To Shower Curtain or Not to Shower Curtain...THAT is the Question

I'm in the process of furnishing my apartment. Well, sortof furnishing it. I already have the needed stuff- a bed; a fridge; a table. But the stuff that makes you happy to walk in....like your pictures on the wall or some candles or such- that stuff I'm working on.

I have this ongoing argument in my head. I'm pretty sure this is my mother's fault. She was the bargain-buyer of the whole world, basically. So whenever I buy a non-essential item I go through this debate- I don't need it; it's expensive; how many hours would I have to work to pay this off; can I get a better deal somewhere else; in three months will I regret this purchase; etc.

Anywho, I've been looking for a shower curtain. I've checked several different places and haven't found anything even close to what I want. The price ranges were between 7 and 20 dollars, usually for plastic. Yuck.

Then on Wednesday I was walking through a store in the mall to get to the grocery store, and I saw a shower curtain display. And the perfect curtain. Just the right color and not plastic. It was $27.

That's a lot of money. I mean, compared to $7. So I drooled over it for a couple minutes, put it back, and went to get my groceries.

Now I'm back at home, without a shower curtain, wishing I'd bought it. I figured it out, that with tax, the curtain would cost me $1.26 per month of my remaining two years of contract at AAI. And I think, hmm, that's not very much!

Is it?

I really hate this division of living overseas; some people here could eat for a month on $27. But does that mean I shouldn't spend that much on a shower curtain? Not getting the cool curtain will not help any of those people. On the other hand, being wasteful is bad. So maybe I should settle for the cheap plastic curtain?

Moral dilemmas. So annoying.

On a lighter note, a friend pointed out to me tonight that the word "parasol" seems Spanish- para means for and sol means sun. Like an umbrella is called a "paragua"- for water. Latin based?

Anyway, I'm going to bed now. If you have any input on my shower curtain dilemma, feel free to comment.