It’s hard to buy on debt wisely, for me. Here’s the problem: if I have the money in the bank, and by spending it, it’ll just go away, then I can reason about its value.

But suppose I have to buy a car, and I can almost pay cash, but I’ll need to borrow a little — $1500. For only $1500 more, I can get the superdeluxe version. It’s hard for me to say no to the superdeluxe version, because that $1500 difference just doesn’t feel like real money. And especially so if I’ll be paying for it over a long period of time, like years.

I can get the use of that money now, for years, and feel the cost smeared out over the next four. It’s hard to refuse.

Of course, it’s real money. My only technique so far for handling it is to make a list of other things I can buy for $1500. But the problem here is that, unlike the superdeluxe features of the car, I won’t be able to buy them until the end of the several years.