Who else here is frugal?

My frugality leads me to buy way more stuff than I need because “it’s such a good deal

This was almost me over the holidays.  I hardly ever take photographs, but Amazon kept showing me these camera kits that were $1,000 off!!

I am basically frugal,but also not happy unless I buy n try several of whatever I'm upgrading.How else to know which thingy is exactly the right one?

A friend of mine was possibly the second coming of "The Audio Cheapskate". He was constantly, and I mean constantly like every hour of every day looking for that one "giant killer". I helped him haul more speakers, amps, speaker stands, cable etc. in and out of his house. And all of it was stuff he had bought, and then had to sell later to help fund the next project. One night over a few beers he and I added up all the money he had spent, regained (somewhat) and lost on just speakers alone and we figured he could have bought some speakers in the $6K-$8K range. And he was "frugal" in his expenditures all the time prior to us doing the math. So, does it make more sense to spend a lot wisely the first time around, or nickel and dime one's self and find that you spent more being "penny-wise"?

There was a time when I was quite frugal.  Now, my approach is pretty close to that articulated by @almarg.   I'm not afraid to spend some bucks, but I am very careful and usually do so after a good bit of research and thinking about the purchase for several months.  I hang on to what I purchase for a long time, which results in an acceptable value proposition in my estimation.   I'm not one who chases after every tweak or the latest and greatest new piece.  You can spend a lot of money on stuff that results in little to no improvement if you are not careful.  I caught the bug while I was still in my teens and now, 50 years later, I've got a system that really sings.  Upgrades from where I am now are going to be infrequent, because stuff that is better than what I currently own won't come cheap. 

Frugal is my middle name. But not too cheap. It's important to be able to discriminate between what is excellent and honest and what is designed to rip you off. This goes for everything you buy. I do detest wasting money though.