In advance, I was not sure where to post this; OffMyChest, NoStupidQuestions or here. Decided to do it here because it is mainly a question. However, I thought it do be better explaining it a little as well.
When I was younger, I could not really get the luxuries I wanted. Just like many others, my parents did not have heaps of wealth to spend. I did not have it bad, got a roof above my head, education, food and such. Parents would spend on luxuries if they could. My siblings usually bought the more expensive things (Atari, Nintendo, PS1 and PS2 etc). My parents did purchase PS4 and a decent gaming pc for me back in the day. One time my father told me ‘’if you just show that you are seriously studying and if money allows, I will get you anything in luxury. However, money is the boss’’ (money is the boss as in, only if we got enough money to spent for it and not get into financial issues).
Because of that I have learnt to live kind of frugal in terms of money (for myself). I find it hard to spend money on expensive things. It took months to purchase a great gaming PC and a Steam Deck (loving the heck of it though). However, spending money on my parents (mostly my mother) is no issue. I do it without a thinking, as long as I know it makes them happy.
Now, I always wanted a MacBook since I was a teenager. I can afford to get one, I saved up for it and will not have any financial issues. I budget ever since getting my job, everything is already set (saving up for car stuff, emergency funds for both myself and parents, pension saving and even saved up for new glasses for whenever that’s needed). Yet with all of that, I still feel not comfortable paying a lot for something that’s ‘’not necessary’’ and that’s just a ‘’luxury product’’. I feel like the money, I would spent for the MacBook could better be saved towards either emergency funds or car stuff (car theory exam, the car itself etc).
Now, I’m curious if other people deal (or have dealt) with this and what is this called? How to be more at ease with spending for fun instead of always being on edge.
Note: I checked the rules and it said this is not a support community but that seemed more related to tech-stuff. If it was also meant for this kind of question. Apologies, I will ask in another community.
Macbooks particularly are one of the stupidest shit someone can burn money on, the extreme high price and low performance make apple computers literally the worse in the market.
For the price of a powerful computer with RTX and all, you get an useless office computer where the keyboard is even too shit to do any office work on it.
As for the actual question, I tend to spend money that I shouldn’t on premium audio gear, I should feel bad about it, but I really enjoy listening to good audio and for me I feel it’s worth it even if I have to postpone things that for most people are considered essential.
Also, it’s very hard for me to spend money on (new) computers and camera gear. I terribly need a new computer with a good GPU for 3D modeling and a decent camera. However if I buy a new computer or camera in 10 years it will be obsolete and worth 10x less than I paid for it meanwhile stuff like audio gear or musical instruments don’t become obsolete so I’m more likely to spend money on yet another paid of headphones that I don’t need than saving up for a computer.
I understand that you are not a fan of Apple (at least their MacBooks). However, personally, I really like their products. MacBooks are known for high quality build, long battery life and ‘it just works’. I agree the pricing is too much and can be called absurd with the upgrade pricing.
This seems more a personal opinion than truth. Their keyboards are more often than not highly praised by users.
Honestly, I rather have people answer the actual question than getting their opinions on the Apple products. If I wanted opinions on the product itself, I would’ve made a different post with different questions and title.
Anyway, I appreciate your explanation regarding the spending on audio gear, computers and obsolete issue.