A few weeks ago, my beloved iPhone 1G, otherwise known as the iPhone OG (original gangster), who served our family for four long years, also known as my frugal iPhone (old = frugal), took a fateful dive off my lap while I was sitting on a park bench, landed on some snaggly concrete, and cracked. I’m reposting this article in memoriam of him. RIP OG. 

So, you’ve heard about Lifestyle Creep, that little bugger who comes in and ties up all your extra money while you aren’t paying attention.

But have you heard about the other creep that steals your cash?

Let me set the stage to introduce you…

Not too long ago, A-Rob and I were lying in bed, whispering sweet nothings to each other as we drifted off to sleep – which means we were saying all those last minute before-I-forget-to-tell-you’s that we hadn’t had time to fit into our normal waking hours that day.

Then A-Rob, while yawning, brought up the subject of his laptop.

“You know, my laptop is almost 3 years old. I have a feeling that one of these days it’ll hit its limit and die.  Maybe we should start putting away a small amount of money each month as a laptop replacement fund.”

“You mean, like an emergency fund for your laptop?” I said, halfway jokingly, because at the time of this conversation we were stretched so thin, we were barely contributing to any sort of savings at all.

“Yes,” A-Rob said…not so jokingly.

And that, my friends, is what you call Electronics Creep.  A-Rob’s laptop is such an integral part of his daily operations, he really would be dead in the proverbial water if it died.

And his laptop is a Mac.  You know what they say about that – once you go Mac, you’ll never go back (or is it bac?).

So, on that fateful day when MacBook kicks the bucket, we’ll have to come up with a fresh $2000 for a new one (on second thought, he may have a good idea with that laptop emergency fund).

I felt the electronics creep again when I recently became the proud owner of an iPhone.

Sure, it was a hand-me-down 1st generation given to me when A-Rob traded up for the new model, but the first thing I thought when I started using it was, “crap, when this phone breaks, I’ll have to spring a few hundred for a new one.”

Because you know what they say, once you go iPhone, you’ll never go back – and I know that doesn’t even rhyme or sound clever but it is sooo true.

If you have one, you know.

So what about you, do you have an emergency fund for your computer?

Update: A-Rob’s laptop eventually died after posting this.  Thankfully we had enough in our regular emergency fund to replace it. Score one for savings accounts! Next week I’ll tell you about how I sold my cracked iPhone on eBay.

Be Sociable, Share!

•