> but for kicks & giggles, I dropped in a bid around $2,200 ’cause I was confident I’d be outbid

Boy do I wish I could just drop 2k on a whim for a vanity project

Not to minimize the amount (2k is a lot), or obligations you may have (family, etc), but sometimes you can change your life in small ways to make those sort of impulse buys more affordable. Renting a room instead of a house, buying an old used car instead of new, etc. These kinds of changes are (to me) a small inconvenience, with big rewards

A lot of people pay a lot more than that for vanity vehicles, kitchens etc