A lot of articles I write revolve around saving money and different strategies to do so. However, there are times to spend the money that you’ve saved as well. This is going to be a story of one of those relatively insignificant times, but one that I ended up being very satisfied with.
I have to admit, up until a couple of weeks ago I’ve been playing in the basketball shoes that I got before my senior year of high school basketball in the fall of 2010, probably around this time. That’s 8 years of playing basketball in the same shoes. Over 8 years, those shoes went through high school basketball, countless pick-up games in college, and pick-up basketball post-college as well.
I’ve been badgered by my friend, Jared (check out his new blog here), almost every time we’ve played together for the past 2 years to just get a new pair of shoes already. But I hate spending money on clothes and shoes. The shoes that I have get the job done so why get a new pair? Sure, they’re worn out and a little beat up (maybe on the edge of a lot worn out), but they still fit and don’t have any significant problems.
Last month, I finally had enough of my feet feeling like I ran a marathon barefoot on gravel for days after playing basketball in my trusty 2010 Nike Hyperdunks. Of course, I wasn’t going to go out and buy a pair of shoes for full price without doing some research. I’m particularly picky about the way that clothes and shoes fit.
I’m never going to be accused of being fashionable and I don’t really get much joy from having the newest stuff, but what I really, really do care about is comfort. If something isn’t comfortable to me, then I’m just not going to wear it. I don’t care how stylish it is or how cool people may think it is, if it’s not comfortable it’s not worth it to me.
Comfortable basketball shoes aren’t cheap. Luckily, I remembered that I still had a $25 Nike gift card from last Christmas that I hadn’t used.
After doing some research, I found that Nike had PG2s and Kyrie 4s on sale on their website. Both of these shoes have very good reviews and sound like something I’d like to wear when playing basketball. However, I couldn’t just buy them online without trying them on first. I’m weird like that. I have to know that they’re comfortable. I don’t want to go through the hassle of returning them and waiting to get another pair.
There was a problem though. In my quest to delay spending money on the shoes as long as possible I ended up waiting too long to go try them on and the pairs that that were for sale online sold out. So, I ended up trying on the latest version of the PGs and Kyries since they’re on the lower end of Nike basketball shoe pricing while maintaining very good reviews. I tried on the PG 2.5s and found them very comfortable, which is in-line with what I had read and with the reviews of many other professional basketball players who wear the shoes.
I tried on the Kyries and they felt like I was wearing moon boots.
I was torn. I found shoes that I liked, but I didn’t want to pay $110 (pre-tax) for them.
Here’s how I got them for 72% of the cost (Fair warning: Most people won’t have this option).
Remember the gift card from above? That was obviously where I had the most savings. Don’t throw those things away when they’ve been in your wallet forever – they may still have some value. Next, I found that college students receive a 10% discount on their first online Nike purchase. Thanks for being in college, Amanda! I also have the Ebates plugin installed on my browser which saved me an additional $1.65 – a small amount, but still savings. Add in taxes of $6.93 and I bought a $110 pre-tax pair of shoes for $79.28, including tax.
Even though I saved so much on the shoes, I still initially felt a little guilty spending the money. But, after playing in them a handful of times so far, it was so worth it. I forgot what it was like to wear comfortable basketball shoes that don’t leave your feet feeling like you ran on rocks the whole day before for multiple days afterwards.
This is something that I’ve written about before, and it’s something that I struggle with sometimes as well, but spending money is okay when you’ve planned for it and it doesn’t negatively impact your financial goals. Those who are dedicated towards saving and making their money work for them often have a hard time spending it on themselves, even when that’s what they’ve saved it for.
But, sometimes it’s worth it.
