Tobacco. Yesterday i spent $32 on tobacco. 50 grams of fine cut rolling tobacco. About 80 cigarettes I can make from that. I used to be an occasional smoker but years back my brain switched into craving mode. The system is then so wisely arranged that when I improve my quality of life with a few dollars worth of dried leaves, I at the same time contribute about thirty dollars worth of quality to society.
Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
41–50 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#42Working four days a week. Effectively I pay 20% of my salary to buy an extra non-working day every week. This is a massive QoL improvement (a) because it keeps my RSI from being unbearable and (b) because of all the fun stuff you can do with that extra day...
How did you negotiate that with your employer, and also are you doing contract/constancy work where an arrangement like that is slightly more realistic?
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#43A NAS and an Apple tv
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#44Surprisingly - Soylent. It saves a lot of eating time. No, a LOT of eating time. Plus it is probably a little healthier than what I'd eat otherwise.
While occasional Soylent sounds reasonable to me, "Saving eating time" just sounds wrong somehow. What are you even saving time for?
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#45* Bluetooth headset
* A good coffee machine and a grinder
* A trailer hook and a bike rack for the car
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you find a good chair? I personally want to try a chair it before buying it. But I find all the local stores have cheap chairs that last a year or so.
For office work: http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/performance-wor... For relaxation: http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-seating/... disclaimer: I have the first, I want the second ;-)
The Herman Miller Embody is really great too.
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#47Surprisingly - Soylent. It saves a lot of eating time. No, a LOT of eating time. Plus it is probably a little healthier than what I'd eat otherwise.
Soylent is the single saddest thing i've ever heard of. eating is fun. cooking is fun. treating my body like a truck and pumping myself full of gas is just sad.
I'm torn on this.
I love cooking, am good at it, and I think I have quite a refined taste, but what tastes good isn't often the most healthy option.
I fully agree that life should be enjoyable, but I'm not sure that every aspect has to.
I like your truck analogy. Isn't the purpose of the truck, or rather what it does best, driving at its full capacity? That's why you only pump it full of gas, and not tequila or cream.
I'm currently in worse shape than I was a few years ago, while eating more "fun". But in all honesty I got much more enjoyment out of being more fit, less tired, stronger, clearer head, and frankly looking in the mirror too.
I'll take any of that enjoyment over fleeting meals. If I could have both, great, but if not, self restraint and delayed gratification is a reward in itself.
Disclaimer: This isn't specifically about Soylent, which I have yet to try, but about the concept of eating less exciting but healthy foods.
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#48Best single investment ever on personal well being? I trained with a personal trainer for a few months. I'd been more or less a couch potato for three decades. Now I actually know what to do to keep at least somewhat in shape. I specified that I wanted a body weight exercises based regimen and nothing based on fixed gym equipment and we did that.
I found workout regimes with this very useful (as you mentioned body weight training), along with a reasonable diet plan:
https://darebee.com/
Can't say anything about results yet, but I think I'm on my way to getting there.
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#49Lets just say... a weekend trip to Colorado definitely helps me with quality of life, and I certainly don't mind spending some money when I go there.
Too euphemistic for me, is this a pot (cannabis) reference?
Re: Ask HN: What do you spend money on that greatly increases your quality of life
#50Vacations - Somehow I feel people overlook the need for taking time out for themselves and spending quality time outside office.