It may be that not all the folks that get a new vise or high end rod are well off. Vickie and I live on Veteran's Disability which isn't all that great. When we see something we want, a new bamboo rod for instance, we just start planning and saving. It may take 6 months or a year to get the money together, but it works. Anything worth having is worth saving for. Budgeting seems to work pretty well too. We have money earmarked for special things, like the Idaho Fish-In. We save for a year so we can attend. We also earmark money for the Central Washington Fish-In. Once money is designated for something special, it becomes untouchcable except for health emergencies. It ain't easy, but then nobody ever said it was supposed to be easy.