resisting temptation

  DH and I avoid financing anything.  On the whole, we live by the rule of "If you can't pay cash, you don't buy it".  However, sometimes its really hard to not fall into the trap of financing.  For example: I really really want to get a trailer for camping, but we just don't have the cash.  As my GF pointed out today you can finance them for $100 mth. Granted at $100  a mth. you would pay on it forever, but it would mean I would get my trailer now.  We aren't going to do it, but, its still appealing IYKWIM.  Ugh. why can't we just win the lotto.  I swear it feels like it will take forever to save the money to get one  Anyone else find it hard at times to resist the financing beast?  

It is tough. I really struggled with the thought of having a car payment when I got my van. My car was in great shape, just too small for 2 large carseats, esp. rear facing. We've worked so hard not to have monthly payments (other than student loans-ugh) I just didn't want to go there. The safety aspect won out, but we're trying to pay it off as quick as we can. There's been many other times we've been tempted, too, but remembering how hard it was to make all those monthly payments back in the day does make it easier to resist! 

DH and I want a super simple basic camper, but we also realize that the amount of time we could use it is minimal, so we are going to go cheap, when we do finally take the jump AS in an something that is 15-20 years old but kept up really well. It has to be smaller so our van can tow it, but not a pup up (we live in bear country and a pop up is a tent on wheels and in some places not even allowed)

ODS is now in soccer on the weekends (through the summer) and I know that activities will only increase as the kids get older. My sister's friend has a nice camper and they used to go out weekly, but since the kids got older and activities started they have not even taken it out for the last 2 summers.

We are fortunate that we can also park it at our home behind the fence and no HOA to worry about, but I would not pay for something and then pay to store it.

It is tough saying "no" when you want something, but I am with you, I can't stand to have a payment. We currently have zero payments (just house) and I really don't want to go back to making payments any time soon.

What helps me not want to finance anything is running numbers and looking at how much the financing fees and interest increase the total amount paid over time. For "extra" stuff, definitely not worth it to me. For necessary things like cars or med procedures we usually have cash saved, and typically the only way we will finance something is with a 0% or even 1% rate, because at that kind of rate I figure the money is better off staying invested in our accounts earning much more than that. When we havent had cash on hand and had to finance something (major medical bills and mortgage) it was really tough to know that so much was not even paying down the principal. :(

We have one car payment and a mortgage. We do finance things- we did our roof with 6 months interest free and paid it off in 6 months. We also did our whole house flooring with 12 months interest free and paid it off in 12 months. IMO there is no problem with it if you are smart about what you finance, shop for deals, ask for interest free (sometimes they will do 12 months instead of 6 if they are matching someone else!) and pay it off before the time is up. It allows us to do what we need/want, without paying extra and also not spending emergency money.