I have spent some money on myself:

1) Bought about 6-8 CD's for the car (several discounted items and several full price items)

2) Bought clothes at Ross, Target, and Nordstrom rack (for non-US folks - Ross and Target are cheap stores, and Nordstrom rack is medium-priced)

3) Bought shoes at those places plus from Zappo's (for non-US folks - a huge online shoe wear retailer offering a very convenient and lax return policy)

It does not seem to be manic spending, though. I did (1) once I realized that learning how to get free music and then burning my own CD's for the car would not be worth it - so I just bought the CD's which were not terribly expensive.

(2) - most clothes fit, and the rest would be returned promptly. The clothes also sort of play well together, although I was not purposefully buying them thinking of combining them. But the result is pretty nice - versatile.

(3) few pairs of shoes fit, but I will return the rest. One pair of Birkenstocks bought on sale at Zappo's seems to fit well, so I am excited - it is really hard for me to buy shoes since my feet are big.

So far not manic. And, I am cautious with receipts/tags.

But it feels good.

So I wonder why.

Is it because I take care of the basics (shoe wear and clothes that fit and entertainment in the car are sort of basic)?