Falling Off the Wagon

[Free at 55]

As a Mustachian myself, I was ashamed and a little depressed after recently falling off the wagon in the frugality department. After years of sensible spending, I went on a bit of binge recently. New car, new king size mattress, new barbecue, new iPad, upgraded home alarm system, and vacations.
I feel like a schmuck. It's like a financial hangover. I don't know what got into me. It's like I'm overcome with guilt, shame, and remorse.
The good part is, no debt, and still lots of spare cash to live a stress free lifestyle, knowing I can just pull the plug on work at any time.
I still can't figure out what got into me though.
Maybe a misguided short term feeling of deprivation.
That, and too lazy to change out the grills, burners, and heat deflectors on the bbq.

[Jon_Snow]

I have the financial wherewithal do such things as well. And I have been feeling tempted by many things of late. This couldn't happen at a worse time as I am in the home stretch towards FI/ER.

I wonder if it's my subconscious trying to tell me that I really don't want to ER. Been saving and investing diligently for over a decade and I have never felt such a desire to buy "stuff". Weird.

[CarDude]

Maybe it's time to check in with your personal value system. Mine didn't use to be okay with anything more than used mattresses. Now it only includes new ones. It's okay.

[Nudelkopf]

I feel like a schmuck. It's like a financial hangover. I don't know what got into me. It's like I'm overcome with guilt, shame, and remorse.

Oh man, me too. My spending has just gotten out of control, and I've even been avoiding the forums because I feel so crappy. Like, I'm a fake Mustachian, and I'm just waiting for you guys to realise I'm actually a massive spendypants. (My goal was $12k for the year, and I'm already at $9k of that, wah).

[sly]

I feel like a schmuck. It's like a financial hangover. I don't know what got into me. It's like I'm overcome with guilt, shame, and remorse.

Oh man, me too. My spending has just gotten out of control, and I've even been avoiding the forums because I feel so crappy. Like, I'm a fake Mustachian, and I'm just waiting for you guys to realise I'm actually a massive spendypants. (My goal was $12k for the year, and I'm already at $9k of that, wah).

that was a pretty aggressive goal to start with though. You could revise it upward and  then re-group at the end of the year to set a new target for 2015. You might still get to your target, but it's a marathon not a sprint.

[ThriftyD]

Free at 55, I think it's great that you feel guilty or have a "hangover" feeling after making such extravigant purchases.  That means that you're doing someting right! :).  Just because we have the wherewithal to support a fancy lifestyle, doesn't mean we should.  Kudos on knowing you did something wrong and use it as a reminder and motivator in the future.

Just like when we go out drinking too much.  We feel that nasty hangover and tell ourselves we won't ever go out and drink that much again but too often we forget how horrible that hangover felt.  It's important to remember how miserable we felt so that we don't do it again.   

[William]

If you really feel that bad, sell all the stuff.  If you don't want to sell the stuff, then don't feel bad about it.

[Cassie]

sometimes things wear out and we need to replace them. It sounds like you just replaced many things at once. It might feel better to spread them out.  I have also found out that sometimes the parts to repair are so expensive it is better to buy new. When our dryer died a part it needed was over $200 but I only spent $300 on a new one. I also had a similar experience with a 17 yo gas stove-even though we did not have to pay for labor it did not pay to fix the old one.

[Heart of Tin]

sometimes things wear out and we need to replace them. It sounds like you just replaced many things at once. It might feel better to spread them out.  I have also found out that sometimes the parts to repair are so expensive it is better to buy new. When our dryer died a part it needed was over $200 but I only spent $300 on a new one. I also had a similar experience with a 17 yo gas stove-even though we did not have to pay for labor it did not pay to fix the old one.

Last Fall I looked around my apartment, and computed the estimated lifetime, maintenece cost, and replacement cost (for those things which I will replace when they break or become obsolete) of everything I own. This gave me a ballpark of what my monthly budget should be. It was certainly eye-opening. There is a big difference between what I have spent over the past year that I've been tracking my expenses and what my life actually costs to maintain.