When you evaluate and go over every purchase you make, it doesn’t make a difference if it’s a $2000 item or a $2 item.
Perceived value of the item to your lifestyle is a big factor.
For me, if I need to spend $300 on something that will make my life easier — I am going to do it rather than spend $3 on something that is useless.
In my earlier example, I balked at spending $15 + tax on a pair of traveling chopsticks, and ended up finding a solution at $2.50 for childrens’
chopsticks instead.
Some might have said:
JUST SPEND THE $15 already!
You have all these expensive electronics and hard drives and you can’t even fork over $15?
All I could think was:
But I am not going to use them all the time.
It’s more of a Emergency Food Kit thing, and not something that is going to have a huge impact on my life if I buy them.
Some might call it “Cost-Per-Use”, as a different name, but whatever way you decide to call what you’re doing, it’s a good start to thinking about what you need and what you don’t.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
I do this all the time! People think I’m a weirdie. It makes me feel good to know I’m not the only one. 🙂
I agree. This is similar to a syndrome many people have when there’s a sale.
I used to think, it’s on sale, maybe I would need it. But no. That should not be the case.
When I shop for bigger items I tend to do a little research and then set what I think I can bear to part with before I go to buy something on the day. It takes a lot to get me to budge over that amount. The main idea I use these days is to ask myself if the item in question was something I had planned to purchase before I left the house, or if I’m just finding it a temptation at this moment. There are things I plan to buy and go get nearly immediately and others that I just think would be useful and I’ll get one when I find one I like, but it’s not critical to go hunt for it. I do find that a lot of the things that tempt me I like because they are hand crafted and my temptation is to try to figure out how they made it and do it myself…I should live so long.
For all the times I have found myself needing a simple multimeter (I do a lot of my own terrible wiring work), it took me years to finally drop… $15 on a multimeter. I even avoided it once by spending $8 on a continuity tester. Stupid. But, I didn’t want to drop $15 on something I only use once a year or so.
I think it is a good “money muscle” to flex and keep strong. Sometimes I realise I have started to spend way too much time attempting to save on something not worth it, but I think if it is your natural inclination to be weighing this stuff up as you spend your money, that’s generally a positive thing.