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I do this a different way. I think about how much I'm going to use something and try my best to over-invest in what is typically cheap and could last years and

I do this a different way. I think about how much I'm going to use something and try my best to over-invest in what is typically cheap and could last years and under-invest (or avoid all together) in what is expensive or could last less than a year. Pen: Very expensive. Sunglasses: Very expensive. Phone: Very expensive. Laptop: Very expensive. Shoes / most clothing: Midrange, since they don't last long, but they're not that expensive in the first place. Car: Non-existent. Housing: Far cheaper than I could afford. Same thing when it comes to tools. I'll buy an expensive utility knife and a cheap jackhammer. Unless I were going to jackhammer for a living, it isn't used much and it's a reasonably expensive tool in the first place so why over pay for it?

itsoktocry 6y ago
>Sunglasses: Very expensive. This one is confusing. Sunglasses are 90% fashion. What exactly are you getting with an expensive pair? I take the opposite route. Cheap sunglasses that I'm unconcerned about dropping, sitting on, or leaving behind.
- klodolph 6y ago
  I have one pair of designer sunglasses that I picked up on sale. They are comfortable to the point that I can barely feel them. They also look really good. I also have a ton of $10 sunglasses from street vendors and online stores. For my taste, all the mid-range sunglasses are super boring and make you look boring. Great for going out and meeting other boring people. Everything cool is either some cheapo monstrosity that you find from a street vendor or online store for $10, or from a designer brand. If you don’t care about fashion then go ahead and buy boring sunglasses.
  - Harlekuin 6y ago
    > all the mid-range sunglasses are super boring and make you look boring. Great for going out and meeting other boring people. Found this comment rubbed me the wrong way - seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses
    - klodolph 6y ago
      > Found this comment rubbed me the wrong way - seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses You must be responding to how you feel, because you sure as hell aren’t responding to what I wrote. Allow me to explain my position. Clothing is a form of communication. When you wear particular clothing, it communicates which group you identify with or want to associate with. Let’s suppose that we were having a conversation and you said to me, “I don’t like to stand out, I like to blend in with the crowd and avoid being noticed.” I might think that you were a bit boring. You can communicate the same thing by wearing boring clothing. What I’m doing is judging you based on the things that you communicate to me. If you are bad at non-verbal communication, don’t worry about accidentally coming off as boring—it’s very hard to communicate “boring” with your clothing, and it doesn’t happen by accident.
      - Harlekuin 6y ago
        > You must be responding to how you feel, because you sure as hell aren’t responding to what I wrote. I'm just responding to that quote from your last post. > When you wear particular clothing, it communicates which group you identify with or want to associate with. Agree to a point, but I don't think "Boring" is generally a group someone would try to identify/associate with (I'm assuming you're using boring as a derogatory term here). I also disagree that outgoingness is synonymous with how interesting a person is (in fact I'm sure you'd agree there are many instances of the contrary). And outside of being "good" or "bad" at non-verbal communication you're forgetting another important direction: people who do not care. Take you for example - I find you very interesting because you have strong opinions that differ to mine - It would have been a shame had I immediately categorised you as boring given the sunglasses you were able to afford or if you didn't care about sunglasses beyond their function.
        klodolph 6y ago
        > I'm just responding to that quote from your last post. You said, “seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses” This is some kind of straw argument—to be clear, it’s not what I wrote, it’s not what I meant, it’s not what I implied. > And outside of being "good" or "bad" at non-verbal communication you're forgetting another important direction: people who do not care. It is a mistake to think of “does not care” as some kind of meaningful third position. It is not. Here’s an analogy. Let’s say I ask you, “Did you take the last slice of cake?” It’s a yes/no question with social stakes—maybe I’m upset that I didn’t get any cake. Is there a way that you can avoid communicating a response to my question? No, not really. You heard the question, I’m waiting for your response. You can say yes or no, you can change the topic, you can dodge the question, you can turn the question around, and you can even stay silent—but it is nearly impossible for you to avoid making a conscious decision to communicate a response. Clothing is like that, but the question is implied and the response is nonverbal. Under ordinary circumstances, you must choose how to dress yourself. You can choose to grab whatever is on top of the pile, you can choose to pick out an outfit, you can choose to go outside in your pajamas or stark naked, but you cannot somehow choose not to make a choice. Take a moment and visualize what “I don’t care how others see me” looks like. Do you pick average clothing to blend in? Do you wear whatever you like? Do you carefully observe gender norms when buying clothing from the store? Do you wear whatever has the most pockets? Do you wear the same clothing sitting around the house as you do when you visit a friend’s house? Do you wear T-shirts with characters from your favorite cartoon? Do you wear something from the pile of T-shirts I got for free from vendors at tech conventions? The problem is—once you are aware that you are making a choice, you aren’t really in a position to abdicate that choice.
- arethuza 6y ago
  I have a pair of Oakley Juliets that must be on their fifth set of lenses - as far as I can tell the frames are effectively indestructible (and I've put that to the test with the aid of dinghy booms quite a few times). They were quite expensive, but have turned out to be pretty good value 15+ years later.
- branon 6y ago
  > Cheap sunglasses Maybe OP prefers rhinestone shades? ;)
- mikestew 6y ago
  Sunglasses are 90% fashion. Not the ones I buy. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of fashion in those Oakleys but there's a lot of function, too. They don't slip down my nose, the lenses are coated and don't collect as much crap, and the frames don't snap after a year. After fifteen years my oldest Oakleys are still going after less expensive sunglasses have broken or proven unsatisfactory. But those sunglasses also have to stand up to a life of trail running and hiking. OTOH, if one is just looking to keep the sun out of the eyes while driving, $250 sunglasses might be overkill.
- 3pt14159 6y ago
  I'm OP. Merely paying more for sunglasses doesn't make them good. It takes a long time to find ones that are muted enough to be cool, and yet with enough flourish in the details to be distinctive. There is also the quality of the light that is filtered. I only ever buy "*3" (high degree of light protection) and preferably with polarized for better contrast. Whether it is $250 or $500 they're on your face so much they're a much and a quality pair will last years. It's a good thing to spend money on, though I do admit that it doesn't always have to be expensive. You can get lucky and find a great pair in an old antiques shop and get them re-lensed for something reasonable.
gruez 6y ago
>I think about how much I'm going to use something and try my best to over-invest in what is typically cheap and could last years and under-invest (or avoid all together) in what is expensive or could last less than a year. [...] >Housing: Far cheaper than I could afford. Why? Isn't a house something that can last decades and is something you use every day?
- klodolph 6y ago
  Can last decades, or you might move. Your income might go up or it might go down. The house might appreciate in value or it might go down in value. If you have the best house you can afford, you’re “locked in” and might have to turn down otherwise exciting opportunities because they don’t pay you enough cash to make mortgage payments. Plus, I know enough people that bought a big house, don’t use it, and just end up buying furniture for rooms they don’t use.
- mikestew 6y ago
  Because you have a lot more flexibility with a house payment that you can easily make each month, versus one you can barely make if you pinch some pennies and your spouse doesn't lose his job. Had we purchased a house we looked at about ten years ago, my wife would probably still be working a job she wasn't fond of at the time, 'cuz gotta a mortgage payment to make.
- 3pt14159 6y ago
  This is complicated. Housing doubles as a bet on the local property values as well as a good that needs to be repaired and maintained. It's also subject to property tax, so the more you have the more tax you pay. At least here in Toronto. Between investing in other assets like stocks (or, more realistically holding cash until the stock market stops acting crazy) I think housing is overvalued where I live right now and the maintenance is more of a hassle than I'm willing to put up with right now. But you're not fully wrong. If I lived somewhere in the sticks I'd build a lot more house. Less property tax, less alternatives like plays or parks. Also, in the country more of your investments can earn or save money, like gardens or vineyards or workshops. In the city it's usually just a waste of space.
AnimalMuppet 6y ago
Rent the jackhammer, don't buy it. (Unless you actually need a jackhammer somewhat regularly.) You can rent tools at Home Depot for considerably less than the cost of buying them. If you're only going to need them once, rent. (I did this with a hammer drill. It was absolutely worth it, just to punch four holes in concrete. But I've only needed to do that once, and I don't seem likely to need to do it again. So why buy? Same thing with something like an RV. I can rent one for $1000, or I can buy one for $50,000. I've gone twice. I might have gone another time or two if I had one. At that point, the math for owning doesn't make sense. (But it feels different. Renting an RV feels like throwing money away, and buying feels like investing in an asset. It isn't rational, but that's how it feels to me.) But if I were going to tour the country for a year, buying an RV might make a lot of sense. If you're going to use it, buy, and buy decent quality. (I don't want "the worst RV" for touring the country for a year.) If you're going to use it infrequently, rent. If you don't know if you're going to use it, rent a time or two, and find out if you're going to use it.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  There's few tools where buying a cheap but good enough to do the job one is more expensive than renting twice. Also if you own your own jack hammer and whatnot you'll take on projects you would have otherwise not.
  - 3pt14159 6y ago
    Yeah I'm the OP. It's funny, I bought the jackhammer for a single job after doing the math that it would cost me just as much as renting a more expensive one. That was over a decade ago. Since then it's been used countless times for all sorts of random jobs where we otherwise would have used a pickaxe or a chisel or an axe. We even split logs with it out at my parents house, haha.

itsoktocry 6y ago

>Sunglasses: Very expensive. This one is confusing. Sunglasses are 90% fashion. What exactly are you getting with an expensive pair? I take the opposite route. Cheap sunglasses that I'm unconcerned about dropping, sitting on, or leaving behind.

klodolph 6y ago
I have one pair of designer sunglasses that I picked up on sale. They are comfortable to the point that I can barely feel them. They also look really good. I also have a ton of $10 sunglasses from street vendors and online stores. For my taste, all the mid-range sunglasses are super boring and make you look boring. Great for going out and meeting other boring people. Everything cool is either some cheapo monstrosity that you find from a street vendor or online store for $10, or from a designer brand. If you don’t care about fashion then go ahead and buy boring sunglasses.
- Harlekuin 6y ago
  > all the mid-range sunglasses are super boring and make you look boring. Great for going out and meeting other boring people. Found this comment rubbed me the wrong way - seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses
  - klodolph 6y ago
    > Found this comment rubbed me the wrong way - seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses You must be responding to how you feel, because you sure as hell aren’t responding to what I wrote. Allow me to explain my position. Clothing is a form of communication. When you wear particular clothing, it communicates which group you identify with or want to associate with. Let’s suppose that we were having a conversation and you said to me, “I don’t like to stand out, I like to blend in with the crowd and avoid being noticed.” I might think that you were a bit boring. You can communicate the same thing by wearing boring clothing. What I’m doing is judging you based on the things that you communicate to me. If you are bad at non-verbal communication, don’t worry about accidentally coming off as boring—it’s very hard to communicate “boring” with your clothing, and it doesn’t happen by accident.
    - Harlekuin 6y ago
      > You must be responding to how you feel, because you sure as hell aren’t responding to what I wrote. I'm just responding to that quote from your last post. > When you wear particular clothing, it communicates which group you identify with or want to associate with. Agree to a point, but I don't think "Boring" is generally a group someone would try to identify/associate with (I'm assuming you're using boring as a derogatory term here). I also disagree that outgoingness is synonymous with how interesting a person is (in fact I'm sure you'd agree there are many instances of the contrary). And outside of being "good" or "bad" at non-verbal communication you're forgetting another important direction: people who do not care. Take you for example - I find you very interesting because you have strong opinions that differ to mine - It would have been a shame had I immediately categorised you as boring given the sunglasses you were able to afford or if you didn't care about sunglasses beyond their function.
      - klodolph 6y ago
        > I'm just responding to that quote from your last post. You said, “seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses” This is some kind of straw argument—to be clear, it’s not what I wrote, it’s not what I meant, it’s not what I implied. > And outside of being "good" or "bad" at non-verbal communication you're forgetting another important direction: people who do not care. It is a mistake to think of “does not care” as some kind of meaningful third position. It is not. Here’s an analogy. Let’s say I ask you, “Did you take the last slice of cake?” It’s a yes/no question with social stakes—maybe I’m upset that I didn’t get any cake. Is there a way that you can avoid communicating a response to my question? No, not really. You heard the question, I’m waiting for your response. You can say yes or no, you can change the topic, you can dodge the question, you can turn the question around, and you can even stay silent—but it is nearly impossible for you to avoid making a conscious decision to communicate a response. Clothing is like that, but the question is implied and the response is nonverbal. Under ordinary circumstances, you must choose how to dress yourself. You can choose to grab whatever is on top of the pile, you can choose to pick out an outfit, you can choose to go outside in your pajamas or stark naked, but you cannot somehow choose not to make a choice. Take a moment and visualize what “I don’t care how others see me” looks like. Do you pick average clothing to blend in? Do you wear whatever you like? Do you carefully observe gender norms when buying clothing from the store? Do you wear whatever has the most pockets? Do you wear the same clothing sitting around the house as you do when you visit a friend’s house? Do you wear T-shirts with characters from your favorite cartoon? Do you wear something from the pile of T-shirts I got for free from vendors at tech conventions? The problem is—once you are aware that you are making a choice, you aren’t really in a position to abdicate that choice.
arethuza 6y ago
I have a pair of Oakley Juliets that must be on their fifth set of lenses - as far as I can tell the frames are effectively indestructible (and I've put that to the test with the aid of dinghy booms quite a few times). They were quite expensive, but have turned out to be pretty good value 15+ years later.
branon 6y ago
> Cheap sunglasses Maybe OP prefers rhinestone shades? ;)
mikestew 6y ago
Sunglasses are 90% fashion. Not the ones I buy. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of fashion in those Oakleys but there's a lot of function, too. They don't slip down my nose, the lenses are coated and don't collect as much crap, and the frames don't snap after a year. After fifteen years my oldest Oakleys are still going after less expensive sunglasses have broken or proven unsatisfactory. But those sunglasses also have to stand up to a life of trail running and hiking. OTOH, if one is just looking to keep the sun out of the eyes while driving, $250 sunglasses might be overkill.
3pt14159 6y ago
I'm OP. Merely paying more for sunglasses doesn't make them good. It takes a long time to find ones that are muted enough to be cool, and yet with enough flourish in the details to be distinctive. There is also the quality of the light that is filtered. I only ever buy "*3" (high degree of light protection) and preferably with polarized for better contrast. Whether it is $250 or $500 they're on your face so much they're a much and a quality pair will last years. It's a good thing to spend money on, though I do admit that it doesn't always have to be expensive. You can get lucky and find a great pair in an old antiques shop and get them re-lensed for something reasonable.

gruez 6y ago

>I think about how much I'm going to use something and try my best to over-invest in what is typically cheap and could last years and under-invest (or avoid all together) in what is expensive or could last less than a year. [...] >Housing: Far cheaper than I could afford. Why? Isn't a house something that can last decades and is something you use every day?

klodolph 6y ago
Can last decades, or you might move. Your income might go up or it might go down. The house might appreciate in value or it might go down in value. If you have the best house you can afford, you’re “locked in” and might have to turn down otherwise exciting opportunities because they don’t pay you enough cash to make mortgage payments. Plus, I know enough people that bought a big house, don’t use it, and just end up buying furniture for rooms they don’t use.
mikestew 6y ago
Because you have a lot more flexibility with a house payment that you can easily make each month, versus one you can barely make if you pinch some pennies and your spouse doesn't lose his job. Had we purchased a house we looked at about ten years ago, my wife would probably still be working a job she wasn't fond of at the time, 'cuz gotta a mortgage payment to make.
3pt14159 6y ago
This is complicated. Housing doubles as a bet on the local property values as well as a good that needs to be repaired and maintained. It's also subject to property tax, so the more you have the more tax you pay. At least here in Toronto. Between investing in other assets like stocks (or, more realistically holding cash until the stock market stops acting crazy) I think housing is overvalued where I live right now and the maintenance is more of a hassle than I'm willing to put up with right now. But you're not fully wrong. If I lived somewhere in the sticks I'd build a lot more house. Less property tax, less alternatives like plays or parks. Also, in the country more of your investments can earn or save money, like gardens or vineyards or workshops. In the city it's usually just a waste of space.

AnimalMuppet 6y ago

Rent the jackhammer, don't buy it. (Unless you actually need a jackhammer somewhat regularly.) You can rent tools at Home Depot for considerably less than the cost of buying them. If you're only going to need them once, rent. (I did this with a hammer drill. It was absolutely worth it, just to punch four holes in concrete. But I've only needed to do that once, and I don't seem likely to need to do it again. So why buy? Same thing with something like an RV. I can rent one for $1000, or I can buy one for $50,000. I've gone twice. I might have gone another time or two if I had one. At that point, the math for owning doesn't make sense. (But it feels different. Renting an RV feels like throwing money away, and buying feels like investing in an asset. It isn't rational, but that's how it feels to me.) But if I were going to tour the country for a year, buying an RV might make a lot of sense. If you're going to use it, buy, and buy decent quality. (I don't want "the worst RV" for touring the country for a year.) If you're going to use it infrequently, rent. If you don't know if you're going to use it, rent a time or two, and find out if you're going to use it.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
There's few tools where buying a cheap but good enough to do the job one is more expensive than renting twice. Also if you own your own jack hammer and whatnot you'll take on projects you would have otherwise not.
- 3pt14159 6y ago
  Yeah I'm the OP. It's funny, I bought the jackhammer for a single job after doing the math that it would cost me just as much as renting a more expensive one. That was over a decade ago. Since then it's been used countless times for all sorts of random jobs where we otherwise would have used a pickaxe or a chisel or an axe. We even split logs with it out at my parents house, haha.