The word "expensive" is a variable term. I'm sure that any tool I'd want would seem cheap to Elon Musk; but I don't have his tool budget. For most of my life, my tool budget has been hovering down near zero. So, there have been a lot of purchases I've made which seemed expensive at the time, even though they really weren't. Here I am, looking back at some of those purchases, seeing my mistakes and my victories. Maybe this will help you in dealing with your "expensive" purchases.