A Worthwhile Trade?

I've been forced into hermitage once again on account of my bank. Account. Bad pun, sorry.
See, I decided to treat myself to an iPod this paycheck, and once again I'm in the same financial position as I've been essentially since being here, and before that since I can remember.

Now, somehow I thought I would have enough money left over to, you know, eat, if I bought it, but it appears as if that was not the case. I have 20 days until payday, and 13,000 yen to my name. 650 a day for those who like math. That's do-able, actually quite so, but, all the same for all my rants about how nice it will be to have money, I sure don't have any again.

Now, the lesson here is to not go out and buy something the moment I have money, but, look at the tradeoff. I have an iPod now. I can listen to my music whenever I want, I can tune out the world, I can carry the entirety of all information on my laptop on my iPod were I to so desire, but the fact is I still have that nagging question running through the back of my head: "Did I really need this?"

See, it's not like there was a gap that needed filling, I merely added another layer to what was already ok. I've got something to occupy me now when I travel, I have access to select photos whenever occasion calls for them, I even have the best of the best iPods and the show-off value that carries, and that's fantastic, but, it's not like I was at a loss before.
I've fallen victim to the tragedy which has befallen most of society these days: I tried to fill a gap with a luxury. Circle holes and square pegs.

The hole of course, is that I have no money, and using pegs I have to buy certainly isn't gonna get me anywhere. But in the meantime, I have things I've always wanted, and the quality of my humble poor life is slowly but surely improving. With the exception of my diet, but that's ok cause when I was sick around payday I bought a large bottle of multivitamins which compensates for the utter lack of variety in my daily intake.

Anyway, the point here is to raise this question: is there ever a point where I/one could have all the little things I/one ever wanted such that I/they could actually start saving money or more likely enjoy the costly company of others in this country, i.e. going to bars, restaurants, movies, etc? As far back as I've had paychecks there's always been something more I couldn't afford, and come payday, that's where my money's gone. There's always a little project, there's always something I rationalize to buy. When does that end? When do I have enough to say I'm fine for now? I certainly say that after I buy things, so when do I start saying it before?