rewards points and pay it down to zero on the first of every month. Makes me a few hundred dollars cash every year.
NEVER buy an assload of reloading equipment, scope or extras for a new gun purchase before you know it's a "keeper". I'll buy a few boxes of factory ammo and mount one of the 6x or 10x SWFA scopes that I keep to check out how a rifle groups. If it's a keeper, I buy good glass for it. If not, see ya!
 
NEVER buy an assload of reloading equipment, scope or extras for a new gun purchase before you know it's a "keeper". I'll buy a few boxes of factory ammo and mount one of the 6x or 10x SWFA scopes that I keep to check out how a rifle groups. If it's a keeper, I buy good glass for it. If not, see ya!
Or just buy new guns you already have reloading equipment for.
 
NEVER buy an assload of reloading equipment, scope or extras for a new gun purchase before you know it's a "keeper". I'll buy a few boxes of factory ammo and mount one of the 6x or 10x SWFA scopes that I keep to check out how a rifle groups. If it's a keeper, I buy good glass for it. If not, see ya!
In my case, I already have all the reloading components in most instances. Sometimes I may need brass if it's something new or very old or odd. I seldom ever buy factory ammo unless it's shotgun or pistol ammo, which are a very small part of my interests. Those are necessities for home defense or short range squirrel/snake killing in a semi-populated area. Bolt guns are my weakness. Not a fan of ARs or chassis guns. For the most part they are way too heavy for what they are unless you paid $2100 for a solid magnesium chassis, then you have to have an ultralight pistol grip and stock.

I bought a new CMMG Endeavor in 22 ARC a little bit ago. Fired it 7 times for function and found out it's burning too rich throwing brass over the truck bed. Didn't like anything about it. I remember liking my M16 in BASIC better that this. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. A beautiful piece and functioned flawlessly through the 7 rounds. Didn't like the trigger, didn't like the recoil impulse, didn't like the fact I needed to adjust the block out of the box (lol! How did the manufacturer know I would be shooting 80gr Hornady ELD-X ammo?!?!🤣). Haven't picked it up since, and probably won't. Got it because it was on a decent sale and my friend and hunting club president bought his wife a bolt version and had me reload for it. Didn't figure I ought to load for her if I wasn't familiar with the cartridge. Actually planned to snipe some of the huge bobcats and coyotes we had thinning the turkey and fawn population, but never did. Nothing I couldn't do with any one of 15 other bolt guns and a shotgun with Hevi-Shot or similar (#2 work great! And so do #4 Buck!).

Here's my whole deal: I have grand ideas about a perceived need for something. I get it on a deal, then before I have a chance to test the first thing, another one pops up, etc. So it ends up, I have 10 guns lying around that I've never laid eyes in since I picked them up at the dealer. Everything I buy, for the most part, is new. I did get a couple of nice used pieces recently. Being an avid handloader, I can take most of the rifles I own and create a load that will be about perfect for anything I'd ever want to do at any reasonable distance. The .325 WSM Winchester 70 Extreme Weather I picked up slightly used is a very good example. I could hunt elk or moose or bear with Speer, Sierra, Barnes, or Hammer bullets all the way down to varmints with the 139gr Prvi Partisan bullets I have (not planning in saving the pelts!). It seems to be accurate enough for ranges over 500 yards if necessary and I was up to the task. Recoil isn't an issue and the trigger is decent. Have a custom 6.5 SAUM that would be the same and even more accurate. Anyone else could do the same with a .270 Win, .30-06, or whatever.

So my brain rapid cycles these ideas, and the itch is scratched when purchase the items, but almost immediately, I have the "need" for something else to shop for. If I could get involved actually using some of what I have, I'd not worry so much about what I don't have. I think it's a form of addiction, just like drugs, alcohol, gambling, whatever. It is 100% psychological, though, not physical. .maybe I need hypnosis!🤣
 
That's not an anti hoarding answer unless the rifle you already have is a dog.
None are dogs. I have a .270 I keep in Missouri to hunt with every year so I don't have to travel with it. I have another here that I hunt with. I have a .243 bolt gun plus an AR-10 in .243, very different guns. I think I have 4 very different guns firing .223. I'm just not that guy who needs a Creedmor, PRC, etc.
 
So my brain rapid cycles these ideas, and the itch is scratched when purchase the items, but almost immediately, I have the "need" for something else to shop for. If I could get involved actually using some of what I have, I'd not worry so much about what I don't have. I think it's a form of addiction, just like drugs, alcohol, gambling, whatever. It is 100% psychological, though, not physical.
I find the less I'm doing, the more I want to buy. It is an addiction, and like any addiction it will take some creativity and persistence to beat it. Youshould probably find something more positive to fill the void. Be it positional shooting work and making yourself burn out a barrel before getting a new gun or working out. If you are not somewhat intentional you run the risk of replacing it with something else bad, like eating too much (one of my problems I will admit to publicly).

Good luck and break the rock.
 
Guilty as charged. Hard for me to pass up a good deal. I've lived through 3 primer shortages now. Last one I was well prepared for. Even better off now if we have (or when) we have another. On a personal note; I have much more regret on purchases I didn't make, than those that I did.
 
Two cents or less: Stuff is just stuff, we don't get to take it with us. Finding a balance of having tools which make life better, with excessive attention to said tools detracting from life, not always easy.

When faced with a 'great deal' I think of the 'deals' sitting in my storage, the time and $ haircut I'll take when I decide to liquidate them. Sometimes it's still worth it, but often that tips the scales
 
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