Contentment in Dissatisfaction

Here's the easy thing to do: You have a moment of dissatisfaction. Some "thing" will solve that dissatisfaction. You buy it. You're happy.

A slight variant. Moment of dissatisfaction. Some "thing" you can't afford will solve it. You buy it. You're happy now, but later you pay.

But what about this situation? Moment of dissatisfaction. Some "thing" you can't afford will solve it. So you save up for it for a long time and buy it.

How do you save up for something you want while at the same time being fully content? This is uncharted territory for me.