Gastar y pasar

[ducviloxi]

me dijeron que no debes usar "gastar" con tiempo:

gasté un poco tiempo en la selva -> es incorrecto

pasé un poco tiempo en la selva -> es correcto

gastar es usado solamente con dinero. ¿Están de acuerdo?

[aleCcowaN]

You're in the right way.

"Gastar" mean mainly "to consume" and "to wear", the latter in its meaning of "to damage, diminish, erode or consume by long or hard use, attrition or exposure", so "spending time" refers to the use of it, not the time itself; time simply goes by (pasa) and it takes you with it while you are doing something (te pasas el tiempo en esto o en aquello).

You shouldn't learn the meaning of "gastar" departing of "gastar dinero". It's better this approach:

Te gastas las suelas de tus zapatos buscando empleo en tiempos the crisis.
Tenemos que retapizar el sillón porque la tela está muy gastada.
Los escalones de esa escalera antigua están gastados por el uso de los siglos.

In that sense, you should think "gastar dinero" as spending it in the sense of exhausting it. Se gastó una fortuna para construir esa casa. There was a fortune and it wore out by building the house.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Alec. I'd like to add that saying "gastar" + a notion of time can be used in coloquial language, and has a negative meaning, like "to waste time".