MATH: Spending So Much on Something You're Afraid to Use it is Worse than Puberty

Recently, I've had some freelance income that has left me with enough money to both feed myself AND pay rent before going into debt.

Clearly this means it's time to shop - my pent-up demand has existed since long before the recession started.

Unfortunately, necessity-based frugality is not something that you overcome immediately. I may go out and eat a dinner here and there, because logically I'm aware I can afford it, but no amount of staring at an existing bank-balance will cure me of the half-conviction that I can't. I may buy my friends a round of beers, sufficiently capable of suppressing my gut impulse to tell them "but only PBRs," but it takes will.

And I may be able to buy something nice, either because I need it, or because dammit, I want it, but lord knows I won't be able to use/wear/take-off-the-plastic-sleeve-from it.

Is this like gaining and losing weight, where it's relatively simple to pack on the things you refuse to spend money on, but will take you months upon months to undo the work of a few bad jobs?

I don't know the answer, but lord knows I'm not going to find out the using-this-stuff way...

-Posted by Jilly