Here are a few of my handy tips to help you decide whether you should go ahead and buy that new X:
(1) Think about cost in terms of the work you had to do to buy it, not just the sale price. You are (most often) buying X with post-tax income so add your tax back on.
(2) Think about the opportunity cost of making the purchase, or "what can't I afford if I buy X?"
(3) Consider whether you are just buying X because it is a status object and whether there is a cheaper alternative (do you really need that merc when you can get from a->b in a honda? and so on).
In choosing what things are important to spend money on I'd generally echo others comments - people looking back over their lifetimes tend to value experiences they had more than junk they bought so spend your money buying experiences.
(1) Think about cost in terms of the work you had to do to buy it, not just the sale price. You are (most often) buying X with post-tax income so add your tax back on.
(2) Think about the opportunity cost of making the purchase, or "what can't I afford if I buy X?"
(3) Consider whether you are just buying X because it is a status object and whether there is a cheaper alternative (do you really need that merc when you can get from a->b in a honda? and so on).
In choosing what things are important to spend money on I'd generally echo others comments - people looking back over their lifetimes tend to value experiences they had more than junk they bought so spend your money buying experiences.