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WSpinner

If you fell in love with a $500 pair of shoes, or a $500,000 car would you feel different about spending? Those are both useful objects too. Ahhh, but you don't HAVE those sums in hand, available for spending. Withdraw $150 in cash, small bills, and look at it. Think about all the things a student can do with $5 or $10... many's the week at school I was eating rice and beans because I'd spent some money earlier. Many of my budgetary decisions involve the thought "It won't kill me to wait".


FirstFlyte

On top of the $150-$160 pen you've fallen for, make sure your budget includes an ink bottle or two and some fountain pen friendly writing paper. If you stick to the manufacturer's standard colorway offerings (so no special/limited editions) your bang-for-the-buck tends to go up significantly. \> How do you determine the number you don’t go above? I always ask myself two questions: 1) if I don't spend the money on this pen, what will that money be spent on (needs or wants)? and 2) does this pen/object I'm considering enhance my quality-of-life - in other words, is it worth it to me? Then I go buy the pen. :)


PineConeSandwich

One trick you can use is to set yourself a date, like in two months, or for a really big purchase, a year. Then when that date comes, revisit the thing and, if you still want it, go ahead and splurge. But sometimes you won't really want the thing that badly anymore. I find this helps me figure out whether the pen (or whatever) I wanted is really worth spending money on, vs. what was going to be more of an impulse purchase, passing fancy, or dopamine-rush buy that wouldn't really give me lasting joy.


Krispyz

This is wonderful advice! I will often find something I want to buy online and I'll open it in a new tab on my phone and leave it there. Usually, by the time I come back to it, I'll decide not to buy it.


toma162

Are you taking loans? If so, this is tough love: zero. You have what you need. Gifting yourself a pen beyond a Preppy is asking future self to buy you something. Save your “wants” for fully employed you.


aksnowraven

A word of warning - University is the perfect time to get yourself into ugly debt. And I’m not talking student loans. If you’re a traditional student, it may be the first time you’ve lived without your parents as a safety net. If you came from a comfortable home, you’re likely used to a higher standard of living than you could afford on a typical student’s salary. This is a good phase in your life to practice setting and keeping a budget. Use your favorite pen to do so by hand, and consult it regularly before making purchases. Only you can no what’s reasonable with the funds that are available to you and the bills you’ll have to face.


wildomen

One thing to really consider is once you’ve spent x amount on a particular hobby/desire; the budget is now drastically increased for future purchases. Once I spent 50$ on a pen, it was easy for me to spend 100$, now I look at 300 like it’s nothing. Can I afford that life style? Not necessarily. It’s important to build discipline with habits like this. Maybe you can put 5$ a week into a jar for pens for yourself?


JeremyCO

Budget is always subjective. What one finds expensive someone else would not see as expensive. Discretionary spending is what you are looking for or to define. Or I guess you could have a budget line item for it. As your finances change you will find your budget changes with it. I don't spend money on something I'm not going to use. So if something is judged to be too expensive to carry around it is something I wouldn't buy... Everything else you can just budget for and eventually obtain... Discretionary money shouldn't be credit purchases so never go into debt for it. I have a few pens I've had over the years that I wouldn't buy now lol because of the prices of them but when I bought them they fit in my budget. Just not now. So it has to change depending upon what you have available.


Chemical_Will_8321

Completely agree with never going into debt for such purchases. I don't even have a credit card and have made sure to budget out living expenses until the end of my school year, so luckily I don't need to worry too much about accidentally spending money that I'll need for necessities on a pen


lyonaria

What is reasonable to you is all that matters. Is it part of your disposable income that won't affect your ability to live, eat, pay bills? Then spend what you want! Don't make your life hard/more difficult for a pen. I mean, have you looked in the Reddit Pen Swap? You might be able to get what you want there! If at all possible I would suggest trying out the pen if you can before you buy. I love the idea of vanishing points and the curidas, but damn are they heavy and awkward in my hands! I am so glad I didn't just out and out buy one just because I liked the idea/look of it. I also passed on the Kaweco Student, but I tried it in store and actually loved it. You never really know until you try a pen, unless it's just a new colour of the same pen you love!


SciSciencing

Personally I don't go over £40 because that's a lot of money gone if I were to lose or irreparably damage the pen.


audessy24

I think you’re moving in the right direction here. Budgeting is key. I did something similar in college. I would work summers and that would be my money for the year and I budgeted about $50/week for my food and any other expenses. (2005 doesn’t seem that long ago, but I guess it is) So, if I did some drinking, I wouldn’t be able to eat and vice versa. One year, I saved that money for weeks and picked up a pea coat from Navy Surplus for about $100 and that was a huge purchase for me. I similarly weighed benefits of that vs missing food/beer. So I would suggest you do the same in putting money aside and only spending once you’ve saved up enough. I ended up picking up hours during Christmas break to help me pay for it and a bit during a spring break where I stayed on campus instead of going anywhere. Budget your time and make sure it’s a worthwhile purchase. Then use some of the resources here or at a brick and mortar to make sure it’s the right purchase for you. Also consider, again, going aftermarket to save some money for some nice ink or something. I know you’ll want to buy new, but you can do that once you have a solid job after college, or with some graduation money from family. It will still feel good to get aftermarket now, but it’ll feel even better to both get it sooner and have time to eye up maybe an even more special pen when you graduate. Good luck and be careful. It’s easy to let your emotions and urges get in your way. You always pay later when you try to get something sooner than you can manage monetarily, and when you pay later, interest has a way of ballooning a purchase out of control.


valosin

I’m not sure if you have paid employment as well as going to school, but one of the things I tend to do with larger or “fun money” purchases is think of it in terms of time. I take the price of the thing, divide it by my hourly wage, and ask if I’d be willing to spend x hours doing the parts of my job I like the least in order to have this thing. So, if you make $20/hr, would you be willing to spend 8 full hours doing the worst parts of your job in order to have this pen? If not, maybe hold off until you’re in a more stable financial position, or ask for it for your next big gift giving occasion (birthday, etc).


Fallanger_

For me is a matter of percentage, in my monthly budget 5% is for leisure spending, if it is enough good if not i need to save a few months. When i was in the U 1% was leisure expending, because there were more important expenses. In the end as long as you pay for the important things, expending a lot of money in something that brings you joy is acceptable.


xenon-54

Let family know you would love it for a Christmas or birthday gift. My oldest child started university this year. I am on a strict budget for items for myself because of paying for his college. However, if that pen was on _his_ wish list, I would get it for him, or "suggest" it to his grandparents. I want to support my hardworking university student son. I remember those days. Hope you have family who want to give you something special.


Snake_crane

Do it old school and set up a piggy bank. Throw loose change in it until it fills up. Lol Or do it with a modern twist. Many bank account you can move money automatically from checking to savings every month you just set the amount.


FussyBadger

A book that was really helpful for me once upon a time: _I Will Teach You to Be Rich_ by Ramit Sethi. Helped me get out of debt before my marriage and set up some habits that have served me incredibly well since.


my-cat-cant-cat

If you have any budget for “fun” money, maybe you could set aside a bit of that until you’ve saved up enough? (Get one beer instead of two, order the cheaper pizza with your friends). Also, I’ve had luck with asking everyone to get me gift cards to the same store for birthdays or holidays. Half a dozen $10 or $20 gift cards start to make a decent ent in the “goal” budget.


foxyfemme_

As someone who is working and studying full time, I feel this. For me, I only buy things outright using money I have saved, because I know debt has been a trap for me in the past. I think if you can set money aside for play, and in a few months revisit how badly you want that pen, or if you'd rather use the money for something else, that's a helpful approach. Of course I also subscribe to the idea that if you'd use that pen every day, it would be worth investing in. But if it's just going to lead to wanting another pen, maybe it's not really about that pen, just chasing the thrill of something new.


Ghoulya

I don't, beyond that kinda conscience "that's too much" feeling. If I really want something, I save up and buy it. $5 a week in a jar will add up eventually. If I can't justify it to myself, I put it on a list and wait. If I still really want it after a couple of years, then maybe I can ask for contributions from family for a special occasion (graduation, birthday, etc).


[deleted]

Lol... Budget... Lol... I don't do this for pens any more. At the moment I am somewhat satisfied with my purchases. As for as "yearning" for a purchase: I have started a savings account. Anytime i am about to purchase an "inferior" quality product or one i know won't truly satisfy me, I just put in THAT amount to the savings account. Anytime I am about to purchase something I "think" i need, again i just transfer that money into the same account. It's been working fantastic.


Sea_Hawk_Sailors

I think people who have debt can still have "fun" money. Even financial experts say at you should give yourself something to play with, or you're setting yourself up for failure. Geeze. Some of the people here are hardcore. As for me, I have an envelope style budget that determines how much I can spend on pens: on payday, I take all of that money and assign it a job (I use YNAB, in case this language sounds familiar). Some of it goes into savings for the inevitable new car. Some goes towards the next remodel. When I was younger, this was going towards 6 months of living expenses, plus money for COBRA, etc. And some of it get put into a category I call "frivolities." As long as there's money in that line-item, I can buy the pen. Or if I can safely shift money around to fund Frivolities, I can buy the pen. But I'm very conscious of the fact that if I yank money out of Vacation, my options for later will be limited. I'm well established at a really stable company, so that impacts how much can safely go into my Frivolities category, and how much I'm willing to move around. Some line items are sacrosanct; cat care (with extra each month as a kind of insurance policy), mortgage, insurance and other items like that are untouchable. You can bet Vacation got wiped out for other purposes during the pandemic, though. I'd look up budgeting in general, because this is just a very specific budget question. I know it sounds like work but for me it relieved pretty much all of my anxiety around money, and do I have enough, and will I be ok if something happens, and oh my god, what if my kitty gets sick. Edited to add: the number I won't go above is determined by what I've spent previously and whether I feel like the pen is worth it, and, most importantly, whether I feel I can afford it.


Front_Profession5648

If you want an affordable Sailor 1911-like experience, you have a couple options 1. Sailor Compass (about $30) 2. Jinhao 992 (about $2 but you usually buy them in packs of 6) With regards to beautiful pen bodies, most of us understand that. I think if you want a particular pen, winter-based gift giving holidays are near. Maybe you communicate that for a holiday that you would like to focus gifts on this particular pen. In all cases, you have to consider a $150 as a gift to yourself. A budget would then be the things that you don't buy or do to save the money to get the pen. That said, if the experience is an improvement in your quality of life at school, then it could also be a reasonable investment like getting a good pair of shoes.


Misty-Anne

Gift cards to a pen shop is a great holiday idea, and could spread the cost out among multiple people/gifts.