My dad preferred to use the term "Frugal" as opposed to being "Cheap". After my parent's divorce, his frugality escalated, with him not wanting to shell out for things he deemed "unneccesary". When I was in high school he didn't want to pay for a yearbook, nor a class ring. Getting him to help with money for band trips was a chore. He also took to buying the store brands of everything he could. Some things would make sense; bleach, for example, I get. I mean, bleach is bleach. One time he bought the store brand version of Velveeta, but it was so bad even my dog wouldn't eat it. But that didn't stop him from saying "We can't buy Velveeta until this one is gone". Needless to say, chunks of that "Processed Food Loaf" (literally what is was called) disappeared when he wasn't around. In the garbage, over the back fence, etc.
I tell this because I, unfortunately, have some of the same tendencies. I have a hard time spending money on things not only do I deem not necessary, but things I actually want, but feel like I can either find alternatives to, or flat out don't deserve.
Recently, say over the past 6 months or so, I've made a conscious effort to not be so miserly. The wife has a subscription to a food delivery that shows up once a week, with all natural, organic, locally grown vegetables, eggs, butter, etc. I know that's not cheap, but I'm managing to not stress about it.
When shopping, I was buying the store brand flavored seltzers, even though I discovered I really liked the cherry version of Bubly water. I finally told myself it was ok to spend a little more for something I enjoy.
As a web developer, I've used VS Code as my IDE of choice for years, which we also use at work. It's free, and to be fair, it's a great editor. But as the saying goes, "There's no such thing as a free lunch". Microsoft, which owns and distributes VS Code, has a bunch of data collection in how their app is used. So, like Facebook and Twitter (yes, I'm deadnaming), if it's free, your data is how they make their money.
I've long admired Panic as a company and used Transmit back in the day. Sometime back, they released Nova, a native Mac code editor. I really liked it, but only used it as long as the trial lasted, because it was $100 bucks. This past week, I downloaded it again, and after just two days playing with it, paid for the license. It just feels good to support the smaller code shops. Kind of like shopping at local bookstores, as opposed to simply ordering something online.
The culmination of all this relaxing of the purse strings, was a new Mac Studio. I've had a 2015 MacBook Pro as my personal machine since, well, 2015. The Mac Studio is the first computer I've purchased for myself in nearly a decade. And while I hemmed and hawed about it for ages, I finally took myself over to the Apple Store and purchased the base model. There were arguments for getting the Mac Mini, but I'm hoping to do more video editing, and still am doing music, and after upgrading the RAM to 32gb in the Mac Mini, the couple of hundred dollars I would've saved weren't worth it to me. I want something that'll last me at least another 10 years. So yes, it was a big purchase, but I think I'm ok with it. At least I'm not feeling any buyer's remorse, and for me, that's an odd thing.