How much would you spend on ...

J.Money over at Budgets are Sexy has an interesting thought exercise up - how much money he would spend on various items.  I decided to take the idea a step further and try to remember (1) what I spent on the last item of that sort that I purchased and (2) the most I've ever spent on a similar item.

CATEGORY Purse (or Wallet): Winter jacket: A pair of (knee-high) boots: Formal dress (or suit): Pants (inc. jeans): Computer: Tennis Shoes:	J. Money $20 $100 $40 $100 $40 $1,500 $40	Krystal $200/100 $350 $250 $300 $150 $3,000 $250	Fab. Broke $200 $400 $300 $200/$100 $50 $1,000 $50
	Would $1000 $400 $125 $1500 $300 $3500 $150	Last $350 $25 $100 $165 $8 $3000 $65	Most $550 $150 $325 $800 $150 $3000 $125

Apparently, I'm willing to pay quite a bit more for these items than J. Money and (mostly) the other PF bloggers he polled. This is because, to me, most of these items are long-term purchases. For instance, the $550 purse was bought in 2004, it's still in nice condition, and I still use it. The $150 jacket was a fox fur jacket bought on ebay in 2003 and last worn three weeks ago. The $800 suit was bought in 2001 and used for interviews until I lost 30 pounds last year and couldn't wear it anymore.

It's not a typo that I'm willing to pay less now than my previous high price on boots. It reflects my high level of disappointment with the Irish Setter Snake Boots I bought for farm work at that price and how happy I am with my MuckBoots . Often price does not indicate quality, and I'm not hot to buy stuff just because it is more expensive.

The items that I don't consider long-term are computers and tennis shoes, but as a gamer and a runner, I've bought bargain-basement stuff and lived to regret it. I bet Krystal does something that requires good shoes as well. If I wore tennis shoes for less vigorous activity, I wouldn't be willing to pay nearly as much. As for computers, my non-gaming activities could easily be accomplished on a $500 machine. And actually, the numbers there are deceptive, as a generally upgrade my rig one part at a time - the 3K computer was a Mac for Mr. Goat to use for work.

I also haven't put my money where my mouth is on several of these items - I can imagine a situation where I would pay that much, but it hasn't occurred yet. And it's not like I don't like a bargain as much as the next person (see my last winter coat and pants purchases). So maybe this exercise doesn't show anything except that I like making tables with lots of numbers.