5 ms·

I always took "buy experiences not things" to mean that you should put your money towards having experiences, whether that's paying for a trip or buying somethi

I always took "buy experiences not things" to mean that you should put your money towards having experiences, whether that's paying for a trip or buying something that enables you to do something you couldn't without it. A kayak is a "thing", but it's the gateway to an experience. If I buy someone a kayak, I don't intend for them to just hang it in their garage and look at it. I expect they'll actually use it. If I buy someone a board game, I expect they'll play it with other people. If I buy someone a food basket, I expect they'll not only eat it, but share it with their family and make a memory around it. If I buy someone a $1 toy from Dollar Store, I expect they'll play with it for a few minutes, and then throw it away. Yes, that was still an experience, but it's a pretty hollow one, and so it's just a "thing", though I suppose there's still a chance it could generate good memories. OTOH, pre-painted figurines... I just don't see how they create an experience. They're literally just there to look at. They might remind you of an experience you already had, but they don't create or enable experiences. And by extension, you could apply this to almost all art. And I definitely don't think people should stop buying (or producing) art. I end up thinking about the advice sometimes, but I don't follow it.

twodave 5y ago
I think it just depends on the receiver of the gift. My daughter LOVES figurines and her and her friends will get together and role play with their different animals. It’s very much an experience. But I’d never buy something like that for my wife :)
Loic 5y ago
For art, you experience it if it resonates with you. So, for me art is first an experience. But going back to the original article, it says: "A well-appointed kitchen allows you to cook healthy meals for yourself rather than ordering delivery night after night." As we discussed with an architect about renovating a house, he asked us our budget for the kitchen. We said that we paid about 2500€ for our current kitchen, so we were ready to spend 5000 to renovate. His answer was: "You, you are really cooking!". His 20 year experience was that the more expensive the kitchen, the less it is used. We are effectively cooking every single day of the week.
- Ma8ee 5y ago
  We bought an apartment with the most beautiful worthless kitchen (the apartment had other qualities). The bench tops were Carrera marble. Any type of acid dulled the shiny surfaces and any type of food, like tomato or tea, stained it irreversibly.
  - taneq 5y ago
    That sounds like it wasn't sealed or surfaced properly? I thought that kind of bench top needed to be protected with some sort of sealant to prevent this kind of thing.
    - Ma8ee 5y ago
      It was carefully oiled with the special oil the manufacturer gave us. That still wasn’t enough.
  - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
    It really blows my mind that all these expensive ston(ish) surfaces stain so easily. Why in the name of God would you purchase something so expensive and put it in a room where most of the staining happens?
    - doubled112 5y ago
      It looks good in the brochure, and you don't realize how fragile it is until it is too late.
    - jimmydddd 5y ago
      We purchased a quartz (manufactured) countertop about fifteen years ago. It is robust to the point that you can cut on it and put hot pans directly on it. It looks almost as good as (or maybe the same as if you're not too fussy) a granite counter. At the time, it was significantly cheaper than the "natural" granite counters. But I looked recently and the quartz is now more expensive than granite. So I guess folks are starting to feel the same way you do.
HelloMcFly 5y ago
> OTOH, pre-painted figurines... I just don't see how they create an experience... And by extension, you could apply this to almost all art. I think you could expand the kinds of experiences to be a little broader. Say a tattoo: I got mine because it makes me happy to see it, routinely. Getting some figurines or art that make your space - home, work, your body, etc. - bring your more happiness/less dreariness (even if only a little, every day, day after day) can be worth it. I'd make the same argument for plants, though I think plants have a little more inherent vs. personal benefit. For me, art is about stopping me for a moment and forcing reflection, realization, or something similar. I have a painting a love, that I just stop to look at sometimes. I feel like I see something different in it as time goes by. Same for movies: some are just purely entertainment, others help me introspect and put me in position to think about who I consider and interact with the world. In short: "experiences" need not always be relating to the external.
dukeofdoom 5y ago
My $300 Costco Pelican Kayak is probably the best $ spent on the amount of fun experiences I've had with it. It turned out that there's an Island I can kayak to in under an hour from my house, that is teeming with birds and wildlife and has a secluded sandy beach. It feels like being transported to Hawaii every time. But I've kayaked to other places with it too and its such an awesome experience. It's something you can do on your own or with a friend, go hard to get exercise or easy to relax. Antidote to the lockdowns. Maybe pair it with a bike or rollerblades. And you have a full upper/lower body workout better than a gym.
- giantg2 5y ago
  Reminds me of growing up near the water. Almost like having your own private beach to swim and fish. Sounds like you've found an awesome place.
mrfusion 5y ago
Don’t forget “collecting” is an experience too. Even if you don’t get much experience from an item the hobby of collecting itself is an experience. Deciding what to buy and when. How to display it, etc.
Fnoord 5y ago
> A Lamborghini may be fun to drive for the first days or weeks, but pretty soon it fades into the background of your life. That depends on whether you bought it for yourself or to show off. A lot of people buy/wear/own expensive tools to show off, as a status symbol. Especially those who can afford a Lamborghini are seen as such (whether appropriate or not I don't know). At the same time, many people who cannot afford a Lamborghini would love to drive around in one which feeds into the status symbol loop ('you want this'). Good news! They can do that, virtually, with a fraction of the cost. They buy the experience, not the thing. I am not sure what the point of this entire write-up is, I just found it a terrible example. Because almost everyone who owns one car, owns it primarily as a tool, not an experience. Yes, it provides an experience, but its mostly a tool. A tool has a lowest common denominator. It has to work reasonably well, well enough, for its purpose. If you're rich, you may have higher standards and might get annoyed about your Tesla's entertainment system instead of the conventional car of a poor person leaking oil. As for kayak, I can resonate with your example. I went to Venice as child, with my father (who has since passed away). My father was in a wheelchair back then, he had MS and could barely walk. Every bridge, we needed help to get him across. People helped. We didn't see the cathedral (too much effort), but we did end up in a gondola. Though it took effort to get him in, and it was 'on our own risk', this was very special for us as a family, including me. Before my father became ill (he was a photography nerd among other things) he made a picture of a man with a gondola in the 70s and won a national competition with it which hung in our house. And now I, his son, was able to experience the same with him. I have no idea how much my mom paid in Italian Lira for the experience, but I know for sure I wouldn't have wanted to buy the boat or the man. Because the experience is a memory which only old age can take away from me, no amount of money can describe it. Remember how I mentioned people helped? They'll never know it, but I am grateful.
WalterBright 5y ago
I've bought art, and hung it on the wall. It looks nice, but no matter how nice it is, it isn't long before you don't actually see it anymore.
- web007 5y ago
  IMO this is the difference between "nice art" and having a connection to whatever you're displaying. We have a few things hanging that are nice, and they do, indeed, disappear. We also have a few that aren't as nice but where we have a connection to them. A couple travel posters as a reminder of an amazing vacation, a map of Paris where we visited and loved the experience, and a fancy triptych concert poster for a destination concert my wife attended all have meaning beyond "nice art", and I notice them at least once a week.
  - kbelder 5y ago
    My wife had some fans and a painting that she purchased in China as a teen, when she was traveling on an educational trip that coincidently happened during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. (She didn't really find out what happened until she returned to the states.) She treasured those, and yes, had a continuous active connection to them. Unfortunately they were all destroyed in a house fire. You can't replace those sorts of things.

twodave 5y ago

I think it just depends on the receiver of the gift. My daughter LOVES figurines and her and her friends will get together and role play with their different animals. It’s very much an experience. But I’d never buy something like that for my wife :)

Loic 5y ago

For art, you experience it if it resonates with you. So, for me art is first an experience. But going back to the original article, it says: "A well-appointed kitchen allows you to cook healthy meals for yourself rather than ordering delivery night after night." As we discussed with an architect about renovating a house, he asked us our budget for the kitchen. We said that we paid about 2500€ for our current kitchen, so we were ready to spend 5000 to renovate. His answer was: "You, you are really cooking!". His 20 year experience was that the more expensive the kitchen, the less it is used. We are effectively cooking every single day of the week.

Ma8ee 5y ago
We bought an apartment with the most beautiful worthless kitchen (the apartment had other qualities). The bench tops were Carrera marble. Any type of acid dulled the shiny surfaces and any type of food, like tomato or tea, stained it irreversibly.
- taneq 5y ago
  That sounds like it wasn't sealed or surfaced properly? I thought that kind of bench top needed to be protected with some sort of sealant to prevent this kind of thing.
  - Ma8ee 5y ago
    It was carefully oiled with the special oil the manufacturer gave us. That still wasn’t enough.
- disgruntledphd2 5y ago
  It really blows my mind that all these expensive ston(ish) surfaces stain so easily. Why in the name of God would you purchase something so expensive and put it in a room where most of the staining happens?
  - doubled112 5y ago
    It looks good in the brochure, and you don't realize how fragile it is until it is too late.
  - jimmydddd 5y ago
    We purchased a quartz (manufactured) countertop about fifteen years ago. It is robust to the point that you can cut on it and put hot pans directly on it. It looks almost as good as (or maybe the same as if you're not too fussy) a granite counter. At the time, it was significantly cheaper than the "natural" granite counters. But I looked recently and the quartz is now more expensive than granite. So I guess folks are starting to feel the same way you do.

HelloMcFly 5y ago

> OTOH, pre-painted figurines... I just don't see how they create an experience... And by extension, you could apply this to almost all art. I think you could expand the kinds of experiences to be a little broader. Say a tattoo: I got mine because it makes me happy to see it, routinely. Getting some figurines or art that make your space - home, work, your body, etc. - bring your more happiness/less dreariness (even if only a little, every day, day after day) can be worth it. I'd make the same argument for plants, though I think plants have a little more inherent vs. personal benefit. For me, art is about stopping me for a moment and forcing reflection, realization, or something similar. I have a painting a love, that I just stop to look at sometimes. I feel like I see something different in it as time goes by. Same for movies: some are just purely entertainment, others help me introspect and put me in position to think about who I consider and interact with the world. In short: "experiences" need not always be relating to the external.

dukeofdoom 5y ago

My $300 Costco Pelican Kayak is probably the best $ spent on the amount of fun experiences I've had with it. It turned out that there's an Island I can kayak to in under an hour from my house, that is teeming with birds and wildlife and has a secluded sandy beach. It feels like being transported to Hawaii every time. But I've kayaked to other places with it too and its such an awesome experience. It's something you can do on your own or with a friend, go hard to get exercise or easy to relax. Antidote to the lockdowns. Maybe pair it with a bike or rollerblades. And you have a full upper/lower body workout better than a gym.

giantg2 5y ago
Reminds me of growing up near the water. Almost like having your own private beach to swim and fish. Sounds like you've found an awesome place.

mrfusion 5y ago

Don’t forget “collecting” is an experience too. Even if you don’t get much experience from an item the hobby of collecting itself is an experience. Deciding what to buy and when. How to display it, etc.

Fnoord 5y ago

> A Lamborghini may be fun to drive for the first days or weeks, but pretty soon it fades into the background of your life. That depends on whether you bought it for yourself or to show off. A lot of people buy/wear/own expensive tools to show off, as a status symbol. Especially those who can afford a Lamborghini are seen as such (whether appropriate or not I don't know). At the same time, many people who cannot afford a Lamborghini would love to drive around in one which feeds into the status symbol loop ('you want this'). Good news! They can do that, virtually, with a fraction of the cost. They buy the experience, not the thing. I am not sure what the point of this entire write-up is, I just found it a terrible example. Because almost everyone who owns one car, owns it primarily as a tool, not an experience. Yes, it provides an experience, but its mostly a tool. A tool has a lowest common denominator. It has to work reasonably well, well enough, for its purpose. If you're rich, you may have higher standards and might get annoyed about your Tesla's entertainment system instead of the conventional car of a poor person leaking oil. As for kayak, I can resonate with your example. I went to Venice as child, with my father (who has since passed away). My father was in a wheelchair back then, he had MS and could barely walk. Every bridge, we needed help to get him across. People helped. We didn't see the cathedral (too much effort), but we did end up in a gondola. Though it took effort to get him in, and it was 'on our own risk', this was very special for us as a family, including me. Before my father became ill (he was a photography nerd among other things) he made a picture of a man with a gondola in the 70s and won a national competition with it which hung in our house. And now I, his son, was able to experience the same with him. I have no idea how much my mom paid in Italian Lira for the experience, but I know for sure I wouldn't have wanted to buy the boat or the man. Because the experience is a memory which only old age can take away from me, no amount of money can describe it. Remember how I mentioned people helped? They'll never know it, but I am grateful.

WalterBright 5y ago

I've bought art, and hung it on the wall. It looks nice, but no matter how nice it is, it isn't long before you don't actually see it anymore.

web007 5y ago
IMO this is the difference between "nice art" and having a connection to whatever you're displaying. We have a few things hanging that are nice, and they do, indeed, disappear. We also have a few that aren't as nice but where we have a connection to them. A couple travel posters as a reminder of an amazing vacation, a map of Paris where we visited and loved the experience, and a fancy triptych concert poster for a destination concert my wife attended all have meaning beyond "nice art", and I notice them at least once a week.
- kbelder 5y ago
  My wife had some fans and a painting that she purchased in China as a teen, when she was traveling on an educational trip that coincidently happened during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. (She didn't really find out what happened until she returned to the states.) She treasured those, and yes, had a continuous active connection to them. Unfortunately they were all destroyed in a house fire. You can't replace those sorts of things.