Our poor children will never have "cool" stuff

Thomas and I are both cheapskates. We don’t like to spend money and agonize over spending more than $50 on anything. Even (or maybe especially) if the money was a gift. I never spent all of my birthday money (my birthday was in September) and I haven’t spent ANY of my Christmas money (my family tends to give money for special occasions instead of gifts and I LOVE that.

My idea of a splurge is going to Half Price Books and browsing the 50 cent paperbacks, spending like three dollars on books. Heck, I’ll only go to the library if I do it on my way home from work, because I don’t want to spend the gas money (or time) to make a special trip. (I just looked it up and the library is 6 miles from my house. Not exactly bank-breaking.) I never buy new books, unless I’m desperate to read something the library doesn’t have. If they DO have it I just get on the waiting list, even if its months long.

I just can’t spend money. Because once you spend it, it’s gone. What if what you buy doesn’t live up to your expectations? What if you come across something else you want even more than what you already bought? The what ifs drive me crazy. They even go as far as not wanting to buy something because a new improved version of it is going to come out someday and when that day comes, I might regret not just waiting. I’ve wanted an iPad ever since they first came out. But, Thomas and I both thought it made sense to wait for iPad 2, because the second generation of Apple products usually has several bells and whistles the first generation doesn’t have. It really doesn’t make that much sense, because I’ve almost never actually regretted buying anything like that (like past iPods or my smartphone).

I almost spent some Christmas money on a Kindle or Nook – I’d actually decided to get one and the only decision left was which one. But I just couldn’t decide. Now I have neither. But it doesn’t matter, because the iPad 2's have finally come out. I have more than enough money to cover it, which means if I’m disappointed – unlikely – I can go buy something else. (If the something else is a lot cheaper.) Of course, they went on sale Friday and I haven’t yet brought myself to actually pay for one. But I’m really going to, I swear!