I Did A Bad, Bad Thing

I bought an iPod Touch. Now, you may be wondering why a social media enthusiast like myself is out there buying a iPod Touch instead of an iPhone, and the truth is that it came down to cold, hard cash.

The problem was that both my husband and I have a T-Mobile account and neither of our contracts are up until February of next year. So in order to get an iPhone, I would either have to pony up the full asking price of the phone ($600) or pay the termination fee ($200) and then purchase the iPhone ($200) with the new AT&T contract. While the second option seems the most reasonable, both my husband and I agreed that we wouldn’t switch to AT&T until we can both cancel our T-Mobile contracts. The last thing we wanted is two cell phone bills for the next 6+ months. Also, when you’re trying to be frugal, it’s very hard to justify spending $600 or $400 on something that would only be $200 if you could be patient and wait.

Anyone who knows me, though, will know that being patient is not one of my strong suits. I am actually known in my family as the one who has shaking Christmas presents down to a science. And when shaking is unsuccessful, I will pull a corner back and take a peek. (For the record, I am now no longer allowed to touch any presents prior to opening them.)

So of course I’ve been looking for an angle that would allow me to get my hands on an iPhone for sometime. Unfortunately, my husband, newly pragmatic when it comes to money management, only saw the waste of spending the extra money and had no interest in the absolute and total joy that accompanies the holding of a shiny new device in my greedy little hands.

Enter the iPod Touch. The $300 8 GB iPod Touch.

I would be lying if I said that this article didn’t put the thought into my head. I wondered, if what I’m really looking to do is demo some darn apps and browse a few iPhone enabled websites like FFtoGo.com, then isn’t the Touch is all I really need? (That is, ahem, for now).

After convincing my husband of the practicality of this purchase (I can sell it in February to pay for the iPhone!), it was off to Target. Today, I’m the proud owner of the nifty little device and I get to play with a lot, if not all, of the apps that the iPhone owners are cooing about.

Am I still getting the iPhone come February? Heck yes. But at least I have something to tide me over until then.

Oh, and why is this a “bad, bad thing?” Because the husband wants to keep the device for himself now. That brings us up to $500 by the time I get the iPhone. So much for saving money.