Don’t finance a lifestyle you’ll be paying for long after you’ve stopped enjoying it.

Borrowing stretches a purchase across time, but the enjoyment does not stretch with it. The new thing feels new for a few weeks and then becomes background, while the payment stays as loud as the day you signed. That mismatch is what makes debt on fun things feel heavier than the amount suggests.

Before anything you would pay for in installments, try imagining month nine, when it is ordinary and the charge still arrives. If it still seems worth it, fine. If the answer depends on it staying exciting, wait a while.