This is difficult to explain. I can’t figure out a rule of thumb for spending, the prices of things fluctuate so quickly it’s confusing. Here are some examples
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A house, prices are out of control, inventory is low, sellers are greedy. I’m feeling not only unable to afford it but finding lack of value in inflated prices
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Computer parts. Relatively cheap compared to pandemic but more expensive than before but also much cheaper than 90s/00s, but still could be cheaper
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TWS earbuds, completely different ball game from regular earbuds, disposable electronics.
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Food. Nights out with drinks now sometimes cost me more than 2 & 3, but seem like just keeping up with inflation
The prices range from 100,000s to 100s, but some are fleeting, some semi permanent, some last a long time. I also spend hours researching prices of parts and waiting for sales, but spending the same amount on social events in an instant
well if you want a basic idea of how prices work, then study some economics, as that’s a big part of the fundamentals economists learn. Essentially a bunch of funny curve shapes that try to guess how much people will want to pay for something. Those curves change shape based on interest rates, how necessary an item is, how easy or cheap it is to make a lot instead of a little, and so on and so forth. We can use them to predict stuff but so much of economics is ultimately unpredictable because it relies on human factors.
In terms of how you behave, there’s a few elements to it. With events, the window of opportunity is limited, while you can put off a new device purchase, you can’t postpone the concert as an attendee, so you can’t wait for a sale and FOMO is strong. Many things where you tend to impulse buy are presented as an offer you “can’t put off til later”, so you have to step back to see if you really need it now. Best way to try to even it out is to budget before you start checking current prices and see how they compare.
Studying economics brings little help.
First of all, the models are seemingly easy, when you compare the preference for two goods, or assume a market with a true polypol, but get incomprehensibly complex, the moment you start looking at multiple goods, typical supply chains of today and most importantly, that most markets aren’t polypols, many goods aren’t substituable etc.
But even assuming you have a great model understanding of things, you simply lack the information. That is also the reason, why no single actor can consistently beat the stock market, aside from shear luck (which tends to run out eventually). There will always be so much more to the picture, that you don’t know, than what you know.
To be fair if the goal is understanding why, then even things like goods not being substitutable are useful for understanding. The OP wanted to know why, not know how to predict them accurately. The original suggestion to learn economics would teach them that.