[fragmede]

The question is, how do you live now? I remember being on University email lists that I had no business being on, just to get find out when they had free food that I could eat. I grew up ridiculously cheap and broke college student syndrome only exacerbated things. I've gone too far in the other direction, which is equally as unhealthy, but I can't be the only one.

[embedding-shape]

I've went from being broke most of my young life, to homeless a short period, to being employed as a programmer to eventually being financially independent, I'm not sure there is much difference ultimately, besides being able to afford more expensive things. I used to buy stuff I enjoyed, if I could afford it, I still buy stuff I enjoy, but never buy things to just buy it, mostly happy with the stuff I have, except for some computers stuff that I don't neeeeeeed. But it's really nice to have 96GB of VRAM available for example.

Don't overthink either directions, be happy with what you have and focus on what you want to do, rather than "what you should have" or similar. Not sure anyone can really give you good non-generic tips here, without knowing more about your specific situation.