My husband recently made a big purchase and got his 40″ LCD HDTV.  He’s planned this for a while, trying to find a good deal with all the features he wanted.

This is the LCD HDTV my husband got in the living room.

Deciding What He was Looking For

Here are some features my husband was looking for:

• 38″ to 42″ HDTV
• LCD (LEP or DLP would be great, but too expensive)
• 1080p
• high contrast and low latency
• He was looking for something that would be good for playing video games. (A favorite past time of his. )

Knowing what he wanted, he spread the word to his friends to keep an eye out for anything that met his criteria. People would let us know if they saw something that may be of interest to him.

Figuring Out His Budget for the TV

Once he decided what he wanted, we looked to find prices. We looked up 42″ LCD HDTVs in Google, Costco, Walmart and Amazon to get a ballpark figure. The prices were around $660-$845 for what he wanted.

What’s important at this step is to set a general idea of how much it would cost to get what you want. Later on, as you get closer, you can focus on getting a better deal and haggling. You just need a number to start saving.

Build Savings for Your Big Purchase

He was able to purchase the TV at a good deal by not rushing into a purchase. He was patient and waited for a deal to pop up to take advantage of.

My husband does not currently have credit cards, so he planned ahead that he would pay all up front. He set something aside into his individual savings for a TV.

My husband can mentally separate what money belongs to what savings goal. All of his individual savings goes into one savings account deemed the ‘I want this’ account.

I prefer creating a specific sub savings account for a goal to help me stay motivated and focused. I automate deposits into my savings account. I don’t take chances and I protect myself from spending from my emergency fund or another goal’s account.

It took a few months, but he got what he wanted. He would’ve preferred 42″ but it hasn’t really been that big of a deal for him.

Looking for more information on buying electronics?

If you’re looking for more tips, I wrote a longer post on making major purchases like TVs and computers. It’s a pretty useful post; talking about extended warranties, price protections, and some specific tips on price comparing.

What about you? Do you have any tips for making big purchases?

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