A helpful angle on long-term savings versus short-term spending was well expressed in a memoir that my wife is reading:

"I had seen a shiny new Nash roadster parked at the store in Sacred Heart and had been captivated by it. I'll have one of those one day, I assured Barney. I would find a way to make a huge amount of money. Barney put on his older brother hat and asked me why I wanted a huge amount of money. I said I'd buy a Nash. Maybe even a Packard. Barney was not impressed. If you have food to eat and a warm, dry home, there's just one thing money is really useful for, Barney told me. You can use it to buy your life back. Then you don't have to waste time doing things you don't like to do just to make money. I didn't understand this theory, so he explained it. Don't look for a way to make money; find a way to make a living doing what you like to do anyway. Otherwise you're just raising funds to buy yourself out of slavery."

From "Seldom Disappointed, by Tony Hillerman: a Memoir (2001).