Hasta La Gadget!

A new survey conducted by Bankrate.com reported that a quarter of Americans had no savings to weather financial hard times. It didn’t matter if the respondents were relatively higher earners: Folks are spending pretty much what they make. Impulse purchases are definitely a culprit here, along with the refusal to make saving a priority.

The world of retail is exceptionally good at keeping the Rainy Day Fund drier than the Mojave Desert on the Fourth of July, as retailers bank on you parking your money in things that depreciate in value rather than in an account that earns compound interest. Some retailers have adapted to the new challenges of emptying consumers’ pockets by allowing shoppers to order online, then pick up the items in the store where the snares of impulse purchases are set with mercenary skill.

The age-old secret to curbing impulse buys — using cash — might help; and, sure, you can start a slush fund for special purchases. But if you are susceptible to impulse buying, there may just come a day when you succumb to the thrills of buying something you don’t need without knowing why you did it. And if you charge it to a credit card, and that purchase pushes your balance past 10% of your line of available credit, you could hurt your credit score. Why? Your amount of debt accounts for a whopping 30% of your credit score – and charging more than 10% of your available credit can do some damage.

If you hope to avoid the perils of using too much credit by using a debit card, fine. Just keep in mind that a data breach at your favorite e-tailer – or retailer — could lead to your bank account getting drained by the bad guys.

If Yogi Berra were still with us, he might say that the secret to stopping impulse purchases is to stop buying things on impulse. Here are some places to start.

1. Groceries You Don’t Need (or Really Even Want)

Supermarkets and smaller purveyors of foodstuffs are designed to get you in and out in two ways: One is the outer ring where you will find produce, dairy, meats and fish, and frozen foods — and with the exception of the latter, if you stay to that outer ring, you will not see a lot of the things you don’t need to buy. Start spelunking those dastardly aisles on the inner-ring that is the realm of expensive processed foods, however, and the retail-twitchy among us are doomed. Unless you really do need Lucky Charms and Flowers of Hawaii-scented tea…. (You do not.)

2. The Beverage-Dispensing Hat

This is a catch-all for the ridiculously silly or useless things that we occasionally buy while we are out and about, especially with acquisitive children who think cute or novel items are the fruit that grows on the proverbial money tree.

3. Certain Types of Clothing (You Know What I’m Talking About)

Whether you are shopping online or in a store that sells clothing, you should be on high alert. How many pairs of whatever just hit you with the Stun Gun of Extreme Want do you really need? Take a deep breath, and walk away from the re-issued 1950s jeans. Are they really worth $300? Shoes are also a good example of this. Marilyn Monroe once said, “Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.” This may be true, but if you are crippled by debt, expensive shoes are not so much a good buy, as a good-bye to fiscal well-being.

4. Supersizing Everything

How much extra does it cost to supersize something? Let’s say you do that four times a week: maybe it’s $1 today, but if you do that once a week it’s a full $52 a year you could be saving, not to mention the extra trip (or two) to the gym.

5. Gaming

The gaming industry increasingly allows gamers to download new video games for free, but you’re going to pay dearly if you want to get cool stuff that makes the game actually fun to play.

6. Apps

Not much to say here that you don’t already know: It adds up. This financial death by a thousand cuts will not only leave you an angry bird, but the pigs will happily grunt all the way to the bank. Save the money, and the time you spent on being “less productive” (i.e., completely useless).

7. Theme Parks & Midway Games of Chance

While there’s a vague sense of accomplishment to have guided a claw to the perfect spot for it to drop and seize the fluffy blue bunny for the love of your life, it’s also really a lot more expensive than simply buying one. The theme park rides aren’t anywhere near the scariest part of the trip. It’s $100 per person for starters, then there’s parking, food and anything and everything else you buy at the theme park. Camping, anyone?

8. Lottery Tickets

You stand a better chance of being picked by Adam, Shakira, Usher or Blake to be on The Voice than winning these things. ‘Nuff said.

9. Latte & Lunch

Consider brown-bagging it and drinking the coffee at work — or bring a Thermos with you! The average American spends more than $3,000 a year on lunch and coffee, according to a recent study.

While saving money might be less fun in the short run, it gets easier and more rewarding once you decide to do it and see the fruits of your self-control as your bank balances start to lift. Furthermore, if your love of impulse buying is leading you to spend more than you earn, the interest you pay from carrying debt will eat away at your future efforts to save. If you’re maxing out your credit cards, too, your credit scores will feel the pain, which will lead to higher interest rates – and probably less savings – for you in the long run. (You can see how your debt is affecting your credit for free at Credit.com, which gives you two credit scores, along with a breakdown of what’s affecting them.)

If you are rigorous, you can have a six-month cushion in the bank in no time — but you have to take the first step, which in many cases is a non-step. Leave the items on the shelf (virtual or otherwise) and keep your wallet in your pocket.

Ernesto Neto is an artist comfortable in himself. So comfortable in fact, he managed to dose off during our shoot in his studio in Rio de Janeiro. We blamed it on the heat and not our company of course.

When awake, the artist was lively and outspoken, and this sense of self-assuredness is not surprising given his creative success over the years.

Known for his biomorphic sculptural environments, he was originally inspired by the Brazilian Neo-Concrete movement in the 1950s and 1960s which saw him develop his signature nylon sacks filled with a variety of materials including sand. His work is exhibited at Tate London and MoMA among others and he represented Brazil during the 2001 Venice Biennale.

His minimalist work is made accessible through its call for interaction. Viewers are encouraged to poke, mould and in some instances walk through the pieces.

During the sticky afternoon that we spent with Neto in his studio he told a story about watching his son take his first steps only a few feet away from where we were sitting to help bring to life his interest in gravity – one of the prevalent themes in his work. The story also demonstrated his respect for simplicity.

His believe in keeping things simple, or perhaps subtle extends to his opinions on politics in art. In our interview Neto comments on art being too political, too in your face. Perhaps this is a hangover from the times he has lived through post-dictatorship in the late eighties and as a result of social unrest in the lead up to the World Cup over the last 18 months. Regardless, his message was clear: art is political without trying to make it political.

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