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That is called "financial responsibility" and it is an entirely independent concept to gratification. To the extent they have any relationship at all one can conflate the acquisition of a desired item through a purchase as "gratification," but that is only looking at the short term impact on gratification, not any long term impacts. Someone who spend frivolously may gain many short term gratifications, but will incur much long term strife. They have jeopardized their financial stability for "instantaneous gratification", and have forgone long term and stable gratification that comes from good financial planning.As for delaying purchases that should be considered as something else besides delaying gratification
You initial example neglects this aspect of the equation, for in each of your examples the money is spent and gone. If there was an example where that money was not spent, but instead put into a high yield asset, there could be an example where the fruits of that investment afford our hypothetical person enough financial stability that they could purchase a cookie a day in perpetuity. That could be said to be "delaying gratification" for the promise of more gratification at a later date. How you feel about that tradeoff, in a philosophical sense, can be directly tied to your faith in the possibility that you will be around to experience that payoff. But that does not invalidate the concept of "delayed gratification" itself, because in financial terms it really does mean "not spending now so you will have more to spend in the future" and this is a cornerstone principle in long term financial planning.