Backlash of Consumption

I have spent the better part of this evening perusing for a deal on something that I may or may not use.  It's an action figure, not a traditional one but one from a manga--and it appears to be popular with some people.  Being sick does that to you:  you do not want to do anything but just sit around and surf the web.

Here's a sample of what I was looking for, courtesy of ALTZERO:

I know, while it is cute, I may not be able to pull off some nice pictures.  I would never know if I did not try, sure, but I cannot count just how many different hobbies and interests I had during the past few years.  Oh, I start by thinking that I would put enough time to be good, and maybe, just maybe, it will help me somehow (hopefully in financial side).  Instead the parts and instruments and equipments get set aside, how-to books become a showcase on a bookshelf never to be opened, and I end up a few (or maybe a few hundred) dollars short.

To be honest, this blog, too, is a hobby of sort for me:  it is meant to track record of bettering myself, or so I told myself, but I also thought that I could generate traffic (how else do some select bloggers keep writing without any other jobs?) and wondered if I should put this on a hosting service.  It costs a few dollars a month, which is not much... but this is also a good time to tell you that this is not my first blog.  Quite the contrary:  I had quite a few, now most of them shut down, sometimes with hosting services or domains.  None of them worked, to be frank.

And what am I trying to say here?  Oh, a few things, really.  For one, I am terrible at decision-making, and that trickles down to spending patterns as well.  How else could one, for example, end up with a bass guitar that he cannot play, a 400 dollars' worth of computer equipment despite spending more than a grand (through repeat buying-and-selling-at-loss-on-eBay), and boatload of books and games and DVDs that sit on the bookshelf, likely never opened?  Oh, and do not get me started on take-outs and such. Eating out too often is, in fact, a big part of what dragged me down, financial-wise.

I am now in some $6000 of debt, all on credit card.  Good news is, all the debt is now in one card and will incur no interest for about seven months.  Bad news, though, is that no amount of balance transfer will get rid of debt altogether, and I only get about $10k from work per year, if I am lucky.  At least I have paid my tuition, although that was by taking some extra debt via balance transfer and draining all my savings.

At the end of the surfing spree of looking for merchandise and checking for stocks, I decided to hold off on the purchase for now.  It is only $20 or so, but I need to keep in mind:  two orders of Chinese takeout, too, cost $20 or so.  Will the figure go away when I change my mind?  It's possible.  But at least, later in time, I will know if I made a good decision or not just now.  For now, I will make do.  Somehow.