HT and the economy...

[George Bellefontaine]

Well, the slowdown has finally caught up with me.Being retired, my income is affected by interest rates, and with them so low right now,my personal banker is telling me I have to adjust what I want to draw as income from my investments next year.This means I will probably be putting off any really big upgrades in the near future, and my DVD CRAZY MONEY will also be less, so I will probably be renting more and buying less.

I am also noticing a lot of price slashing with electronic retailers, so it is probably a good time to buy if you do have a little cash socked away. Just not a good time for me.

Awww, I'm not complaining. My equipment is in pretty good shape and I have a shelf full of dvds I haven't even unwrapped yet.




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[P-Dub]

Hmm, maybe you could make a game of it, like you have to watch all those unwatched DVD's before you buy a new one. Would you last a year?
I'm at 75 unwatched titles, and about 4 titles are still shrink wrapped. Something about having to break the shrinkwrap and putting it on the shelf. Which reminds me, I've got to shop for a new shelf, put that off for too long.

[Lex]

Lots of retirement plans have been trashed between the stock market and interest rates! I have more of mine in bonds right now, though they fluctuate some too.

I agree, it's lean times ahead for a good while. Of course, for me, that's a way of life, not just this year, even though my HT doesn't seem to show it, lol.

with your collection George, if you watch one a day, your good for what, 3-5 years? lol.

Lex

[Markj]

Sorry to hear that you will be hurt by the current economic environment George. The video stores are having much better selection of DVDs to rent. And for this reason I was thinking that this next year I would start renting more.

[George Bellefontaine]

Yeah, renting is probably going to be more popular for me. I have also noticed that dvd prices seem to be creeping upwards in Canada. It's probably the weak Canadian dollar.

Lex,
as far as a time line on how many years it would take to view all my movies... if I watched 1 a day, it would probably take 6 years. Sheesh, at my age I am happy to wake up any given morning, so I don't look that far ahead.




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[Lex]

George, I am sorry to hear of your retirement changes. I was thinking about that, and have you ever thought about thinning your collection? Is there a place that buys used locally?

It might be a way to keep on buying, without spending cash, and without renting as much. This keeps fresh movies coming in, and you get rid of the ones you don't care for as much or your simply tired of. Not only would it thin your collection a bit, over the long haul it will improve the quality of it. Just a thought.

Lex

[George Bellefontaine]

Yeah, Lex, I have been watchjing for that sort of thing.In the latter days of laserdisc, some dealers used to have a trade bin. You put one in and selected a replacement for a small handling charge.So far there isn't anything like that, though it will probably happen eventually.
Cutting back on buying is probably a good thing, as I often find myself buying titles I should have rented first to see if I really want it for my collection.So I'll rent more and buy only those titles I really feel I'll enjoy the second time around.




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[SiliGoose]

Cutting back on buying is probably a good thing

That, unfortunately, is exactly the opposite of what we need. We need to get out and spend money. I don't have a lot but I'm making sure not to slow my spending at all. I'm living my life like September 11 never happened (from a financial perspective).




-Sili

[George Bellefontaine]

Sili's correct, however when things are bad it's a catch twenty two situation.We should be spending to beef up the economy, but with layoffs and wages affected it's pretty hard to do. That's why slowdowns drag on so long.
But believe me, I don't plan to stop buying dvds or anything else. I just have to be more selective to make the dollars stretch.




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