Monday, February 7, 2011

A curious mental state...

o/

So as I mentioned last week, I went on a spending spree @ the FLGS this past weekend and it felt good, sorta. I got an SM rhino, IG Manticore, Eldar Guardians (the EML team from which you can see at left), some primer & glue. All told it struck me as an exorbitant amount of money to spend on minis all at once. However earlier in the week I spent an equal amount (almost down to the dollar) on my portion of my stepfather's birthday present & the wedding present for my Sister & her fiance. Those purchases didn't phase me in the least, however whenever I spend a lot on 40k I feel kinda guilty. It feels like I'm wasting my money.

Why is that?

I think its because barring the random Forgeworld order, I rarely spend a lot at once. Instead I build armies piecemeal over time in multiple small purchases. I also finance what I buy via selling old stuff on ebay to offset the costs. That said, in the case of the purchases above, this week's ebay sales combined with a bonus from work equaled out (even with a warstore order I made this morning thrown in).

So why the guilt on spending money on stuff that I enjoy?

Damned if I know. You would think that after 15 years, and more armies than I can count coming and going, I'd be waaaay beyond any issue of spending money on 'toys'. Then again, 'guilt' wasn't there in the beginning, so it manifested itself somewhere along the way. Perhaps its a symptom of always feeling like I'm broke/poor/bottom end of the middle class or something. I dunno. It just perplexes me that at some point I developed a sense of guilt in indulging in one of my favorite hobbies.

Anyone else have this issue?

2 comments:

Thor said...

I'm exactly the same way. It's not so bad now as it used to be but it's still a lingering feeling I get, usually when I spend a fair amount on a larger model, $40+.

It's not a bad thing though. I have a friend who once used to spend so much money on eBay that he deleted his PayPayl account to curb his spending habits.

Those like us have a spending conscience, which can be annoying but at least prevents examples like my friend.

Da Masta Cheef said...

Spending conscience, yeah that sounds about right. Nice to know I'm not the only one with this affliction (assuming that it is an affliction).