[drooby]

This absolutely describes me..

I seriously can't find anything that is worth buying that actually makes me happier. Travel is great, and probably where the bulk of my money goes. But it's temporary, and the expense is limited by my vacation time and doesn't scale that much.

So I save.. and eventually I will be able to buy time. Maybe with more time I can figure out something to make me happier.

[teractiveodular]

I'm in the same boat, down to preferring travel/experiences over things.

But last year, I bought a "nice" car. Not a Lambo, nothing that makes people turn their heads on the street, but 3-4x more than I'd ever spent on a car before. I'm not a car guy, but I remain astonished by how much I continue to enjoy driving it and how much the little luxury fripperies like a really quiet ride, driver seat automatically adjusting to my preferred position, heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control with lane following etc add to the experience. Maybe I've been underestimating the value of well-made things after all.

[autoexec]

> I continue to enjoy driving it and how much the little luxury fripperies like a really quiet ride, driver seat automatically adjusting to my preferred position, heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control with lane following etc add to the experience.

I might be in the minority but I dread having to replace my car because I specifically don't want little "luxuries" found in new cars these days. I don't want a car that forces me to use touch screens, or will brake or accelerate on its own, or jerk the wheel under my hands, or ignore my input if it doesn't like what it thinks I'm doing, etc.

I can't complain about quiet ride, and a heated steering wheel might be nice in the winters (for what's left of them anyway), but generally I don't want anything more advanced than a backup camera and warning indicators when someone is in my blind spot or there is rear cross traffic. I suspect it'll be near impossible to find new cars that don't come with anti-features and the push to end sales of gas-powered vehicles is only going to make it harder.

[simonswords82]

What car is it? I’m in the market and want something that puts a smile on my face too!

[ijidak]

I felt the same. Then I decided to spend some of my money hosting others at my home and sharing nice things with them -- things that they themselves may not be able to afford or care to spend personal money on. For example, taste testing an expensive bottle of whiskey, Wagyu beef, etc.

That's been enjoyable.

[NKosmatos]

Sad to hear this. Don’t you have any hobbies or interests? Perhaps being a little bit materialistic every now and then doesn’t hurt much. i.e. Get a better PC to play games, buy a better camera/lens to go out and take photos, get a bike to go for rides, you get the idea…

I know that things don’t make us happy, but the usage of them, the memories we create and the time we spent using them, many times makes us happy ;-)

[alecst]

I relate to the persona above you. I have plenty of hobbies, and almost all of them are free or cheap. I don't need a better laptop than what I have, I don't need an expensive bike to enjoy riding around, I don't need better running shoes -- or any shoes -- to go for a nice long run. The high of having the shiny new thing wears off.

Recently I got rid of my bed, entirely. I had an expensive latex mattress, but I realized I enjoy sleeping right on the floor. It's firmer, cooler, and easier to maintain. It's just one of the many cases where I realized that less was more.

[gwervc]

Same here. My hobbies include learning languages, which thanks to the internet can be done for free. Same for reading research papers, programming stuff, etc. I walk instead of taking public transportation because I like it, it's free and good for health. I eat at home most of the time and depending on season I prefer meeting friends outside instead of going to a bat. The only thing I'm finding spending a bit too much on is cards (Magic, Pokémon), but it's still less than 100€/month on average.

On thing I noticed is that acquiring an object call for more objects. Let's say buying a new phone. It then need a case. The charger norm changed so an adaptator is need. We are already at 3 new objects instead of one, and all of that need to be stored somewhere (with may require a new box). I find myself more often than not taking pleasure into not buying things.

[makeitdouble]

Depending on your hobbies that will require enjoying buying new things, which is not a given.

For instance if you're into photography, better gear can give more pleasant results. But if you already have a decently good setup, buying something better will require extensive research, comparison, probably a trip or two to a store to see the gear in person, potentially rent it for a few days to see how it handles etc.

If you enjoy the whole process you'll be happy to buy new gear, but if you only cared about actually taking photos, the time you spent to get incrementally better gear might not pay off in actual enjoyment of the hobby.

[drooby]

Check, check, check. Literally tried all of those things. I'm trying man. Not much is clicking. I'll keep trying things though.

The best purchase I have made in the past few years was a subscription to my rock climbing gym. But I can only go climbing 2-3 times a week since my body needs to recover.

[HDThoreaun]

My hobbies are cheap. $5 a month for my share of a Spotify family sub and a couple grand a year for the gym and ski pass. New bike and computer every few years so we’ll call that 1k a year. End of the day my hobbies cost 2% of my income.

[AviationAtom]

I'd rather make less money if it means more time off, as I can't really enjoy my money if I haven't time to go places worthy of spending it at. The kink in that plan is having a family that expects a certain lifestyle, while still saving away for an early retirement (that could maybe never arrive?), necessitating a higher paying job, but without as much vacation. Europe does it right, with 20 days PTO being the minimum.

[ryandrake]

I suppose I have the exact opposite problem: I'll only spend money if I'm getting a thing that I believe I have a chance to resell later and re-capture at least a little of the value--even if it's just pennies on the dollar. And, I avoid buying things new because most things' resale value is gone the moment you walk out of the store. Sometimes I think everything I own I got on Craigslist.

I have a terribly difficult time allowing myself to spend on travel, shows, experiences and so on, because these things leave you with nothing but fleeting memories, and you can't re-sell those later on eBay when you're tired of them. I don't really feel the inherent value of the experience.

[etrautmann]

I used to identify with this, but made a hard switch the opposite way. When I look back on the last 10 years, the things I value are memories with friends. The idea of saving a few bucks to not going on a trip for a "fleeting memory" is crazy to me. That's all we have at the end of the day. I feel so much richer having experiences with friends and family, and the gear and stuff I buy gives me zero satisfaction compared to my honeymoon or another trip, or a nice dinner I hosted with friends.

[Zambyte]

I replied this to the parent comment as well, but I highly recommend journaling about your "fleeting memories". It will help you remember and enjoy your memories for longer.

[znpy]

> So I save.. and eventually I will be able to buy time.

I'm in the same boat, however lately I've been realizing that the time you can buy at 40 or 50 is not the same quality of the time you can have at 20 or 30.

I'm still saving anyway (again, same boat) but as soon as I get some wiggle room (money-wise) I'm going to restructure/rebalance my priorities around that concept.

Nothing makes you put time in the right frame except for realizing all the time you wasted.

[Zambyte]

Journal your good memories. They become less temporary that way.