This week, my iPod nano went through a colors cycle in a washing machine, forcing me to update my iProduct Consumption chart: nearly 1.5 decades of Apple devices. In case you’re curious, the 4th-gen iPod shuffle worked fine after it made it out of the laundry and dried; I’m waiting to see what happens with this 7th-gen one.

And no, I don’t have tons of disposable income. My major expenditures on consumables fall into the categories of food, books and tech (I seldom update my wardrobe and rarely spend on entertainment like seeing movies, going to concerts, acquiring computer games, etc.). So why does tech end up being a big chunk of my budget? Among other things, I’ve ended up doing much of my reading on tablets, often during my public transit commutes (I generally avoid printing and don’t own a printer). Then I fell into a habit going through upgrading and recommercing cycles to stay current as well as extract more value from my cell phone plan—consider this: if you have an upgrade requiring you to renew your 2-year contract and know you’re not going to switch carriers, you could get a smartphone for $100 and recommerce it for $300 via Gazelle with minimal effort; from my point of view, it’s only handy to hang on to an upgrade if you fear you might smash up your phone and will need a replacement immediately.

But I really should cut down on the devices.