I come from similar background. Upto my jobless Engineering days, I used to get Rs 4k/month from my parents, and I used to maintain a notebook entry of where I am spending what amount. Every spending down to Rs 10-20 amount used to be written by me in my notebook religiously (as far as possible, I may have missed a few months). I used to have basic Nokia phone during Engineering days. And then I got a 2.5 lpa job with soo much of struggle. By my 5th or 6th month’s salary I bought iPhone4s costing Rs 24k, which equalled almost my full month salary. Frankly, I didn’t feel guilty. I am still conservative about spending, but I spend a lot on things I like- Tech devices, and visiting new places. I do have saving attitude due to my frugal background and I have my parents to thank for that, who have always instilled an attitude of saving money. But from my parents only, I also learnt that it is bad to love money too much (aka miser), it is must to save enough, but it is not okay to hold too hard to the money. One should spend enough too.