Spending Money on Tech Toys

This evening I spent a little bit of time in Frys to “buy stuff,” though I ended up walking out empty handed. I had three reasons for going into Frys this evening: I had some time to kill, I have a $100 gift certificate at Frys I got for Christmas, and my wife told me I can spend a small amount of money.

When I first met my wife, I was spending way too much money at places like Frys–money I didn’t have. In fact, I had run up about $16,000 in credit card debt. I put an end to that. I also put an end to needless shopping sprees at places like Frys and CD Warehouse, where I used to pick up a number of Import CDs.

For the longest time, I felt really guilty about spending my own money on anything I couldn’t easily justify, and the bar for justification is pretty high now a days. Part of that came from the simple fact I did not want to have to run purchases past my wife, and part of it is that I sometimes can get other people to pay for stuff.

One of the topics that came up when my wife and I talked last week was related to money. I mentioned to her that I didn’t feel comfortable spending any money, mostly because I was so irresponsible with it before. Now I can spend a certain amount of money each month and not have to justify it.

Armed with the ability to spend money guilt-free, I found several things that might have been “nice to have,” but nothing that I truly needed or wanted. I have been thinking about a new computer, or at least upgrading the one I have. It’s also a way to upgrade my son’s computer as he usually ends up with the parts from my old computer. Either way, it’s more than I want to spend, especially considering my existing computer isn’t horrible in terms of speed for what I use it for. I also don’t need to “build” another computer. What a horrible time sink I don’t need right now.

I guess I’ll just live with the toys I’ve already got for now.