I only bought one thing on Prime Day because I'm a coward

(Image credit: Future)

I'm waiting by my door for my big Amazon Prime Day purchase: a 1TB portable hard drive.

That's right, I purchased exactly one thing during the 48-hour Prime Day sale. I looked at everything from pools, to luggage, to computers, to tools, and even clothes. I suggested a queen-sized memory foam mattress to my wife who looked at me like I was carrying Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on my shoulders.

In the end, I was too timid to plunk down hundreds of dollars across multiple discounted items. That's the problem with Amazon Prime Day: Everything looks good, but you can't buy everything. But then that paralysis, brought on by indecision and a shrinking wallet leads you - or at least me - to back off from everything.

As I noted last week, I don't really need anything Amazon is selling, but I want a lot of stuff. To ward off confusion, overspending, and more looks from my wife, I went to my safe space, which is storage.

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I agree with my colleague Michelle Rae Uy, who noted during Prime Day that we all always need more storage. I've been considering buying another portable hard drive for some time. I have an 11-year-old 500MB portable Seagate drive that, while it seems fine, I worry could fail at any moment. If it does, it will take backups going across four different jobs. I can't afford for that to happen.

Portable drive prices have been tumbling for a while, especially the less expensive spinning hard drives. SSDs still tend to be more expensive.

It didn't take me long to find a good option, a $43 Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (10% off, a deal that persisted past Prime Day). It's small (‎4.3 x 3.1 x 0.55 inches) and from a trusted brand. I expect it to arrive within a day and plan to transfer the contents of my aging drive to it ASAP.

I almost didn't even buy it. After putting the drive in my cart, I had second thoughts and left it there all day. Because I was working late on Prime Day, I was able to watch the entire event end on the East Coast of the US at midnight. Right before that, I returned to my cart and pulled the trigger.

Look at me, big Prime Day spender.

Should I have bought more? I know people who bought laptops, components, clothing, and more. I bet they're all feeling pretty good right now, and I'm feeling like a Prime Day shopping coward.

Maybe next year.

A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.