Do you spend more on audio than your income allows

I posted this in another thread but it applies here also.

I think all that matters is if you can afford it without putting everything else in your life on the line, then buy it. It's the same as an expencive car, wine or any other hobby for that matter. If you pay all your bills on time, pay into your retirement and buy the wife, husband or significant other things to keep them happy within reason. You can do whatever you want with the rest, it is your money ya know. This is IMHO.

She's a beautiful mistress that's becoming increasingly harder to please....and more demanding. I pray we can find a happy medium of co-existence before the only thing I have left to sell is my soul.

i've said this on another thread, but coming to an understanding(with yourself) that dimished returns, and 'no' returns (regarding sound) are very real situations. that the hobby is as much obsessive-compulsive behavior as any love for music is real for me. being a music lover and being an audiophile are two exclusively different things. its possible to carry on both hobbies, but the music lover in me (since i was in single digits)knows that the audiophile in me has been 'a fool' more often than not.

As Timrhu says, I am sure your attitude to money is ingrained in childhood. My family was'nt dirt poor, but we never had excess money to spend. Now I am a Doctor and I owe that to my parents struggles with money. Now I am an English, not a US Doctor, so I am not super rich. Still I am pretty well off, but I can not escape my upbringing. I agonize over spending quite moderate amounts on 2nd hand gear, I can in all honesty afford. Spending on the family is fine, not me. It jusy goes with being a white northern European Protestant, no self indulgence allowed.
I think there is a real difference in the US too, not a criticism at all, but yours seems a more consumerist society. I work hard, so I deserve a few toys and why not.

I'm sure this economy is making us all tighten our belts and look a little longer and harder at buying toys.