Reminds me of a conversation my mom and dad once had in my presence. She was trying to justify her purchase of something by telling him how much she saved on it and his response was you should have bought ten of them! You would be rich now!
Although I will admit to once telling my husband (ex-husband) that I had “saved” money by buying the clothes I purchased on sale.
But in my defense, I was starting a new job, an office job and needed office appropriate attire as my wardrobe at the time consisted mostly of a few pairs jeans and tee shirts. I also had 4 pairs of underpants, 1 bra, 2 pairs of socks without holes in them and 2 pairs of shoes, one of which were 10-year-old sneakers.
I was going to have to buy some new clothes no matter what but I worked very hard to find the very best bargains and stretching my meager budget as far as I could.