I’ve been on some pretty fantastic dinners, but no matter how great they were, in hindsight, I’ve said, that I’d rather have 5-7 chain restaurant meals, going home for some simple ice cream and an after dinner drink.

Bubelah wrote: “I would not spend much money on the “quality” electronics though. B/c technology changes almost every week, you won’t keep up, the electronics will become obsolete and you are forced to buy updated versions, etc.”

I disagree. I’ve owned the same stereo equipment since the mid ’80’s (Onkyo with baby Advent speakers), our 2 TV’s (Zenith) are at least 18 years old, our computers (HP, Compaq, and Mac mini) are various ages but we always expect at least 5-7 active, high-use years out of them, my daughter has a 2nd generation iPod mini that’s still going strong and with the help of an iHome wakes her up every morning, and I have a 1st generation iPod nano that keeps me company while I exercise and keeps my drive time commercial-free. My Motorola cell phone has to be 5+ years old — what a work-horse it is.

If you do your research, wait until you can afford the best quality you can find, maintain and not mis-treat your equipment, and then keep it until it absolutely must be replaced, you can expect to receive the same value for your electronics money as any other product.

Half the battle with electronics is being satisfied with a product that meets your needs and not wanting the latest and greatest just because it’s available.