Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 86 posts

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#51

Post by etm117 »

prawn wrote: post #46
rstocker99 wrote: post #20

1) Books. A number of years ago when the startup I worked for got acquired my wife suggested that I go out and buy myself something nice to celebrate. After wandering around looking for something fun to buy and not finding anything that excited me I eventually bought myself a $10 book. 2) Things that save me time and make my life more convenient. Often this means services vs. products e.g. paying someone to do work a…

I'm similar. Convenience. Fine dining. Travel experiences. But I'd add cookware to the list - pains me to see people struggle along with cheap and shoddy knives, small chopping boards and weak pots and pans.

I totally agree on the knives. If you want easy brownie points I recommend purchasing for your mother (or father if he does the cooking) a set a nice knives for the Holidays or birthday one year. You will be a hero the first time they cut a tomato and don't squish it.

My mother still thanks me and it has been over 6 years since I gave her a set of Wüsthof.

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#52

Post by nirajr »

My basic thumb rule is, does a spend now help the cause of my larger plan in life, or goes against it. So, spending on a new experience would make more sense for me than saving that money and investing it into something, as I've figured out that my experiences have been my biggest investments.

The question is how to make an objective judgement on whether a spend is beneficial in terms of the larger plan or not. For myself, I have learnt to do it over time, and know where to draw the line. (Not that I don't make on the spur expenses, but have noticed that these days, my thumb rules applies itself 'in the background' even when I am making an on the spur purchase)

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#53

Post by roadnottaken »

I try not to spend money on things that will result in watching more TV. Things like cable, DVR, etc. I want some of these things, but I feel like this sort of spending results in lower life-happiness which is the opposite of what you want from spending money.

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#54

Post by b3b0p »

patrickaljord wrote: post #30
b3b0p wrote: post #15

First, I really (really) enjoy spending money on other people, especially those important to me (friends and family). When it's a surprise it's even more fun! I love to see their face light up when they least expect. Great feeling. Now, if we are talking about items for myself, not necessarily of great importance, I do indulge on certain things, but I have rules. I have no problem spending money on well designed item…

Ubuntu user here. Wireless, video, sleep and hibernate work too and I never spend time tweaking anything.

Perhaps now, but I when I was using it 4 years ago, it wasn't the easiest thing to get going. Perhaps I will check it out soon, but I'm reasonably content with my setup right now.

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#55

Post by twymer »

danilocampos wrote: post #28

Experiences and adventure: Blowing a pile of money to go somewhere new is always worth it. The memories are priceless and occasionally the experience helps me redefine what I thought possible for myself. The right price is whatever I can scrape together to make this happen. (Trip to Europe, basic gear for camping, a tank of gas or two for a roadtrip.) Plus standard geek staples: iPhone, solid computer for coding, wri…

The fact that you and many others said experiences were more worth it is not so surprising.

http://lifehacker.com/5608980/spend-on-experiences-instead-o...

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#56

Post by div »

andrewingram wrote: post #45
danilocampos wrote: post #28

Experiences and adventure: Blowing a pile of money to go somewhere new is always worth it. The memories are priceless and occasionally the experience helps me redefine what I thought possible for myself. The right price is whatever I can scrape together to make this happen. (Trip to Europe, basic gear for camping, a tank of gas or two for a roadtrip.) Plus standard geek staples: iPhone, solid computer for coding, wri…

I totally agree with the experiences thing. Assuming you're not saving up for a house or something, what better thing to spend your money on than a new experience? A lot of people suddenly become frugal when confronted with the price tag of an amazing holiday, but are perfectly happy blowing £50 on a night of drinking. It always seems like a false economy to me.

A night of drinking is an experience as well. It may not be a 'new' experience, but it still is. Blowing a fifty on a pair of socks is another story.

Re: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

#60

Post by div »

exit wrote: post #48
kloc wrote: post #31

I see a trend here. Good food. On loved ones. Gadgets.Books.( All same for me too). Wonder what people here would spend on if they had 10 times the money they have now.

spend it on not spending time working on idiotic shit

ah, to be free from the rat race
Post reply on HN