Obviously I have no right to tell other people how to spend their money, but when people complain about barely scraping by month after month while making odd financial decisions, I just have to wonder.
There's a guy in his fifties with five kids, all between the ages of six and fifteen, who lives in the same building I do. Nice guy, nice family. He, his wife, and every single one of his children all own iPhones. So, he constantly complains about barely being able to cover his living expenses, and his three sons all share a room that was designed for one person (and forcing a high schooler to room with a kindergartener is just asking for trouble), but damn it, every member of the family right down to the six-year-old needs a smart phone, even if it means paying for seven data plans!
A friend of mine goes out drinking every night and frequently spends upwards of $100. He complains about being poor while spending between $2500 and $3000 a month on alcohol. I've pointed out to him, as a friend, that he could save a lot of money if he only went out once or twice a week and/or cut back a bit when he did, but he always insists that it helps him "escape from the agony of being poor." Obviously this guy's problems go beyond financial sense and the ability to recognize irony; a bunch of my friends and I have been encouraging him to go to rehab for a while now.
Then there's the friend of mine who blew over $1500 on an HDTV despite "drowning in debt" (his words). He's one of those "anyone who doesn't own an HDTV is living in the stone age" types, but having no furniture whatsoever at your place and sleeping in a sleeping bag because you can't afford a mattress strikes me as far more "stone age-esque" than settling for an SDTV. The guy can't even get a decent job because he doesn't have any nice clothes to wear to a job interview because he can't afford them. I'd offer to let him borrow mine, but he's several sizes larger than I am.
May God have mercy on our souls.