Why I splurged on... an external USB battery charger

Yeah I'm a Leafs fan. Sue me.

Of all the unplanned personal spending that I did last month, this one item was likely the most frivolous and least necessary of them all. At least with the other two items, there was real intent to eventually purchase items like it in items. 

But this item I got though was a real luxury want and the fact I bought it at that time meant that it was entirely impulse that led to me acquiring it.

Now  don't get me wrong, I did have ideas or plans to buy this kind of item for awhile. It began with a 24 hour ride on a bus that saw my phone battery die towards the end and discovering how much it sucks not to have a working phone in case of emergencies. And then there was the time during last year's Toronto ice storm when my roommates phone lost power to the point that my laptop ended up being used as an emergency charger to get his phone working.

The potential to travel or be away from a plug for a long time for whatever reason and suddenly having a back-up portable charger doesn't seem like such a bad thing to have, especially during emergencies.

But that's just it; it opens possibilities and it's a nice thing to be able to fall back on, but it doesn't actually add anything to my everyday life. Frankly given my lifestyle, it's not something I will need or use more than maybe once every few months if that depending on what transformer blows up or what have you.

So then why did I buy it then at a premium price of $50 USD? (meaning with conversion, I paid more than $50 dollars) Well it's because I was already buying one. I bought one as a gift for a friend for Christmas and liked it so much that I also bought one for myself as well.

Can you say impulse purchase?

Do I regret it? Maybe a little. But I don't necessarily mind it either if only because of the added security it gives. And while there is a case to be made that it was money better spent elsewhere - and even I'm willing to admit that that's true - in the same breath, I've accepted the purchase and I've made my peace with it.

Even if the price ended up being a little much in the end.