Lately, ever since right before I went on my trip to Taiwan, I bought a few in my opinion, big ticket items I thought I would need or use:
ASUS EEEPC, $399
MyPower Universal Rechargeable, approx $129
Tokina Wide Angle Lens $450
Palm Tungsten E2 $72 (Ebay)
Wrestling Tickets $300 (Anniv. present)
Plecodict Software $119
Plus other miscellaneous items in the past three months. I don’t regret buying any of the items except for the MyPower which I may end up selling on ebay. I thought it would be useful in powering my laptop, my DS, my camera, but when it came to it, I realized that the only thing I would really use it for was my laptop during an airplane flight. I used it twice. But I just don’t travel very much. I have enough gadgets to keep me fairly occupied on a long flight.
What I do regret however, is buying them in such close vicinity together at their given prices. I tried to rationalize each of the purchases – the ASUS EEEPC being a terrific travel companion when travelling in Taiwan – which it was. The MyPower Battery for the airplane (which it wasn’t). The Tokina – a lens I had told myself I would purchase after going to Europe and missing that wide view, went to Taiwan, still found I really missed it on so many shots that I immediately came back and purchased the Tokina so I wouldn’t miss it for futher trips. Palm + Plecodict – hey, I need to learn Chinese after purchasing a Chinese novel. And wrestling tickets – couldn’t think of anything else as an anniversary gift! Everything had its rationale but at the same time, none of it was rational.
I’ve often prided myself on being frugal with my money, but lately, I’ve been missing the ball and it’s frustrating to me. I list all my expenses in a spreadsheet to help me budget, but lately, even looking at the numbers add up in my spreadsheet, it hasn’t prevented me from really stopping on the gas so to speak. I always tell myself “next month, next month I will do better” when I overstep my bounds in the current month. I’m not in debt or anything, but I’ve always thought being more simple brought me the same amount of happiness. In fact, I spend so much time charging my gadgets, syncing them, organizing my pictures, correcting my pictures, uploading my pictures, burning files. Most of my leisurely time is spent organizing and maintaining instead of enjoying. I sometimes think about how much more social I might be if I had nothing at home that it would force me to go out and interact with my peers and heaven forbid, meet new people.
I find writing this right now truly is keeping in check. So today, as I write this, I vow not to spend more than $200 next month (this month I’ve already failed) not counting gas but including going out to eat.
Have any of you been having one of these months as well? Where you tell yourself to stay within a limit, but you not only go over but way over? What makes us do things we know we will regret? Where’s our discipline? Don’t we consciously know that we won’t really receive any direct happiness of long-term pleasure from what we are purchasing but just very short term or superficial?