Just Dropped a Ton on a Couch! Ouch!

I just read my last post, which was at the beginning of the year (sad to say its the end of the year now...anywho). The last sentence was about people's attachment to labels and their piss-poor financial mentalities. Well, I'm very frugal. I spend only what I have to every month and eat out when I feel like it cause I don't have many bills. Other than my mortgage and the bills that come along with maintaining a house monthly - that's it for me. Yes, no car note. I drive a car that will last me until the wheels fall off. So, when I go out to buy something, needless to say, I have the money readily available but I always go for what I can get in the most frugal way possible. However - sometimes - I have these ideas in mind and when I find it, the price tag is not what I had in mind. This happened when I found the wrap-around sectional I wanted for my living room. First, I could buy as many pieces as I needed to get it to work for my measurements. Next, I had to decide on color and man, it was tough deciding between the traditional tan (which was my first choice) and a gray that looked good in the store as the "new brown," but looked like dark denim blue when I got up on it at home with the sample. Anywho, I decided on the tan because I LOVE tan and brown and can incorporate those colors plus endless numbers of others with the tan. Now the price! Chile, let's just say it cost more than the down payment on my first house. Oh, I blinked my eyes and my heart beat much faster as I handed her the funds to pay for my couch. Again, I reminded myself that this is what I wanted; I work hard for they money; and that I deserve this. What's interesting is that I never had to do all that talking to convience myself when I put down a five-figure check on my second home. I realized that I've been trained to make SMART INVESTMENTS that will APPRECIATE, not PURCHASES, period. With the execption of my smart phone recently ($300 by the time I walked out the store w/the protection plan) I usually spend $50 or less on any given item and 80% of the time its $25 or less. So, its hard for me to swallow the pill I paid for yesterday, but I'll get over it. The couch is coming in 30 days and now I just hope I can live with the color selection. At this time, I have to remind myself of how blessed I am. I am a rare flower in the field of weeds. Not many people - period, not just SBF - in middle-class America can do what I did. Let's just focus on me. Six years ago, I had a few thousand in my pocket as I graduated from college. God ordered my steps and placed me in a very secure career with increasingly good pay and benefits. He allowed me, with assistance from my parents, to buy a house fresh out of college. Five years later, I bought my second home - all on my own - and got twice the house for only $100 more a month due to the low (at the time, now they're even lower) interest rates. I'm so thankful to be in the position I'm in to do the things I do. This is not a bragging session on me. This is me realizing how far He has brought me FINANCIALLY. My prayer is for EVERYONE to have that blessing, also.