Prime Day had the opposite of the intended effect on me. I'm flexing the BA muscle today and I'm watching hundreds in savings pile up.
BACKGROUND: I went through a prolonged period of turbulence and financial ups and downs at age 30-31, and then in October of 2010 I got the job I have now. And then I started making up for lost time. I was grossing nearly 110k in wages in a super LCOL with a $436 mortgage, rent-paying roomies, paid-off car, and STILL blowing everything I made. Borderline compulsive shopping, no exaggeration. And since I have never liked driving around town to get things, Amazon is where I did the most shopping, with eBay a distant second.
BABY STEPS: As I started realizing how dumb my habits were, and getting serious about using this latest employment opportunity to permanently break the cycle of debt and job frustration, I started using wish lists to delay spending on things that seemed cool, but might not be entirely necessary. They also ended up being useful for not-entirely-stupid things like educational books, work tools, hardware, and supplies. But in the end, it was still a place to go fishing if I was bored and felt like dropping some change. If all else failed, I knew there was something at least moderately interesting on the "Random Fun" or "Media" lists. And damn, did the lists ever get long. This morning there were almost 40 things between those two alone.
TODAY: Out of indignation at the sheer chutzpah of these motherfuckers arbitrarily inventing a new shopping holiday on which to push me toward high-margin dumbass purchases, I decided that not only would I buy nothing, I would start whacking away at these lists that had gone from an exercise in restraint to just another liability. I'm gonna keep the book lists until I turn the corner on this overcommitted, 3-jobs, sprinting-toward-FIRE phase of life and find time to check the library for a few of them, and then I'll start whittling away there. I'm also keeping the lists intact for hardware and lighting (I track and test new LEDs just like MMM does, and as an EE and a landlord I not only use them all but maintain useful expertise that benefits others). However, ones centered on entertainment, media, toys, and kitchen luxuries are taking heavy fire at the moment. :D
Current tally: appx 45 items worth at least $1500. Still firing.