I get that and the same applies to me, travel, food, bait, tackle, syndicate fees its a very expensive game.
However, when I needed extra yards on my casting and wasn't happy with the overall accuracy of my casting when giving it some, I realised my old rods just didn't have the backbone required and needed replacing.
I could have bought some Grays or Soniks but with custom built Torrix TEs available at £280 each I saved up and got them instead of buying budget rods. Have I made the right choice, hell yes - TE's are right up there and for the money, represent good value IMO compared to other inferior rods at a much higher price.
Depends how you look at it, my mate bought a £700+pod and would never spend decent money on rods coz he doesn't see the point, whereas I would never spend that money on a pod that does nothing more than look a bit better than its cheaper rivals. Good rods actually give you something tangible for the extra money and you can feel it, see it, benefit from it
I'm not saying your choices are bad, far from it, but just making the point about aiming higher with such an important purchase if you can.