I drive 15k miles per year.
I currently have a lease for $317/mo that expires in August. I can terminate the lease early by paying off the amount due ($951).
I will need a vehicle to replace my current one.
I've found a hail-damaged 2010 Prius with 115k miles for $6,500, which is the lowest price (by $1k) for such a car I've seen in the past 2 months on a variety of sites, including Craigslist. This makes it competitive with my second and third picks, a Civic and a Scion xD.
I've put away $2,000 since mid April in anticipation of buying a vehicle when my lease ends. At this rate I'll have $4.5k if I wait until August to buy a car with cash, or $6.5k if I dip into my emergency savings.
Rather than save up for a replacement vehicle and paying for it in cash in August, I could instead take out a 3.19% loan for the Prius. Doing so would allow me to put that surplus cash into my ~6.5% APR student loan, and would reduce my monthly car cost from $317/mo to $176/mo. Over the 3 years of the loan I'll wind up a couple grand ahead by getting the Prius now.
At the same time, this does fit the definition of spending money I don't have.
What would you do?