Name: Alice Oglethorpe
Age: 29
City: New York,NY
Profession: Magazine editor

My grandmother gave me $1,000 for my birthday. It wasn't unprecedented, but I also wasn't expecting it, so it feels like free money. Even though I know the grown-up thing to do would be to save it for a rainy day, I want to blow it on a fabulous bag that I can have forever! If I put it aside, I'll spend $50 here, $100 there, and it's going to get used for little practical things, or I'll just eat more lunches out. If I splurge on something really nice, I'll think of her every time I use it. I wouldn't have made this choice a few years ago — I used to be a lot more stressed about paying bills and rent. But now I have some savings, so it doesn't feel as dire.

For now, I'm really enjoying the shopping. I'm going to stores I'd usually never visit. The other day I walked by the Yves Saint Laurent store and thought, "I'll go in." Usually you go into those stores and you feel like a fraud because you're never going to buy anything, and it feels like they can tell. Now that I can actually buy something in there, it's kind of a high. I'm looking fora purse that's classic but not boring, which is a hard thing to find.

I probably wouldn't spend my own money like this. A thousand dollars is half of my rent. I'm a super bargain shopper, and I have a hard time spending more than $100 on anything, even running shoes. But I'm taking the bargain-hunting skills I've cultivated over the past ten years of being poor to get something worth a lot more money. I want to spend $1,000 and get a $3,000 bag.

Everyone's been really supportive. Even my thriftiest friends are like, "Do it." I don't have kids, and there will be plenty of times when I have to be really careful with my money.I just don't feel like that time is now.Life is short. I have the rest of my life to be practical.

Do you have a money quandary? A success story? A cautionary tale? We'd love to hear from you. Send an email to editors@bundle.com and include a photo.

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