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In my 20s and early 30s I was very frugal. I had a relatively low income as a civil servant, was paying down student debt and spent any spare cash on backpackin

In my 20s and early 30s I was very frugal. I had a relatively low income as a civil servant, was paying down student debt and spent any spare cash on backpacking. Fast-forward 15 years and I lucked into a high income about 10 years ago, am married and have two kids. We still enjoy spending on travel but we live in a high COL area, have a big mortgage, a couple of nice cars and buy too much non-essential stuff online. We do also try to give a good amount to causes we believe in and save well for retirement. I think saying "money doesn't buy happiness" is too reductive. The crap from Amazon certainly makes no meaningful difference and actually I feel slightly embarrassed when I see a new package arrive. But the relief from stress of having no debt, living in a good area for schools, having a large runway and not worrying about the cost of groceries is a real life improvement that I would be sad to give up. Having said that, none of the great memories from life so far involve spending huge amounts of money.

jermaustin1 1y ago
> and actually I feel slightly embarrassed when I see a new package arrive. Same, but even more so when 6 different packages arrive staggered throughout the day. I have never understood how that is more efficient than 6 boxes at once, or 6 things in 1 box at once.
- TZubiri 1y ago
  They come from different places, and delivery vans have different routes which mean they have a small marginal cost. As an engineering it's fairly simple to understand.
- jebarker 1y ago
  One of the best features Amazon added in recent years was the delivery day option where they group things together. I assume the fact that they give 6% cash back when you choose that means they do indeed benefit from aggregation
aaronbaugher 1y ago
Yeah, money matters. My money isn't making me happy, but my girlfriend makes me happy, and if I hadn't gotten out of the rut that kept me broke for years and started making enough to afford to go on dates, I never would have asked her out. So there's definitely a connection, even if it's not the Scrooge trope of someone gleefully counting his dollars.

jermaustin1 1y ago

> and actually I feel slightly embarrassed when I see a new package arrive. Same, but even more so when 6 different packages arrive staggered throughout the day. I have never understood how that is more efficient than 6 boxes at once, or 6 things in 1 box at once.

TZubiri 1y ago
They come from different places, and delivery vans have different routes which mean they have a small marginal cost. As an engineering it's fairly simple to understand.
jebarker 1y ago
One of the best features Amazon added in recent years was the delivery day option where they group things together. I assume the fact that they give 6% cash back when you choose that means they do indeed benefit from aggregation

aaronbaugher 1y ago

Yeah, money matters. My money isn't making me happy, but my girlfriend makes me happy, and if I hadn't gotten out of the rut that kept me broke for years and started making enough to afford to go on dates, I never would have asked her out. So there's definitely a connection, even if it's not the Scrooge trope of someone gleefully counting his dollars.