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What is worth the splurge to you and what absolutely isn't?
I was thinking about this today as I heard about Instacart going public. I've never used Instacart because I refuse to pay the cost for the convenience of grocery delivery. I've paid for grocery delivery in other ways but instacart feels too much.
I've stopped paying for doordash, which I had never been big on, but the fees got too high
I have and will however pay for a cleaner to come clean my apartment every 3 weeks. I will also splurge on a car wash, as driving through an automatic wash with a fountain soda is a weird happy place for me.
What are your "absolutely will" spends and what are your "no way in hell" spends?
A good rule of thumb I've heard is anything that separates you from the ground: shoes, tires, mattresses. Bonus points for mattresses since you spend a solid third of your life on them (hopefully).
I would expand on this and consider any kind of items that serve as an “interface” or “barrier”. Technical clothing comes to mind, as I definitely splurge on goretex and merino wool.
Wool socks changed my life. You would think wool is clunky and itchy. No. Not merino wool. Then you see the price tag and think, "For one pair?"
Then you start wearing them and you understand. Price doesn'tatter to me when I have dry feet.
The hero of moisture wicking I needed in my life.
God I'm the same with baselayer tops. When i do find a competitively priced merino wool top I'll buy three. Wearing a synthetic fibre baselayer is like having a stone in my shoe these days.
I wish this was my experience, but I've tried smartwool and Darn Tough socks, and both times they caused my feet to break out. I think I'm one of the lucky ones with an allergy to merino wool. But I will definitely agree that good socks make your whole day better!
That is really unfortunate. I absolutely swear by Darn Tough socks ever since I got my first pair.
Hello fellow darn-tough enthusiast! I just tested out the lifetime guarantee recently, i mailed them some pairs I’d completely worn out and they credited me enough to get replacements from the website. Great experience overall.
Clothing is a tricky one. There's plenty of clothing that is expensive simply to be expensive and not anything to do with quality. So spending more doesn't mean much in terms of quality, or said another way, cost isn't a good measure of value in clothing. Another large issue with spending extra on clothing is that many people are not at a stable body size. So it can be hard to justify a 10 year pair of jeans that may fit for only 1 year.
That’s why I mention two kinds of fabrics, which are hands down revolutionary in terms of their function. GoreTex is an engineering miracle, and merino wool is a gift from god (assuming minimum 40% but ideally >60% with the other material adding comfort or durability). Both legitimately work incredibly well regardless of brand—if your jacket is leaking it’s probably due to crappy stitching and not the material.
I think you’re mostly right, not to mention that brands that you trust can change over time for the better. But, some technical fabrics are simply just more expensive to source and manufacture. So, while cost doesn’t mean quality, quality, at least with these two, costs money.
To add to this: chairs. Particularly if you have an office job where you spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer. It's worth the splurge to go ergonomic and get something like a SteelSeries or a Herman Miller or something else that is similarly engineered. Generally speaking, a good office chair will last you for the better part of forever and so this is an area where you can buy used from an office surplus place to help mitigate the initial expense.
I think you mean steelcase? Wasn't aware that steelseries made chairs lol.
Have a 6 year old Steelcase leap and it's been a great chair. It's not like a recliner you'll sink into, it's just a chair you can adjust well that doesn't get uncomfortable at all. It is also really durable feeling and is holding up very well so far, would really reccomend for anybody working at home.
I believe what you are describing is the difference between a 'task chair' and an 'executive chair.' A distinction I've always found humorous.
I was given a steelcase think at work for the last 10 years and love it. I'm highly considering getting one for myself at home.
Which Herman Miller chair would you recommend? Over the years I've thought about getting one but that's a lot to spend on something I've never sat in.
I have an Aeron and love it. It's a big difference when I'm on site for work and using my awful desk chair there. I have no more back pain when working from home because of my chair. I see the Embody is also really popular. Personally, I wanted something with a mesh seat, no pad that would wear down over time. But I'm not sure if that's something you care about. If there's an authorized dealer or an HM store by you, I recommend trying out the various options in person.
Agreed. I use a Herman Miller Embody that's nearly a decade old and it's still as great as the first time I sat in it, which no other chair I've owned comes anywhere close to.
Definitely spend some time figuring out which chair works for you specifically, though. As good as the quality of the Embody may be there are some it's just not compatible with.
A good "budget" office chair, if you can't find a HM for <$1000, I recommend is the Autonomous Ergochair. I've had mine for 5 years now, used pretty much every single day for 6+ hours and it's like new.
I'll speak up for Steelcase here; I ordered an Amia, and when it came with the arm snapped off, they sent a whole new one free, and told me I could do anything I pleased with the broken one.
When I moved out of my parents house into my own place they told me I was more than welcome to take my bed with me. It was a hand me-down. I decided I was going to get my own and passed on their offer.
I spent over $2k on a tempurpedic and while I felt sick signing the receipt, over two years later I have zero regrets.
I used to wake up with back pain everyday and would have a sore back for the first hour or so each morning until I walked around enough to stretch it out.
Now I sleep better, feel better.
One of the best purchases I've ever made
Same for me, but also with anything that protects you from above. (Helmets, roofs, roll bars, etc.)
I have horrible luck with shoes. The soles always fall apart within weeks of me buying them.
You really need to go to a proper shoe store. Big box stores carry the absolute worst in quality, no matter how much they charge. You should be able to find a dedicated shoe store in your area.
After around a year or two of wearing some new balance shoes, they've held up. I won't say what I do for a living, but suffice to say I'm a laborer and spend a lot of time outside. The leather upper is cracking, the white dyed leather is turning blue, they look like trash, but these shoes have largely held up. That $130 has more than paid for itself, considering how many $20 pairs of walmart shoes I would have bought in this time.
I also recently bought some shoes from Xero. I don't know how durable they actually are because I only wear them outside of work, and I've only had them for about two months, but so far they're holding up. They're definitely more comfortable than normal shoes, since they're actually shaped like feet. If anyone reading this has weird, wedge shaped feet like me, I can recommend this brand
Buy something from a good brand. I'm partial to Ecco.
I like that!
Splurge:
I'm an Asian woman who's had straight hair all my life, and I just got a Korean perm recently. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner! My hair just looks sooo good and it's wash and wear, low maintenance, I don't do anything extra other than applying a bit of leave-in conditioner. It looks like I spend a lot of time every day blow drying and using a curling iron to get these soft, bouncy, flattering curls that frame my face so nicely. But I don't do any styling other than just twirling my hair around my fingers to shape the curls a bit 😂 perfect for me because actually I don't know how to use a curling iron lol.
It's been almost 3 months and the perm's holding up well so far, I'll see how long it'll last. The same Korean hairstylist also gave me a lovely layered cut with long wispy side bangs that look amazing with a low ponytail and that don't get in the way when I work out (they're easy enough to clip back).
I used to wear my hair in a mid-to-high ponytail all the time but with my hair now I love letting it down or just having a loose low ponytail. I feel like the high ponytails pulled on my scalp too much and now my scalp is more well-rested 😂
Anyways that was the best $100 splurge I've done recently. (Total cost for cut, treatment, and perm)
Aside from that I generally agree with other commenters who've talked about splurging on high-quality, frequently used things that are close to the body (shoes, mattresses, toilet paper). I also enjoy splurging on good food (my favorite food splurge is probably high-quality sashimi).
I had to check out your pictures because I didn't have a clue what a "Korean perm" was. In my head, perms mean those awful, tightly coiled hairstyles that people with no business having tight curls get. Like the broccoli-head fad Zoomer boys were crazy about a few years ago.
Nope. I still don't know what a Korean perm is, but whatever they did to your hair suits you really well.
Thanks! And yeah, I also thought perms were all like that (tight curls) which is why I never got one before.
A Korean perm results in soft, loose curls like what I have in my photos 😊 It seems to be a two-step process. I remember in the salon, after the initial perming process my hair had these tight curls and I got nervous thinking that was the final result 😂 but no, it wasn't done yet. The stylist did another process that I guess loosens the curls?
The other salons in my neighborhood do traditional, non-Korean perms. I've actually inquired with them to ask if they can also do something similar to what I got at the Korean salon. And all of them said no, they only do tight curls. One of them even told me that the loose curls I got can't be achieved with a perm, it's just styling with a blow dryer and curling iron 😂 so even professional hairstylists can be unaware of Korean perms, hehe. I think the term "digital perm" might refer to the same process. I just know it as a Korean perm since it's mostly Korean salons around here that do it. And these Korean salons are also known for doing good layered haircuts that complement one's face shape as well as the perm style.
Part of it is just that the curls will be more noticeable with shorter hair. But Korean perms are generally less, well, curly than a "old" perm, which produces more of that broccoli hair (which is still popular, by the way) that the zoomers are known for.
See this example on a BTS member, for instance. Since it's on a boy, still shorter hair, but the curls are generally more wavy than curly, necessarily.
I love how happy your hair makes you! As a white demi-gender woman who shaved her head, when you find the right vibe it's just perfect!
Thank you! And yes so true 💕 my sister has a shaved head too and she rocks it so good!!
Worth it:
A year ago I spent >$1k on a monitor. I'm sitting at my computer in a dark room and can see of all of the items on my desk directly behind the monitor. My night vision is nearly perfect. I could get up and run around the room without tripping over something.
With a black background and black themes this QD-OLED based 34" Ultrawide only illuminates the pixels with text or UI elements, the rest are perfectly pitch black. If you're a night owl computer person and have the means you should strongly consider it. The tech has started becoming more affordable.
While I agree premium monitors are worth the cost, I am very skeptical about whether dark mode really is "the best" for legibility and reducing (daytime and/or nighttime) eye strain.
With AMOLED/OLED, "Perfect Black" is very cool and my beef is not with AMOLED/OLED at all--although because you are already invested into technology which has this very specific benefit you probably won't find what I'm about to say very interesting or persuasive as it would be a waste to not use "Perfect Black" as the primary display color on OLED.
I don't want to be prescriptive about this. Rather, I only encourage people to not conflate aesthetics with readability and to not accept the dark mode/light mode dichotomy at face value. I challenge the idea that dark mode is best through its absolute minimization of the amount of light. But also, light mode is not better either. Almost anything is better than a 3000 nit blaring white screen.
My main idea is that, given the same lighting conditions and healthy eyesight, both high contrast and low contrast are poor for long reading. The key is localized medium contrast. Perhaps with pitch black background, instead of white text and UI elements, maybe try silver or gainsboro or light grey. Maybe you are already doing this.
Also, I guess you are probably already kinda doing this if you have something like Night Color/F.lux/Redshift which changes the color temperature automatically at night. Although I wonder how much of a difference there is in legibility between global and localized luminescence / color contrast.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dark-mode-chrome-android-ios-science
The bigger problem is that white/offwhite are brighter.
Look at a lightbulb for 30 seconds, then look at at a blank wall, you'll see an afterglow.
Dark mode reduces the severity of the 'stare at lightbulb' effect. A lot of people forget that screens are just multicolored lightbulbs behind glass. Having good ambient light in the room while minimizing screen light (without causing eyestrain) is gonna be best.
I don't have anything to prove it, but my theory is that the dark mode becoming massively more popular is a side effect of "The Great Flattening" that occurred in all types of software a little over a decade ago.
With flat UI, light mode becomes a stark white with light grays that looks very bright even with display brightness cranked down, which makes it register as unpleasant to many, especially at night. If you look at the UI designs proceeding The Flattening however, with light mode UIs you see a considerably darker mix of tones which is much easier on the eyes even at higher brightness. This is particularly visible on iOS which prior to iOS 7 was full of mid-grays and mid-blues with pure white used comparatively sparingly.
The pendulum of UI design is starting to swing away from flatness back towards midtones with shading and depth, so maybe we'll see a resurgence in light mode usage in the coming years.
An interesting rule of thumb that I came across the years ago when dealing with eye strain at a new job was that your monitor should never be brighter than a piece of white paper held up beside it. Since then, I've had to crank the brightness down a lot on monitors I use, but I have zero eye strain.
I also use night mode on non-AMOLED devices only when it's actually night time. My theory—and I certainly have no direct evidence to back this up—is that, if it's daytime, I want my brain to know that it's daytime. I'm already indoors, away from natural light (though I try to mitigate that by having blinds open as much as I can). The last thing I want to do is use night mode 24/7 on all of my devices, limiting the amount of light coming into my eyes. As diurnal animals, we use light to judge how active we should be. Melatonin production is directly related to the amount of light we get into our eyes.
I have coworkers who work in dark rooms with every one of their monitors on dark mode, and I don't know how they can have healthy circadian rhythms in that environment. Indeed, a lot of them complain about not sleeping well and feeling tired a lot. I suspect that their unhealthy circadian rhythms are linked to being in the dark all day and on screens all night.
I now try to adjust my displays to match the environment too, but an unfortunate side effect on backlit LCD displays is that doing so dulls colors and contrast and generally makes the picture look more dingy. OLED panels seem to perform noticeably better in both categories at low brightness.
Haven't gone OLED yet but my 34” IPS ultrawide was one of the best purchases I ever made. So great for photo editing, productivity and gaming.
OLED displays look amazing, but the way they wear gives me pause at their current cost. I know newer models have wear leveling and are more resistant to burn in, but it still doesn’t feel great that its performance will decline over time. I’m hoping we see microLED panels (not to be confused with mini-LED backlit LCDs) mature and supplant OLED panels in the coming years.
I do agree that expensive monitors can be worth it, though. The 5k 27” monitor I use for my work and day to day wasn’t cheap but the extra pixel density is noticeably easier on the eyes, particularly when a lot of text is involved. It’s only 60hz but that’s fine — extra motion smoothness is always welcome but totally optional on a work monitor.
Burn-in was my pivot point prior to spending an asinine amount of money on an LG C7 77" in 2017. The only large public attempt to study OLED burn-in at the time was RTING's OLED burn-in test from 2017. About a year in the test had shown enough uniformity under mixed content use-cases that I pulled the trigger, dropped $$$$, and stepped out on the bleeding edge.
Six years later the C7 is still running strong without visible burn-in despite several thousand hours of use. The positive experience made it way easier to move forward with the first QD-OLED monitor at launch.
I'm taking a bit more precautions with the QD-OLED monitor though. Black background, hidden task bar, moving my recycle bin around, varying browser window position and sizes...etc. No issues to report yet.
Agreed on microLED. Self-emissive pixels have spoiled me deeply. I'll never accept FALD. It's just too crude once you've seen the real thing. Too bad microLED will be a while. If we start seeing it in consumer channels before 2030 I'll be pleased.
You might just be some dude that really likes his monitor so sorry to burden you with this but can you suggest a decent jack of all trades in the 28-30" range that won't break the bank?
I do some light gaming (not 10hrs of competitive FPS or anything), I do office work and since the computer is in my bedroom I also use it to watch movies while laying in bed. All the "best monitors of 2023" articles seem to be along the lines of "here's the best hyper-specialized for gaming/design/movies, and here's the best piece of shit that's terrible at everything equally". For reference I'm still running a GTX1080.
What I already know is that I don't want a TN panel, and I don't want a curved or ultrawide monitor.
I know that trade off struggle well. I have never been satisfied with a monitor purchase till this one. You didn't mention budget, but I'm going to assume since we're in the "Worth it" thread you're up for investing at a premium for a great experience. You'll find OLED monitors are between $900 and $1,200. I do not consider OLED TVs as monitors because the pixel density sucks relative to what most PC users are familiar with.
OLED performance is so stellar there are fewer compromises between use cases. Absurdly low input latency, high refresh rates, infinite contrast, HDR with top-of-the-line color accuracy... About the only thing you'd need to compromise on is burn-in risk, which it appears most manufacturers are issuing warranties for. And potentially if you're in a particularly bright room OLEDs can get washed out. Their peak brightness is lower than alternatives.
Shop around for OLED or QD-OLED monitors. Every company offering a OLED/QD-OLED right now is using the same couple panels from LG or Samsung so there's not much variation in quality or price at the moment. Just keep the burn-in thing in mind and you'll be enjoying a pivotal technology a few years ahead of its assured wide adoption across the industry. Just be aware a few years from now you'll see better options at great prices. Don't be disappointed, that's how you know you picked the right tech.
Well I'll be dipped. I hadn't realized Samsung had stopped denying OLEDs superiority and begun manufacturing their own.
Those of you who don't know every OLED TV you have seen has been a panel manufactured by LG Display. The rest of the manufacturers Sony, Vizio, etc have been purchasing the panels from LG and gussing them up with their own electronics and features.
It seems that Samsung (Samsung Display) is now finally manufacturing panels. Great to hear that there is competition to the OLED panel market. Hopefully this will lead to deeper market saturation as prices cube down.
I almost exclusively use my TV for playing games on a PS5. While it looks stunning I do find myself needing to calibrate picture settings on a regular basis from game to game. The defaults often don't look great until I calibrate the settings.
Once y'all come to the dark side (ha!) of TV panels I expect games we'll begin to optimize for the superior experience!
Have you ever looked at the monitor reviews on rtings.com? They take a strongly empirical approach to testing monitors that I appreciate. It's worth a look.
+1 on rtings. I've spent a lot of money based on their analysis and haven't regretted a penny yet.
Anything I use commonly. Smartphones, for instance. I spent $1300 on an iPhone two years ago, and I'm feeling its age, so I will get one of the 15 line, and I'm okay spending >$2k if necessary to get enough storage that I never need to care about it. When amortized over all the hours every day that I use a smartphone, even the most incremental upgrades add up greatly, and even the greatest cost is lessened over time.
Clothes and accessories also fall into this. As long as you wear it for a long time, it's worth getting something I like.
When I was still in the city life, Instacart/Amazon Fresh. Especially in SF, grocery shopping without a car is such a painful process that I'm more than willing to pay someone to do it for me.
Outside the city life, DoorDash. The issue is that all the times you want to get takeout food is also rush hour. A 10 minute drive can balloon into a 40 minute drive. At which point it's too much labor when I didn't want to in the first place.
IMO food delivery services like Doorsash/UberEats fall under "absolutely not worth it". Oftentimes these apps artificially increase the price of menu items in addition to the outrageous delivery fees. When I moved to my city I checked these apps out out of curiosity and found the total cost of the meal was often DOUBLE the real price. Even in the rare instance I have no food at home and want to order out there are already dining options that will deliver (like pizza, Chinese, etc) without taking advantage of you.
It boggles my mind that some people blow hundreds (if not thousands) on these services monthly. At that point I believe it is pure laziness.
It's more that the restaurants are passing on the additional fee the apps charge the restaurants. Most of the apps don't allow this, but it's difficult to enforce, as you'd expect.
Either way, in the end, time is money. The way I think about it, how much money would I pay not to have to cook today? Sometimes, that's a lot. Maybe it's been a long day at work, I spent an hour at the gym, and if I had to cook it'd practically be time to go to sleep without having done anything else.
Even moreso, you can consider, "it would cost $X to not have to cook; how much more minutes would I need to work to make up for that? Would I do that?". That's not literally to say I am planning on working more to cover it, that's not how being salaried works, but as a proxy to measure value.
It is laziness - how could it be anything else? But why do I make money in excess of my base living standards if not to be lazy when I want to?
Batching also helps. If you order more than one meal's worth of food, the delivery fee is amortized over those meals.
That is stupid enough of a policy to make me put in my notice of resignation and find another job... I'd be sure to let them know why I'm leaving.
Wow I can't imagine that lol, I had my last phone for just under 6 years and plan to use my current daily driver for at least as long. You must be one busy user lol
One of the ways I think about a splurge is: where is the money going? If I pay someone to clean my house or mow my lawn, that's money straight in their pocket. Like, I'm directly supporting their livelihood. I'm a lot more willing and feel less guilty when I do that than if I'm buying a new car or buying a new phone or buying things on Amazon. Not that I never do those things (or that there's anything wrong with it). And sure, lots of people work for those companies. But when you see Amazon and Doordash squeezing warehouse workers and delivery drivers, you pretty much know most of that is going to someone who's already doing pretty well.
For the same reason (putting money in people's pockets), one of my splurges is radical tipping. Like, 30-40%, even on takeout. Not everyone can do this, I realize. I'm fortunate to be in a pretty good financial place. So I've decided to set aside ideas about what people deserve or have earned (when you get down to it, this is the root of most of the anti-tip or low-tip justifications) and just tip extravagantly. It feels great, which may the self-centered part of it. But I read somewhere, "When you have more than you need, build a bigger table, not a taller fence." So I try to live that out.
But tipping is just so inherently unfair to the millions of workers who don't work in restaurants but earn absolutely atrocious pay. Serving tables has got the reputation of being this really difficult job and so the servers deserve the tips, but I can tell you from experience that there are way worse jobs. I hate tipping culture with a passion and really wish it was abolished. Pay everyone a living wage and hold the restaurant business to the same standards as every other business trying to survive in a capitalist economy.
While I also would like the abolishment of tipping culture I don't see how that belief proceeds to "don't tip someone well because it isn't fair to other people." It's just a kindness. I don't tip them because they have the worst job ever, but because they're not paid a living wage and dealing with the public is annoying at best. Or because they treated me particularly well and I was having a rough time. Or I'm paying forward some good fortune. And I cannot change the system right now by not tipping personally so I am not gonna go that route.
I sent a gift of money to my friend across the country who had a fire in her apartment and needed to do laundry but her detergent burned.
She is paid. She can afford detergent. I sent her money so she didn't have to think about cost when buying and also she can order out tonight. There are millions of people in worse situations. It isn't "unfair" for me to send her a gift. Or if it is, it's on such a scale as to be beyond my ability to fix. The only answer would be to never do such a kindness.
I never tell people not to tip, and I myself tip when I go out for dinner. I do it because it's expected and because I don't think it's fair to create bad blood between myself and the server when it's not really their fault. My beef is not with them.
I also respect that you are doing a kindness, and if it makes you happy, it's not my place to tell you to stop. Personally, I wouldn't lavishly tip regularly because I rarely see a server doing anything other than what is expected by any professional doing their job. I'm kind, friendly, respectful and I hope the servers find me a pleasure to serve. I have conversations with them, I smile a lot, forgive mistakes, etc. Tipping on top of that just feels wrong, even though I do it. In my own line of work, I provide excellent service to my clients. I go out of my way to accommodate them. I'm responsive and fix any problems they may have. But I would never get tipped and I never expect to get tipped. It seems strange to me that we don't hold servers and restaurants to the same standards. I know there is a minimum wage issue in some parts of the States, but here in Canada, we have laws that ensure they get paid at least minimum wage. I know that isn't living wage, but that's a problem affecting many sectors and jobs, and customers propping up those restaurants is just a band-aid solution to a problem that needs extensive surgery.
Tipping is an antiquated system that shouldn't have a place in modern society. I firmly believe that, and I've yet to hear a compelling argument for why it should remain. But rather than telling people to stop tipping, I just try to deal with it in my own way. And that means I rarely go out for dinner now. The tipping culture can spoil an otherwise nice meal as I mentioned in another post, so I just don't bother as much as I used to. Just special occasions now. If people are doing the same and restaurants go out of business, that's just capitalism at work.
I agree with your broad point that tipping culture and tipped wages is a problem and generally a bad thing. Where we differ is in implementation of that belief I think. I do generally tip well, but when I've splurged on a tip is sometimes due to their exemplary service, but sometimes it's due to me having something to give or that person being a very normally good server at a very particular time. When my partner was in the hospital for major surgery, I went to a breakfast place at like 2pm and while objectively I am sure her service was normal and fine the effect of her kindness was huge for me. So I tipped accordingly.
In the face of capitalism and stagnant wages I try to do some good where I can. I don't care if the restaurant fails, but I always hope the employer does well enough.
I'll echo @DefinitelyNotAFae: I think tipping should be abolished. And you're right, there are plenty of other people (like the Amazon workers) who are not getting a fair shake. I can't fix all those things. I don't have a mechanism for it. But when I can do something kind for another human being, I do so.
I'm not sure from your post whether you are trying to say that the system is wrong, or that people shouldn't tip because the system is wrong. But I've seen the latter argument elsewhere, and I think it's important to say: people who take this stand harm the most vulnerable people in the interaction. The restaurant owners get paid. The patron got their food. The waiter or waitress, who is trying to survive in a bad system, is the one who loses out.
It's not my place to say how OP wants to spend their money, and I fully respect their motivation and generosity. My main point is that the system and culture are wrong, not that individuals are doing things wrong. I will say, however, that by tipping, especially a lot, it is perpetuating the culture and creating expectations that are hard to live up to for a lot of people.
Whenever I go out to a restaurant, I still tip because it's the norm and I think it causes unnecessary bad blood with the wrong people if I don't tip. However, I go out to restaurants way less than I used to, deliberately because I hate tipping culture. It's a shame that I am no longer supporting local eateries, but eating out has become incredibly expensive, and I think the tip culture is getting much worse. It's become an unpleasant experience for me to see the card machine brought to the table with text labels on it like 18% - Good, 20% - Very Good, 25% - Excellent, 30% - My Server Was Awesome! What kind of awful manipulation is that? It overshadows what nice experience I may have had with the meal.
There are other issues as well, such as servers making a lot money because they are especially attractive or non-disclosure of tips to the tax office, etc. Meanwhile, the people on the production line making microwave meals, garlic bread or oven pizza will never see a tip, ever, yet they are also bringing food to people's tables in a more indirect way. I'd take waiting tables any day over a shift on those production lines.
I don't have all the answers to how to stop this tipping culture, but one of the effects of it is that I eat out less. If that's true for other people, then it is not good for the restaurant industry in the long term. And they only have themselves to blame. It's always the same excuses about how they can't afford to pay the servers more or that they will go out of business if they raise prices. Boo hoo, we are all trying make our businesses survive in this economy, and most of us can't ask for tips. As a business owner myself, I set my prices based on what the market will bear and just ensure I do an excellent job for my clients. That's just good business as well as ethically the right thing to do. Restaurant owners and servers should do the same without the expectation of a monetary bonus.
I love the bigger table analogy. I have focused on experiences rather than things with my little joys, in part because my partner is unable to do so many things and buying things doesn't make me feel great. I buy things at the farmers market but it's going to the market that's the real joy bringing experience for me. So that's a slight splurge too I suppose.
I do radical tipping too. For me it started with the realization that most prices are too low and I am benefiting from the exploitation of other's less fortunate circumstances. So now, if I see that someone is being force to charge less that what seems fair to me, I force myself to compensate for it through tipping.
You can't live in Canada then! Prices for food have become insane here, except for fast food chains, which are still relatively cheap. But restaurant food is expensive and the servers get paid at least minimum wage, which is not a living wage for major cities, granted, but that's not just a food industry problem.
It's funny, smartphones (especially premium ones) are one case where I'd say there's not really much benefit to a high end model over a mid range model these days. I got a full on Pixel model to see if it was worth it and it wasn't much of an improvement over the A series I'd got for significantly cheaper previously, nor does the iPhone I use for work tempt me to get the same for a personal device either.
The one thing you could argue is a longer lifespan for premium phones, but then if you're replacing them after 2 years anyway, that doesn't even apply.
Same, but also, even just keeping an older flagship model is attractive.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S10 that I've had for 4 years now, and feel literally no reason to upgrade. My phone does everything I want it to perfectly well.
I agree with you on buying premium phones but I'm wondering what kind of super power user you must be to feel the age on a Pro Max after only 2 years.
I use and prefer Andriod personally but iPhones professionally and I would say that longevity of the hardware and extended support for the software is one of the things Apple does best.
It's not the pro max, a pro with 512 gb is $1300.
Certainly it's not like I can't continue using the phone I have currently. but like I said, it's about the way that even an incremental upgrade compounds on a device that is both used constantly and critical for many daily functions. I'm traveling right now on vacation in a foreign country and it's literally a lifeline - it's where the tickets for the trains and planes are kept, it's where travel plans are, it's the only reason I have any idea where to go when I land, it's an emergency translation feature, it even is the de facto copy of my passport on the day-to-day as I try not to take my passport out (as, although not legal in any way, many places will de facto accept pictures of passports - of course, not for like a border crossing or anything).
My biggest annoyances are hitting storage limits, performance hitches on certain apps, in particular Discord. I also really wish the new models had more RAM - there is nothing worse when you're juggling AirBnB, Uber, Google Maps, Obsidian or Notes and you hit the ram limit and iOS compels of them to commit sudoku and of course they don't keep that state. Actually the worst one is the Delta app, which must take up a gargantuan amount of RAM, and really enjoys offing itself right before you need to present the QR code.
And oh god, when you accidentally hit the camera app and every other app dies in order for the photo buffer to have enough space.
Almost every one of your reasons to buy a more expensive phone makes no sense... Besides the RAM part (all phones have this issue in my opinion), any smart phone can handle any of that with no problems, and what performance hitches are you running into with discord?
I'm using a pixel 6a and it handles all that I throw at it, even when I'm traveling internationally, never had issues with discord and in my opinion the only thing this phone would have any issues with besides closing apps due to RAM availability would be gaming which I don't think phones are good for anyways.
Not to be argumentative or anything, but the functions you describe as a lifeline are all pretty light and can be done by any run-of-the-mill smartphone.
You're describing a camera+gallery, Google Translate, Google Maps and a notepad. If I want to get fancier with my tickets etc Google Wallet also holds my boarding passes and can be used for payments. Those are basic smartphone functions, can you describe what you feel provides you with additional peace of mind with the iPhone?
I think you’re missing the point. It’s a lifeline as a comparative to the other possessions I have. It’s an item of uptmost importance. Incremental improvements to the experience of using the product have their utility multiplied many fold. There is nothing I could not do per se with a cheaper phone, but aggregated over many hours the small joys of having a nicer phone more than pay for its cost with utility from my perspective.
Shoes is another example. You can ask why someone needs fancy trainers - there’s an African tribe that runs ultramarathons with sandals made from old tires. And yeah, I don’t need nice shoes, I can do the physical process of walking or running with anything that covers the feet, but life isn’t a minimalism challenge - it’s about whether the product produces more utility than it’s cost, and like with phones the incremental utility of not having my feet hurt multiplied over millions of steps make it quite skewed in my weighing.
I didn't mean to offend you or call your decisions stupid or anything, I interpreted your post as "I need it to be this because of these reasons", and I'm trying to understand. I do the same with my phone, I even use it for work (email slack, and in the event of an emergency even RDP which is a terrible experience) but don't have the same requirements so I was just curious.
I'm trying to understand not demanding you justify your life choices.
I have also been trying to undertand this myself, a lot of people said it's the small incremental things, but if the phone can't run AirBnB, Uber, Gmaps, and Obsidian without killing 1 of them, then I don't think it's good?, my $250 phone can run them at the same time, it can even run them on the same screen at the same time.
Never had storage issues, but I think that's because I have a system to automatically backup some things straight to my pc.
For Apple devices, the only thing I get is that it is set up better fresh out of the box, and I get that some if not most people don't want to tweak their phones even a little bit.
Right now, my only conclusion is that the cameras are that much nicer without editing and worth the $750 difference.
Just to be clear, I'm also not trying to offend anyone, just really baffled by the popularity of Flagship phones, compared to other high end things that people use frequently. I hope someone can explain this to me, without using ambiguous things like "small little things" or "tiny improvements".
Apple lost the camera game to the Pixel line a couple years ago and for a lot less money.
Not really. My husband has the latest Pixel and in many cases the photos I take with my iPhone look noticeably better. Especially in low-light environments.
They aren’t that incredibly different though.
Yes really. It has been widely noted for a couple years at this point. I have both and the Pixel is far better. It's night and day. I do a lot of concert photography and the iphone can't hold up to what the pixel takes in those low light situations. I show people the astrophotography pictures I take with the Pixel and they ask what telescope setup I have.
How good a picture looks is very subjective. I’m glad you’re happy with your purchase but I disagree with you based on my experience.
Right? I have an A33, by most metrics a budget phone, which I purchased specifically because I'd have to do A Lot Of Shit with it (otherwise I'd prefer a smaller screen) and it does just fine with everything, I find myself closing a dozen apps I'd forgotten are running and the phone just works great. On trips it's my boarding pass, notes, small camera, map, translator, calculator, currency converter, wallet at a pinch, it can do silly shit like the Google AR navigation and it's... fine. I mean, I cannot imagine anything apart from "fine" as a characterization because it does everything without a stutter or problem and I wouldn't expect anything less from anything apart from a super-low-budget smartphone.
I will say though that my wife's iPhone takes much much better pictures. I don't know if it's the camera or the software but the pictures from the iPhone are crazy good.
Yeah, most of these apps (aside from Notes and maybe Obsidian) are badly engineered and take up way more resources than necessary. I upgraded to a 14 Pro Max last year, but even before that on my 11 Pro Max I had very little trouble with iOS killing processes, but I'm a mobile app dev which has helped me select for resource efficient apps.
The real answer here is not more RAM, but for the engineering teams at these companies to clean up their projects and not be so wasteful. That's unlikely to happen unfortunately.
Also, I don't think many iPhone users are aware that when you delete photos your iPhone moves them to a trash folder that you manually have to delete again or they keep using up storage on your phone, many storage issues on the iPhone can be solved by cleaning out your trash photos folder
I didn't realize Apple was still rocking such a low number for RAM (6GB) with no real option for expansion. Also the way Apple handles RAM is completely different than android for better and worse apparently.
In comparison my phone's has 12 gigs RAM and allows me to expand it by 12 gigs virtual. Totally overkill for me since I almost always close out apps when I'm finished and restrict almost all apps' access and processes.
Pokémon Go addiction will do that to your phone.
Eyeglasses. Those things are on my face every waking minute, so I won't compromise in the slightest. And for both vanity and utility's sakes, I maintain multiple pairs in a range of colors, shapes, and prescriptions (e.g. optimized for computer distance, near work, driving). I'll pay for the anti-glare, anti-scratch, blue light filtering, and photochromic coatings without hesitation.
My prescription still changes every year, and the cost of redoing all the glasses is currently ~$1,000 using online vendors. But I consider it an essential expense for my health and livelihood.
I won't spend a dime more than I have to on coffee. Hear me out - I grew up on crap instant and percolator coffee, Bunn office coffee machine burnt, weak drippings... Nearly any drip or French-press with half-decent modern roasts tastes great to me. Paying a premium for specialty coffee does not make sense to my abused taste buds, and Starbucks is vastly overrated.
Eyeglasses seem worth it until you get LASIK. Then you can just roll out of bed, workout hard, but any random pair of sunglasses, wear any random pair of safety glasses, roll into bed…
I'd be delighted if I could dispense with glasses. I got an examination for LASIK a few years ago, and was told in emphatic terms that I'm not a good candidate. Old as I am, my correction has never settled down enough. I've also got dry eyes already, and too much astigmatism. I appreciate the advice, though.
Meanwhile, I'm just making the best of it through fashionable and cheap-ish frames with premium lenses.
It was having to replace them every year plus cleaning them everyday that I finally threw my hands up in the air and did it. Sorry to hear you aren’t a candidate for it!
Eyeglasses are one of those things that I feel there's a good middle ground for. I find that there's not a large difference in quality between expensive name brand glasses and the cheap stuff. So even going on the cheaper end even just for a short time is good. Especially if you have a limited budget as it lets you experiment with different styles.
Story time:
Two decades ago when people finally realized I had terrible vision, I got my first pair of glasses. I picked out a style that I could tell worked for me even with my limited vision. Getting a new pair would cost $300-400, if not more, so letting me experiment with different styles wasn't really feasible for my parents. For years, whenever my my prescription needed to be updated, I picked the exact same frames, because what if I look weird in another pair? Of course, when I outgrew those frames, I picked a new set that was almost exactly the same.
Fast forward to maybe 5 or 6 years ago and I realized just how much cheaper you could get glasses online. I'm not talking 20% or even 50% cheaper. I mean, I could get a pair of glasses for close to a tenth of the price. Well, at these prices, even if the prescription is a little off, I can at least see how I look in several different styles. More than that, I discover how it actually feels like to wear those different styles for longer periods of time rather than that initial feeling you get when you briefly try them on in the store.
So I ordered five different styles. All of them bare bones, no special coatings and the cheapest index available. All together they were less than half the cost of the pair I was already wearing. They came in, one of the styles I kind of disliked immediately, but would try to wear the other four for a day or two each. What I found was, I actually kind of hated the style that I have traditionally worn. Sure, it looked fine on me, but these other styles looked and felt better. With them being the cheapest index and thus the thickest lenses, they were all heavier, but most of the pairs were still more comfortable because of the different shape that fit my head better.
I will admit that the frames I got online do seem to have a slightly lower build quality. However, the lenses themselves were just as good as every other pair I had prior and my optometrist can attest to this, as my vision has been slowly getting better at the same rate it was with all the old glasses. The main issue is just that the hinges tend to wear out faster than my previous glasses. Even then, it's not exceedingly quick. They certainly last the 1-2 years when they recommend you get your prescription renewed. And if they didn't or you wear them longer than that, I think two identical cheap pairs would both last longer than than one good pair as well as being cheaper than that one pair, even if you are getting a higher index and special coatings on them.
I'll probably continue to get cheap glasses for the rest of my life, albeit with some of the bells and whistles that I initially decided against. Having an extra pair with up-to-date prescription available in my car, at home, and at work while on a limited budge is just invaluable. And if I ever so desire, I can easily try out a new style if I ever don't feel like the style I use now suits me anymore.
The first time I ordered glasses online I had decided to never buy glasses from a store again. The first pair wasn’t particularly good quality since I got the cheapest ones I could buy, but when it was less than a tenth of the price compared to my previous pair, it didn’t matter. The next time I bought some nicer ones and that’s where I’m going to go from now on.
The only thing that annoys me is that the place I normally shop had stopped selling the very lightly color tinted lenses, which I thought added quite a bit of character.
Back in the bad old days before inexpensive automated lens grinding, my typical prescription thick, heavy multifocal lenses would cost around $500, before basic anti-scratch coating and frames. Losing or damaging my one pair was an unthinkable catastrophe, and the frames were as boring, conservative, and universal as I could get. Wearing glasses was a lot like this old commercial...
I'm now getting inexpensive frames in a couple of moderately stylish colors/shapes and putting a portion of the cost differential into high-index lenses with all the trimmings. My utility (computer, reading/close work) glasses are frameless unifocal with appropriate distance adjustments to the correction. It's been a joy to have featherweight, versatile decorative face jewelry that I can choose to express myself with rather than an annoying, ugly, expensive burden.
I'm also fortunate to have an optometrist who'll write prescriptions for the precise distance corrections, even though he's not getting the profits from dispensing the glasses.
The online vendors have virtual try-ons that work reasonably well with a photo, or will ship frames for try-and-return. When I'm shopping virtual try-ons, I'll test everything that looks vaguely intriguing (including things I know will look ridiculous, just for the lols - every couple of years, I'll pick outrageous ones for sunglasses). This eventually gets winnowed down to three or four styles, then compared to what I'm most likely to wear daily...
Generally, I don't have too many concerns about durability since they're only going to last until the next year's prescription. I do get a twinge of worry about waste. However, there are charity eyeglass donation and recycling programs, and I usually hold onto each previous year's glasses for emergency stashes.
I'll drink office coffee but for me coffee is a rarity - my caffeine comes from zero sugar soda - and so it's more a splurge to me. Not a Starbucks/Dunkin fan though either, we have some good local places that are worth a boba tea, or cortado, or whatever beverage I'm feeling that moment.
When it comes to cooking implements I find some things aren’t really worth spending a good amount on. Manipulators like spoons, ladles, spatulas, etc. don’t need to be fancy. I’ve been using my ultra cheap nylon spatula I bought from IKEA for over a decade.
Some things are, though, like cookware, knives, and of course appliances.
I’d be careful with plastic kitchen tools, they can get chipped, even at the micro level, and end up in your food. Silicone is a much better material and generally affordable too. Otherwise steel, if you use steel cookware (encouraged for the same reason as avoiding cheap coatings).
Some things I may not splurge on but if interacts with my food I will avoid the cheapest materials.
Plastics used in kitchen utensils generally don’t chip; they’re plastic in the sense of the physical attribute. You can grind them to have particles in your food still, and if you leave them on a heat source they can melt and emit harmful fumes, but those are things you can easily avoid.
The cynic in me wants to point out your food probably has micro plastics in them before you purchased it.
They won’t chip in the sense that they’re brittle. I was short on words but what I meant on the “micro level” is the abrasion against tougher surfaces like steel will leave behind the particles, which will add up over the lifetime. And perhaps you’re especially careful, I can’t debate that, but I’m just saying that there are reasonable ways to just prevent it altogether.
You are right about the ubiquity of microplastics. I try to be mindful and do my best to avoid it by e.g. buying produce without plastic packaging, even if it costs a bit more, and using a proper faucet-attached water filter that can remove micro particulates (actually down to microorganisms). We can never eliminate it, but we can make the investment in reducing accumulation over the decades of life.
A good quality chef's knife that fits your hand well is as essential as any other tool in the house, as necessary as shoes. That's not a splurge, it's a BIFL expense.
I’m torn on this one. I bought a set of stainless all clad 15 years ago that are still looking and functioning like brand new. I think it was only about $200.
I also have a wusthof 8” chefs knife that was about the same price.
However these days to anyone asking I tend to steer people towards commercial grade products. Victorinox knives are excellent and the few pans I’ve bought have been absolutely fine. They don’t hold up as well but are good for many years of use.
I pay for ad free YouTube and it comes with music streaming as well that's pretty good. To me at least, this is worth the splurge.
Splurge: First class tickets on a flight in the 3-5 hour range (at least in US/Canada). It's not always within my budget unfortunately, but when it is, it's a real game changer. The seats are comfortable, you get to board the plane first and pass all the freaks who insist on standing directly in front of the gate even though they aren't boarding until group five or whatever, and best of all, you're treated like a human being instead of some worthless sack of shit.
I'm not sure if this applies to longer international flights. The little pods look amazing, but in my experience, I'm able to disassociate after the 3rd or 4th hour. Plus there is usually an opportunity to fly a non-Noth American based airline, which immediately improves the experience.
Don't Splurge: Luxury Uber/Lyft rides. Last time I flew, I was tempted to keep the momentum and booked an Uber Black so I wouldn't have to get on the bus and go to the special pickup location. The price nearly doubled for what amounted to be 10 minutes of saved time and a slightly larger car. Not worth it.
When I was younger I didn't mind economy seats much, but as I've aged I've come to agree that seat upgrades can be worth it if the price is right, particularly on long-haul flights — through my twenties I could manage to fall asleep just about anywhere but now as a thirty-something it's almost impossible to sleep in economy. As you've noted, boarding priority is huge too.
When is the price right? What's a good price for an upgrade?
That number is different for each person since it depends on flight length, budget, flight frequency, and several other factors.
What I would recommend is if one has a particular destination they like to travel to is to periodically check prices for the various tiers across their preferred airlines/routes, with the dates being searched for representing how far ahead they typically book. This develops a feel for what the prices usually look like which combined with personal factors give a sense for what is and isn't worth it.
So for example, for me personally on a once-every-one-to-two years trans-pacific flight if I can upgrade to business for 2-4x the cost of economy on the same airline, I'll probably do it because I don't deal well sitting in a cramped seat for 12h. On the other hand, someone who isn't as bothered by flying economy that long (such as myself in my twenties) probably wouldn't find that to be worth it at all. Past that price threshold however, which is common with nicer airlines and/or short notice bookings, the price ceases to make any sense to me.
I've had a couple of long flights recently and I do hear you about splurging for first-class air travel. I'm not even in the unfortunate category of people who suffer from bad leg room or narrowness of seats.
I get seated next to the ones who are, and they can't quite constrain their misery from overflowing onto me. Their overlong elbows poke my ribs, their shoulders brush my ears, their thighs overlap my seat, etc. I was recently blessed and cursed by someone who felt cozy enough to fall asleep with his head on my shoulder throughout the flight, while I didn't sleep a wink. I've got a bit of a thing about being touched casually by strangers.
It's definitely gotten worse since the pandemic, but I deeply resent the idea of paying out of my own pocket for minimally comfortable and private seating on business trips.
My one time flying Aer Lingus proved to me how much nicer air travel could be. Also I learned to like Irish Breakfast tea.
I've had to do the XLs for accessibility reasons but never done actual luxury rideshare. I might try it once just to see.
Is boarding the plane first a bonus? Aside from the fact that you get early access to overhead bins (which seem to usually have enough space for most passengers' bags on most flights in my experience, or fill up very late in boarding), what does it do for you? I've always just thought of it as more time I have to be on the plane, but maybe I wrote it off too quickly.
Personally I don't really care about when I get on the plane. However, it really annoys me when people stand around and crowd the boarding area even though there is an order to it and they aren't going to board for several more groups. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does, especially when my group is called and some slack-jawed dipshit is standing directly in the way waiting for his or her group.
So avoiding that and just cruising by everyone before it gets out of hand is a nice little bonus. Also, since the seats are comfortably sized, it's actually better to be on the plane than at the gate. Plus they give you drinks when you show up.
Sidenote: as much as it annoys me, I don't blame the passengers for this as much as the airlines. They should just get rid of boarding groups and let people on all at once (with the exception of people with kids/disabilities and maybe first class). I've seen it done when I traveled internationally and it seems to work better.
I like being able to board sooner because it means that I can sooner put my passport away, turn off my energy draining hyper-aware mode, and can just sink into my seat, close my eyes, and relax, especially after running around frantically in big chaotic airports like LAX. Even if I have more than enough lead time, until I’m aboard I’m always a bit paranoid that I’ll somehow miss boarding.
The big obvious answer: I saved for many years and bought my house in cash. Many would say this is bad financial planning and I would've come out ahead by getting a mortgage and leaving the difference invested. I would not take out a loan to invest it in stocks, so this seemed absurd to me. And having grown up a couple of orders of magnitude poorer than I am now, the mental health benefit of foreclosure/eviction being a concept that simply doesn't apply to me is great.
I spend way too much on food delivery. But when I'm too lazy to cook, I'm also too lazy to drive somewhere. It's probably the only reason I'm eating more than a snack that night. So it continues to be worth it to me.
I stopped paying for Amazon Prime this year, as it spent the last few years getting progressively more expensive and less good at providing the one benefit I cared about (fast free delivery). They've been obnoxiously pushing me to reinstate it, and occasionally offer me a free month, which I happily accept and then cancel at the end. I've bought so much less stuff from Amazon since doing this, for some weird psychological reason I don't fully understand.
I buy all my computers used. Most electronics don't degrade over time (batteries and storage devices do, but they're both easy to replace in the sorts of laptops I tend to buy, and software installations can, but I use Arch btw so whatever came preinstalled on it is irrelevant). I buy used phones too; they're less repairable but I have minimal requirements for phones and basically all phone batteries last >24 hours with my usage patterns.
Splurge: headphones with backup pads. I've made a mistake of buying like 5 pairs total with various compromises. Just buy something good once and repair it.
Resist the urge: first class flight tickets etc. You'll be in a shaky can anyway and the thin aluminum won't stop you from hearing that baby. You'd enjoy food better on the ground. The plane flies just as fast regardless of when you board. Who gives a damn. Put on some good headphones, close your eyes, and relax for once in your life.
I'm an european who has installed split unit hvac in my home. It was a massive expense and everyone was skeptical, but not even a year and it has already paid for itself, imho. It's a huge relief in the summer (especially at night with no breeze and computers/VR in the house, all of which get pretty hot) and it probably saved my bacon in the winter since it was quite cold and the power supply here can't handle inefficient wasteful radiators. I did it because I can see where the weather is headed over the next decade or two.
I spend a comparatively financially irresponsible amount on high quality ice cream/gelato/sorbet, which you will only pry from my deliciously cold, dead hands.
I'm also paying for the cleaner, for now (until the money runs out). I'm fastidiously tidy and even if I'm not hiring the services of a cleaner I'll just do the whole cleaning routine on my own; the value I derive from having those extra hours exceeds the cost.
During the pandemic I got into the habit of ordering Uber Eats once a week. It was kind of nice and restful to get one meal out of 14 that I didn't have to prepare on my own, but also a definite waste of money. Fortunately, I moved to an area that is not serviced by Uber Eats, so I can't do that anymore. Savings! I still order groceries (in large batches) since actually going to the supermarket is a significant expense in time, fuel and mental energy. Also, much to my irritation, there's always stuff I can order online that's randomly missing from the inventory of local supermarkets, so going there is strictly worse in every way (other than not having a time lag between order and delivery, of course).
I'm still on the second smartphone I've ever owned, an Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2. The first one was a OnePlus One. Both rooted, of course. I only buy new ones when they stop working entirely. The Zenfone has fallen in the toilet in the past. I hate mobile games, I hate mobile ads, I hate touchscreens, I hate being bothered by random messages and notifications. I can barely tolerate smartphones - I appreciate GPS and some apps, but that's all - and I have no desire to spend money on them.
I don't like to buy clothes either; I have a uniform of khakis and polo shirts (or regular shirts) and I wear them until they fall apart.
I'm on a lifelong quest to find an office chair that doesn't suck in some way. They get really expensive and always compromise on something. I really liked the posture and options on a Haworth I had once but the materials were poor quality and it broke way too quickly. Companies that sell these chair usually tout their warranties and repairs but in my experience it's an annoying process that takes several weeks. Where am I supposed to sit during that time?
Agreed on the split unit HVAC. Split units provide the most economical way to get HVAC into rooms that don't already have ductwork. We're in a very Northern Midwest U.S. climate that used to require something in the range of 8500+ heating degree-days/year and <500 cooling degree-days/year in 1970, when the house was built. We've got baseboard hot water heating with a continuous flow gas boiler. Well water means it's effectively geothermal - very inexpensive and efficient heating. However, baseboard heat isn't very evenly distributed. Adding central AC is out of the question due to the cost and infeasibility of retrofitting ductwork. [There's a newer technology, small duct high-velocity HVAC, but it's still very expensive and not widely available yet. Interesting discussion of pros/cons here.]
I was skeptical at the cost of split unit HVAC for cooling. The justification was that my spouse gets uncomfortable from heat at a temperature that's 10 °C lower than I do. I get uncomfortable from chill 10 °C before he does. [I don't care what anyone says, you can't just "layer up" the air you're breathing - cold is cold.] One or the other of us was suffering for a few months a year.
We'd struggled along with a noisy, inefficient, not very helpful window AC unit, without thinking about the increasing number of days where it would have to run 24/7. We should have looked at the extra ~$150-200/mo. in electric bills to cool a single room by 5 °C, done the math, and gotten the split unit ASAP.
Spouse wound up needing major surgery that would leave him stuck in bed for a month during the hottest weeks of the year, so I agreed to spend the money for a split unit in the bedroom. We can now maintain a constant 20 °C temperature, regardless of the weather, for less than $50/month in the hottest months. We're a well-rested, heathier, happier couple for the change.
Glad it worked out for you both!
I used to have gas in my previous place but gas has gotten quite expensive in Europe and it's a fossil fuel, so it's harder to take advantage of renewables.
If we re-do the cheap laminate flooring, we'll probably install in-floor electric heating instead of replacing the aging gas boiler. We lose the benefits of an easy geothermal source, but gain renewable, low-carbon power from the local solar/wind co-op. The cost comes out about the same either way. It's just a matter of balancing the competing priorities for home maintenance and remodeling.
Is your HVAC a heatpump? I’m unaware of other tech returning a savings like that.
Yes, it's a Daikin brand heat pump and aircon hybrid (with some other fancy stuff like filters and dehumidifier).
My general rule is if it will LAST, i'll spend on it. The whole "buy it for life" thing.
Outside of that (since i feel like so few things actually hit that), my general rule on splurging is i'm not allowed to unless I actually get into whatever i'm doing. I have 10+ mechanical keyboards, but I started with 1 and made sure I wanted to use them (since that was a 60%, i'm now using 40's for everything but gaming). Similar things include slowly getting better at cooking (i still refuse to get a nicer knife than a victorinox because I just don't feel comfortable sharpening them yet), and drones (i like tiny whoops, and have a few beta's ,but I tend to suck with them and have occasional issues so i've limited my spending).
I have a few "tools" (basically the smaller overpriced edc stuff, but i like having some of them on me and the rest in my center console of my car) that i've spent more than normal on. A decent watch i'm ok with (although most aesthetics bore me, and there's not many that are interesting and less than $1000, which i just won't spend).
Oh my computer was a big expense but I think it's a very justified one given I don't just use it for fun, but also for work/improving my work skills.
As for what isn't-
Food is EXTREMELY hit or miss, and scales oddly. I will rarely spend more than $100 a person (and even then that's for a special occasion) as I've found very very few places come even close to justify such an obscene spend. The last "great" steak place I went to was such a huge disappointment when I know 3 others, 2 cheaper, that were so much better. So much food is needlessly overpriced. I'll pay some fee for the upside of not having to cook and clean, but god the amount of crap i've seen claiming to be "amazing" that just looks pretty is depressing.
Clothing is pretty weird to. 90% of my wardrobe comes from costco/target/khols and almost all of it lasts years. I will spend on a good suit/dress shirt, because having one that fits right is such a huge difference, but I've also put on way too much weight and haven't bothered to get nice ones because it's easy enough to get away with cheap ones in most cases.
Shoes have been an awkward search for me, as I'd love a black, decent tread, slip on that lasts. Merell's fall apart so they're out. I found some great lowa's but then they stopped making them. By the time I needed to replace them it seemed the slip on/loafer fad had passed and a similar fate had hit everything else. I'm so picky about this because I feel like most shoes i've bought are cheap quality, fall apart, and super specific (i really want to own 3 pairs of shoes in my ideal world).
It seems a lot of people are complaining about bad quality shoes these days. I've been really pissed off at how bad they have gotten. Most of them have outsoles that are literally made of foam; the material has been aerated, which means that it's less dense, which means it falls apart quickly. Some of them are aerated so heavily that they literally collapse under my weight!
I think I had asked about good shoe brands before, and most people recommended some fairly expensive brands. I guess that's just what the price of good shoes are these days. The thing that bugs me, though is that they aren't brands I can get at local shoe stores, which means I can't try them on before I buy them. Shoe fit is very important, and I reject tons of shoe candidates because comfort is very important to me, so buying shoes online is far from ideal.
I feel the pain. I have wide feet so I need to try on shoes to make sure they fit, which makes shopping online very iffy to me. And a lot of shoes I see recommended for my particular needs are basically only available online.
How many local shoe stores are around you? There's so many different chains and local stores and such. Generally, I'd highly recommend going to a highly rated locally owned store with a long history. Read a reddit post years ago about how workers at those will be more likely to know shoes compared to chain stores. So you can get some good recommendations for your specific needs.
Clothes are tricky for me due to size and idk gender aesthetic I guess - it becomes a splurge because it has to for me to find work clothes that look decent, but then I don't enjoy it because I rarely find things that make me feel "right". So it's a weird yearly spend that I begrudge the need for. A definite middle ground
Ive got some fat toes/forefoot and I've found that buying Altra shoes is where it's at.
They have shoes that are actually "foot" shaped, and I can't go back to any other brand.
I'm in an extremely mountainous region and they hold up to multiple long hikes a week. I've been buying them for almost 3 years now and I haven't been let down. They have a pair or two of formal looking shoes that are really well made too. I always grab the trail running style lone peak and whatever version they are now at.
I also wait for REI to have some sort of 1 item sale for members, which happens 4+ times a year, especially the annual sale. The one time 20 dollar membership allows one year returns on everything, and has payed me the cost 100 fold. It's silly how good of a deal it actually is. They also repair your bike tires for free if you have one. Patch/replace tube. Strollers/bikes etc
I bought an electric knife sharpener and it’s gets the job done. I know knife enthusiasts insist on manual sharpening, but they had a brand they liked that’s electric which I bought. The alternative is using a dull knife.
If you are a man I can't suggest brands but r/buyitforlife definitely has opinions about quality shoes. I am very happy with a pair of hiking boots that I bought at REI. I wear them in most situations that would call for casual shoes, including but not limited to hiking and I expect them to last decades.
Splurge:
Safety Equipment: A number of the hobbies I have can be pretty dangerous and I'm getting to the break>bounce phase of life. When I was young I was quite carefree about safety but after a couple good tumbles I splurge in this arena. Things like helmets, harnesses, grigri, safety beacons, or a satellite phone can literally save your life for a few hundred dollars. It also means I replace gear more often than I used to. I listen to the manufacturer advice on ropes and crash pads lifespans much more than I used to (I went through one right before covid and ruptured my achilles). Stay safe folks!
Non-Splurge:
New technology. I work with tech a lot so I try to minimize the amount of time I spend with it outside of my job. I actually prefer for my home computer or cell phone to have some "quirks" that make them harder to use as it limits my time on them. For my laptop, it overheats when I have it plugged in which means I can only use it for the duration the battery (which is also quite old at this point) can hold a charge. I've dropped my phone more times that I can count so the screen and back are both is pretty bad shape. It is still great for texting, phone calls, email, music, and directions but I don't want to stare it for a long time. In both cases I can use my latest generation work stuff if need be, but I like that it is frustrating to use.
Quite a healthy approach to these potentially addictive time stealers!
For cooking, you need a good pot, a good skillet, a cutting board, and a good chef's knife.
All the other things are accessories, and the gimmicky things - the onion chopper, etc. Those are just pure garbage. Learn how to dice an onion. It takes less than a minute if you know what you're doing.
There are some things that are worth buying above those, though it will depend on what and how you cook. A good garlic press can save you so much time and effort. There are some things you just can't do well without a good blender and/or food processor. And appliances like immersion circulators, electric pressure cookers, or stand mixers can also make things that are very fiddly or time consuming much easier and/or faster.
Worth it: anything my feet, butt, or back are going to be on for extended periods of time. Mattress, couch, desk chair, sneakers & insoles, etc. Good toilet paper is also worth it to me. And in terms of totally unnecessary spending, morning coffee — I run out to Dunkin for an iced coffee every morning, rain or shine, and it's not even amazing coffee, it's just become part of my morning ritual that helps me get my head on straight for the day (also the people at the store I go to genuinely brighten my morning to see them and say hello).
Totally not worth it: cars are the main thing that come to mind. I have a 14 year old Civic with peeling paint that still runs fine, and I plan to keep it until I've run it into the ground, especially given the price of even used cars these days.
I buy clothes and purses only when I have a specific need and I keep things for decades if they last. I do try to find quality and I rarely have the patience for thrifting but compared to many people in my income bracket my clothing spend is minimal.
I try to be frugal about it but I do travel as a way to indulge my interest in nature, history, architecture, food and to share cool experiences with friends and family.
I buy many more ebooks and (used) physical books than most people.
My car is old and I will drive it until it dies. It is a functional tool for me and an old friend, not a fashion statement.
My splurge is Sonos. 15 speakers, 2 subs and still counting. I don’t necessarily know if it’s audiophile Hi-fi but I do feel like I become part of the music, movie or game.
Me and my hearing loss can't comprehend this.
I buy a synth, drum machine or some music gear every few months. I hardly record any music with them these days; the ambition is there, just not always the time and energy. That said, they're great to have when the moment strikes and for just jamming.
It's my most expensive hobby, but in 12 months I'll spend maybe 500-700€ on it, so it's not that bad in aggregate. But the last purchase came out of my savings because I quit my job to work on a video game, so that was definitely in serious splurge territory.
Sounds fun! And that’s like €50 per month, which isn’t too much for something you enjoy. Also these devices probably keep their value pretty well.
Splurge: basic cornerstone wardrobe items. I probably spend more on dress pants and button down shirts than most, but they’re going to last for years and years and aren’t in danger of going out of style. They aren’t flashy- just good quality every-day stuff that gets used constantly.
Not worth the splurge: regular consumable items- cheap toilet paper, dish soap, coffee, etc. all work fine for me.
I used to splurge a lot on hobbies, but the hobbies were constantly changing so I ended up accumulating a bunch of super high-quality stuff that didn’t get used as much as intended. I take more of a tempered approach on that stuff now. I’ll buy the cheaper tools/gear until I’m sure it’s something I’ll continue doing.
I have really gotten into the Y-Brush, to the point where my original handle wasn't holding a charge and I paid full price for another starter kit so I could continue using it. Even if I'm going through a tube of toothpaste obnoxiously fast, it's still cheaper than the prospective dental work since my issue is brush coverage.
My splurge: chocolate. The difference between good quality chocolate and the stuff in Halloween assortments is night and day. If your idea of what chocolate is comes from a Hershey bar or a Whitman's Sampler there's a whole world out there waiting for you. There's so many different subtleties and undertones of flavor in good chocolate, sometimes based on its processing, ingredients and tempering, and sometimes even based on the region the cacao beans were grown. The range of complexity reminds me of fine wines.
Speaking of fine wines, that's actually where I refuse to splurge, haha. I do love wine but I'm perfectly happy with wines that are <$25. I don't see any reason to pay more than that, when most of my favorites are in the $15 range. I've tried some wines that were $70-$120 a bottle and with some of them I would rather have been drinking a $4 moscato from the grocery store. Wine of the month clubs sound fun as a concept to me, but really I'm perfectly happy with my cheapo bottles.
I think that some varieties of fine wine can be worth the price, but wine seems to be the single most subjective flavored thing in the world. One person can think a bottle is rich, fragrant, and complex, while another person can drink from the same exact bottle and think it's drain cleaner fluid.
For me, it was worth it to buy a nice aged tawny port for the occasional splurge. But my tastes have actually changed quite dramatically over the past year, so I can imagine the next time I try it I'll probably be grossed out at how sweet it is.
I'm generally of the "buy once cry once" philosophy so I don't really consider it a "splurge" unless there is no appreciable increase in quality at a higher price point.
Some areas where I spend more than my material return:
Things I try to min/max of:
I think books have seriously under appreciated value. I’ll even sometimes buy them in hardcover.
I didn't realize this was something Ramith Sethi preached but that has always kind of been my philosophy too, spend money on what you love and that's okay, but don't spend money on what you don't care about.
Another person above said spending $1300 on a phone a couple of years ago and then spending another $2000 on another one soon, is just crazy money to me. My Pixel 5 will do just fine for another two years if not more. Same with computers, my refurbished HP elitebook which I bought in 2015 will do just fine for another few years.
Cars, on the other hand, are just a waste of money for others but not for me. A neighbor is selling an old 1998 Civic for $800? Better believe I'll buy it and spend $4,000 fixing it up over the next two years!
I think that makes sense. (I need to buy fewer books but I probably won't) I think in many ways I'm curious about which things matter for people.