Help me rationalize my purchases- or Zoggie went shopping...

Okay, it’s not what you think…It’s just in the past couple of days, the semester has ended and I go to school in New York, so…shopping!

In particular, I went shopping for myself today. I figure, since my exams are through, and I don’t celebrate Christmas, I should get something, right? I ended up buying about 80 dollars worth of books at the university bookstore…and a CD at Tower Records.

It’s not that I can’t afford it. I’ve got plenty of money in the account, which I probably won’t be using again for another month. It’s just I feel guilty about splurging and spending money on myself. I don’t know why, though. Some part of me is screaming, “No! Don’t spend anything, save it all for later.” And I guess part of me is feeling bad for spending money when the stereotypical college student is scraping the barrel…should I be buying hardcovers, HARDCOVERS, of all things?

…Am I a bad person for indulging myself?

I spent my textbook money on leather pants once upon a time. I am no worse off for it, and I still have the pants lo these many years later.

I’m a firm believer of treating oneself to a little sumthin’ extra every now and then.

Enjoy your moment of extravagance and do it again in a few months. Maybe you can treat yourself to a plane ticket to St. Louis. :wink:

[sub]I’m a shameless whore, I know that, I just can’t help myself[/sub]

Crunchy? Where have you BEEN? you missed my birthday thread that I devoted to you…or tried to. <cries> I feel abandoned.

Personally, I’m confused by the question. You’re asking for a reason to buy books? Is this some kind of self-affirmation thing like “How do I justify my breathing?”

Books are. We buy. Such is the order of this universe.

True. I just felt like maybe I should go to the library instead…or something…

Never have I considered books a waste of money, except maybe for that time I was convinced by a friend and bought one of the Oprah Bookclub yawners.

Books or food? What a stupid question . . . Books, of course!

I ought to buy stock in Amazon.com. I keep that company in business.

Go to the library? Are you insane? They always want the books back! And send you increasingly threatening letters if you don’t return them.

Hardcovers are worth the extra money. They last much longer.

I’ve been laid off my job at AT&T, then had to give up my apartment and moved around a bit and looking for a new job, and in short (too late) too busy to check the SDMB for quite a few months there.

If you want, my e-mail is available below, send me a link to that thread and I’ll check it out.

Gosh, I’m sorry. I hope things pick up, man. I’ll e-mail you the link…

I hope you aren’t supposed to feel guilty. Otherwise, I’ll have to endure extreme guilt over my end-of-semester CD shopping spree (final ticket, $70). Though we celebrate Christmas, my family doesn’t do much in the way of gifts, so I figure I won’t be receiving, but I can spend the money I’d otherwise spend on gifts on myself. The best part is everyone gets what they want this way!

AMEN, FIZGIG!

I’ve been trying to convince everyone I know to do this. If everybody just spent all that Christmas money on one really cool thing for themselves, rather than a bunch of stupid small things for everyone else, EVERY Christmas would be a hell of a lot more fun.

I’m not 100% on this policy…I still buy gifts for other people…but only people I actually like and want to buy for. I have absolutely no guilt about skipping certain relatives who just annoy me all year long. (My brother, for one. For years he never got me anything–or something really stupid–and I always went out of my way to get him something cool anyway. I’m over it now.)

And the money I save, I spend on myself. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME.

:smiley:

Just remind yourself that this is your end-of-year bonus for finishing the semester.

You remind me of this guy. I originally read about him in a recent issue of People (that’s right… I live for trashy magazines!), where he was quoted as saying something like, “I feel bad buying things for myself when there are others in need,” or something like that.

And I don’t blame you for the guilt, Zoggie. But I agree with Crunchy–you gotta indulge yourself every now and then.

Just, if you’re going to give away millions of bucks to assuage the guilt, may I be the first in line?

That is true, auntie em, and everyone else.

We don’t celebrate Christmas either…being Muslim (well…non-practicing), kids get money on Eid, so I got seventy bucks a couple weeks back. Of course, I spent more than that, but I could afford it.

So while there are a lot of people with a lot less than me, there are also going to be those with a lot more. :slight_smile:

Hey-- does anyone actually want to know what stuff I got?

Do tell…