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Discussion Do you find spending money therapeutic?

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I only spend on things I can actually use or gift away. Anything that needs repairing I DIY if I can do it. Car services goes to the shop.
 
No, in the back of my mind is always the rent ( $1,730 a month in a Boston slum) & medical costs, copays & the ever rising cost of having groceries delivered. So I try to be careful with my spending
 
Do you find spending money therapeutic?
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Not at all.

Shopping for things i want is something i have a hard time doing. I'm not sure when it started but it just really bothers me to spend on those types of things. Usually after i get the items it doesn't bother me i just have a hard time "pulling the trigger" on actually getting them. I currently have some things lined up online i'd like to get that have been sitting there since before Xmas.

Shopping for things i really need is not a problem though, even if it's a large amount. Roof needs re-shingled, do it, that type of thing.
 
I sometimes do impulse purchases and there is an odd feel good about getting something new. It's like Christmas when a package comes in the mail.

In general though I don't have much disposable income these days due to inflation so I don't tend to buy stuff unless I know I'll need it and if I see it on sale then I figure may as well buy it now, than wait until I have to buy it at full price. Speaking of which, I recently bought an 18" chainsaw on sale recently and can't wait to get it, even though I won't really get to use it for a good 6 months lol.
 
Nope, not at all. Buying things I need stresses me out.
"What if I didn't get the right one? What if this one breaks?"

Buying things I want stresses me out.
"What if I am spending money on something I want, but I need something else? What if something breaks and I need this money for something else? Wouldn't this money be better used for saving or investing?"

When I am down, I usually take a walk and try to think about why I am down.
 
I don't understand people that likes spending their money. I work for every dollar, and I take care that every dollar I spend is worth it
 
igor_kavinski said:
I'm not sure if I'm the only one who has this problem.
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nope.

but if 7+ figures drops in my lap, i'm doing a Brewster's Millions and blowing 5% of that $ in a month, like experts suggests.

at least $50k on something i would never do otherwise:
- remodel my basement for home theater with 100" screen
- Hookers 3x a week.
......- 18yr old Twin girls
- International 1st class plane ticket on an Airbus A380 with private room and shower
.....-with tickets for 18yr old twin girls
.....-Mile High club
- Renting a Tesla and doing a Cannonball run from NY-CA
- Eating at Michelin star restuarants
.....-Little Inn (3 Michelin star) in VA
 
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brianmanahan said:
too bad madoka isn't here

i would love to hear his take
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Lego.

Lots of Lego.

giphy.gif
 
JEDI said:
nope.

but if 7+ figures drops in my lap, i'm doing a Brewster's Millions and blowing 5% of that $ in a month, like experts suggests.

at least $50k on something i would never do otherwise:
- remodel my basement for home theater with 100" screen
- Hookers 3x a week.
......- 18yr old Twin girls
- International 1st class plane ticket on an Airbus A380 with private room and shower
.....-with tickets for 18yr old twin girls
.....-Mile High club
- Renting a Tesla and doing a Cannonball run from NY-CA
- Eating at Michelin star restuarants
.....-Little Inn (3 Michelin star) in VA
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Guessing I’m a couple decades younger than you and fantasizing about 18 year old girls would be creepy enough for someone my age. Also Tesla is a terrible choice for a cannonball run, hour long charging breaks every 200 miles will wreck your average speed. You’ll get a better time in a Prius doing a responsible 75.
 
Not for fancy expensive stuff but I find myself vulnerable to buying the best steak I can find at the store, usually it's a ribeye..
 
I often do. My GF called it "retail therapy."
nakedfrog said:
I believe it's commonly referred to as "retail therapy" 😉
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OK, yeah, I got it from her, but figured she got it somewhere.
PowerEngineer said:
No. But my wife certainly does, and it seems she is constantly needing therapy. 💲💲💲🚽
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Reminds me of when I was working at a marina on sailboats. A quip I heard: A sailboat is like a woman, you need to supply "all the paint and powder to keep her up."
 
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BurnItDwn said:
Opposite.
Spending money I dont need to spend means I have less money to save for emergency or retirement. This stresses me out.
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Oh, I can be frugal as a motherfucker. I could write a book, believe me. But like a friend of mine said, it gets old. It's fun to loosen up and spend some money sometimes. Thrift can be a curse, you better believe. But I've never felt that I had "disposable income." My life hasn't turned out that way. I'm different than a lot of people. I've never had job security, for one thing. When I had full time jobs I used to save everything because I didn't know when I'd be out of a job. It's just the way things worked out for me.
 
SKORPI0 said:
I only spend on things I can actually use or gift away. Anything that needs repairing I DIY if I can do it. Car services goes to the shop.
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I've always been very utilitarian in my spending. Art is another thing, if it's really art, it IS useful, in its own sense (for me that's mostly music or books, being color blind I'm not in the market for paintings). I'm DIY to a fault sometimes. I've fixed and made stuff that would boggle your mind. Made my own grinder/table-saw from a dryer motor, made a saw set out of pieces of metal, wood, spring, the price tag at the hardware store for a saw set offended me.

My car's up on risers right now waiting on my long overdue oil change I figure to do before I take it out of the driveway. If I can't find out what's loose under the car making a racket when it's running I am going to take it to my shop... haven't been there since summer of 2014!
Spacehead said:
Shopping for things i really need is not a problem though, even if it's a large amount. Roof needs re-shingled, do it, that type of thing.
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I repaired my roof quite a few times, generally with a bucket of roofing tar I picked up at Home Depot. One day I realized it had gotten to the point where there was going to be drip drip dripping from the ceiling unless I called in the pros. Had the entire roof torn off and replaced by a gang of Latinos working for a largish local company. If I had it to do again I'd hire a small outfit where the owner was the crew foreman! It was too much work keeping them honest, but I did.
Olivergaci said:
I don't understand people that likes spending their money. I work for every dollar, and I take care that every dollar I spend is worth it
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Well, that's exactly the reason I'm so frugal. I spent many years struggling to get by, just make my cheap rent and have food on the table, socks on my feet... Very little in the stores looked worth the trouble I had to go through to get the money in my pocket. My obsession was to get ahead, not to spend. Every once in a while I'd buy something special, something that for me was an expense, but I had the cash. I've never been in debt.
 
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lxskllr said:
I like buying stuff, but if I don't need it, I don't buy it. Currently waiting on kippered herring, a bike pump, and a saddle.
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I have a bike pump, the kind that you stand on with one foot and crank up and down with the opposite hand. Bought it 40 years ago at local hardware store, IIRC it had a lifetime guarantee. I think they made it wrong, the tab at the bottom you put the sole of your shoe on is way out of position. Anyway it's always worked. I bought an AC pump on impulse when I spotted it at Costco over 20 years ago. It also still works fine, I use it mostly to top up my car's tires, with the help of a hand pressure gauge (battery powered). My bike's saddle is about as raggedy as it gets. In fact, my bike's so weird I figure no thief would give it a 2nd look, and I like it that way. I do all the maintenance myself and it looks it. Even so, I lock that fucker every time with a U-bolt and a thick cable. I was so pissed when my bike got pinched in the 70's I walked for years, until my foot got fucked up from running daily on crappy over-shoegooed shoes and I had to buy another used bike. Didn't have a car for 20 years... until my uncle gave me one of his.

I keep one of those cheapie plastic bike pumps on my current bike (used, I've never bought a new bike in my life) but nobody would steal it because it's duct-taped to the frame (I carry a sharp spring-loaded blade gizmo I could use to get at that pump but haven't needed to use that pump for decades, my urethane tire inserts prevent 90% of the flats I used to get).

I really do know a million ways to save money. 🙂
 
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VirtualLarry said:
Oh yeah! That's how I ended up with two routers, and seven video cards this month.

Edit: I didn't order all seven video cards this month, but I'm still paying them off.
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Two routers! Man, I was thinking a couple months ago about shopping a router, something hand held. I didn't, though. I have never had a router but suddenly had a use for one. I figured out a workaround using an old bike inner tube. 😛I wrapped the sharp edges of a wooden handle with the rubber and tucked the ends under, I like it.
Pohemi420 said:
Endorphins.

Spending money and/or obtaining new goods can produce them. Some people end up craving it, and it can become an addiction.

/thread
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I get my endorphins the old fashioned way: intense exercise Lately, 10 mile skates just about every day.
 
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Stiff Clamp said:
NOt really. But it does satisfy that provider instinct. I like browsing/hunting around looking for solutions, just to pass my downtime productively - but it leads to me discovering and buying stuff I don't actually need (hmm what have we here? how can i use THAT?). And grows my list of wants. Hooray for temptation. It's why I bought a RGB projector lamp when I have no need for colored lighting. I AM all about ambiance though.
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I'll never forget. A guy I went to high school with, didn't know him well at all... I ran into him at the university (we were undergraduates) and he said he stayed out of the stores because going in them he'd get ideas about things he didn't need. Yeah, he was, evidently, an impoverished student, but that thing he said has stuck with me because it's worth remembering. I pass over and ignore most of the junk in the stores. So much junk. Here's an apropos song.

 
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It's not the spending of the money that is therapeutic, it's the toys I get from it that keep me busy and excited that does, lol.

COVID has given me some time to do a total revamp of my pedalboard, amp/effects setup and re-wiring of the system. Plus, the 4 new guitars. My wife tells me I'm addicted to cables because of the amount of cabling that took, right after I rewired the house with fiber and Cat 7/8, new rack setup, editing system, and gaming systems for my sons.

It's all about the toys 😀 I like to tinker, what can I say? lol
 
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