I know your pain.
It sucks to know you spent real money for absolutely no gain.
I swore off astrals all together and made TONS of +5 items (all of my garment, some accessorys, weapons and gear to sell) and a +7 item (but only after a ton of gold...but at least it wasnt real money) without.
I recently cracked though, gave it 1 last shot (well, 1 last $50 shot

) and it paid off.
Learn how to earn gold. Earn a bunch of gold and just use weapon elixirs and steady to get to +5. Only when going for 7+ have i even entertained the thought of astral.