Luxury

luxary is great, but when does a luxary stop being a luxary and become mandatory?

I'm poor.

And I don't mind it one bit.

I'll pay for luxury when it's worth it. Designer clothes? No thanks, Old Navy is just fine with me. But cheap earbuds versus Shure E2's? I'll take the Shures, even though they're much more expensive. You get what you pay for, unless it's just for a name.

but If you have too much Luxury, then you become Snob-ish. and nobody likes to see someone make an average or poor person become to the snobs eyes, a Second Class Citizen. Snobs think they are above all else. But when they fall, they fall the farthest.
also remember, "wanting is more than having"

You are totally entitled to whatever luxurires that you can afford.

By that I mean if you are disciplined, smart, and shrewd enough to earn a lot of money, then why should you NOT partake in the luxuries that you can afford? Owning private property is a given right and if you can own more than other people (luxuries) then more power to you! (i read someplace that some idiots belive that owning private property is theft from the people, how bizarrie.)

Now i am NOT for wanton destruction of your own private property just to flaunt it (aka the Viva La Bam show where Bam will blow up/destroy/whatever his material goods just so that he can increase his ratings and freak his mom out (hes always threatening to destroy his parents house)).

But still, if you can afford luxurys, why not run with them and get what you can afford? I can't afford much myself but I do afford myself some small things but if I could afford more, i would get more.

Also to me, Wal-Mart is normal, Old Navy is high-end designerish.

Don't ever feel guilty just because you own more material goods than some small third-world country, you are entitled to it!

If you buy Abercrombie at Goodwill, what does that make you??

Therein lies the contradiction!

Personally, as long as everything I own is cool/sexy/expensive and above all it all matches... I can live without the 'luxury' part.

But then, that depends on your definition of luxury.

I would say there is a *distinct* line between mere ownership of luxury and pursuing the fine things in life.

I would say luxury is paying lots of money for the best even though one doesn't really appreciate what sets it apart from the riff raff. Like someone who can't tell the difference between a 96kps mp3 and a CD buying the most expensive and high quality stereo equipment. On the other hand, some people who can't afford that high quality stereo equipment might save up for it for several years, if they can hear the difference and it's important to them. *That's* fine taste.

Besides appreciation, I think peoples' perception of luxury is colored by whether the owner has earned it. It should affect the perception of the owner (people who earn something appreciate it more; or rather they spend their money on things they appreciate), but if they've never earned it, that's unlikely.

If you don't have a *sincere* appreciation of how a fine automobile drives, feels, and looks, and out of that appreciation you were willing to work, save, and spend on that basis, or if you don't sincerely appreciate the feel and look of a fine leather jacket (not just how it affects others perceptions about the wearer), then it's mindless materialism.

Of course, these are purely abstract concepts that exist more on a social level. In the real world, people can buy whatever they want. But if somebody is just going to waste money or something expensive just because they can afford it, that's just immature. If someone receives something luxurious without appreciating what makes it special or without appreciating the work that went into earning it, that's a waste.

I'm willing to spend more on good quality items, but I'm not really interested in something flashy for the purpose of declaring socioeconomic status. After all, there's always somebody richer than you who you are going to envy.

(This coming from a guy that just bought a nice set of Wüsthof knives.)

I agree with you. Also an interesting note about that idea of luxury is how my friend who loves great automobiles but can't afford much of anything went and bought a 92 q45 with high miles. He only paid 3700 for the car but the car when new was almost 40k. So he can drive around in his luxury performance car even though he bought it for less than a decent used Kia. Thats how i acquire my luxury items. I can't afford to buy a new laptop but someone gave me a broken dell alptop that had a smashed screen a year ago. I then replaced the screen and now i have my luxury item. I got my TiVo at a thrift store (i replaced the bad drive and its perfect now). I have a nice sony amp that i got at the thrift store, i replaced one of the power transistors on it and its good now too.

So yes, i have some luxury items but they were bought at pauper prices and i do appreciate what I have since i had to earn them in other ways (fixing them).

I live in a very nice house. My parents drive nice cars, etc... and I'm a computer geek. No problem with that. Most people at school, however, don't understand that my parents, although they could easily afford it, did NOT buy me my 12" PowerBook, or my iPod, or camera, or anything else technology. That's usually the case. I save for things. And in certain cases, I get a nice deal. Like, the PowerBook - new $1800, I bought mine refurb for $1100.

I think I appreciate having these techno-toys more because I paid for them.

Even my parents. They appreciate luxury, but we aren't going to go buy some $120,000 Maybach to tool around in. Dad has an I35 (Infiniti) that should have gone for roughly $34,000. By purchasing it as an '02 right as the '03s came out, he got a great deal.

OK, maybe all of this makes no sense. I'm re-reading it and it doesn't, but I'll post it anyway....

Makes sense to me. We are comparing the people who acquire luxury items for the pure sake of having them (since they have money to burn) with people who truely appreciate luxury items and how they can acquire them and why they acquire them.

I don't care what it looks like as long as it does the job!

Well..thats what I like to think, but I do tend to chuck the rule out the window when modding my XC bike.. I bought some £28 each kevlar panaracer tires today for the winter...oh well.

I think what is being discussed mostly here is in regard to product quality, and not necessarily luxury. The most common definition of luxury is "Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort." Secondary definitions are "Something expensive or hard to obtain," and "Sumptuous living or surroundings." Sticking with the general definition, I would think that anything that goes beyond the basics of food, shelter, & clothing would be of varying degrees of luxury. By that standard, most of us here in the US would be considered by the rest of the world, and by most of history, to be living in luxury.

I had the opportunity earlier this year to spend 3 weeks in Cameroon (Western Africa, right in the "armpit"); the biggest lesson I came away from that experience with was the realization of what is truly essential. Most of the people in that country have plenty to eat, which is a good thing, but only those who are considered wealthy own a car. If the home they live in has a locking door and real windows on it, they are doing pretty well; most homes are made of mud bricks with 30 year-old, second-hand tin for roofs. Some places have running water, but most people still get their drinking water from the same streams they use for everything else. In Douala, a city of 4 million people, there is running water, but in residential districts people still need to walk several blocks to get it, use all manner of containers to carry it, and it is full of stuff that would (and did :P) make our delicate American digestive systems sick in a heartbeat. The sewer system is nearly nonexistent; most people do their duty wherever and whenever the need arises.

Things that we take for granted — clean water that doesn't make you sick, relatively cheap and decent housing, relatively cheap and decent transportation — would be considered luxury items elsewhere. Luxury, therefore, is relative. In Cameroon, or any third-world country, what is considered luxury would be considered near poverty here.

The funny thing is that in Cameroon, you see cel phones everywhere. They are expensive, but land-line phones are even more expensive and horribly unreliable and hard to get, so when communication is important to someone they'll get a cel phone. Cel phone carriers are taking advantage of the government's inability to keep the land-line system running, and spreading cel networks around the country really fast. Here in the US, I don't own a cel phone — I'd consider that a luxury — but it's almost a necessity in Cameroon if you want reliable communication.

I’m willing to spend more on good quality items, but I’m not really interested in something flashy for the purpose of declaring socioeconomic status

Ditto.

What happens if somebody like myself purchases only the best they can possibly afford, knowing and valuing what sets the items apart from the crowd... and eventually begins to take them for granted? I personally think it's unavoidable. You can't live with something for too long before it becomes just another space-taker-upper in your house.*

*Please excuse the bad grammar and probable mistakes in logic(I dont think even THAT makes sense). It's getting late here, and I havent slept much in days...

when it comes to purchasing decisions, I'll shoot for the highest quality item that I can afford; if what I can afford at a given time doesn't seem to be of good quality, I'll either shop around to find a better price for what I need, or wait until I can afford it. And I'm not afraid to buy second-hand or reconditioned if it means I can get a higher quality item for less money. For example, I've never bought a computer brand new, at least not for my personal use. The same with cars; I avoid new cars because their value depreciates so drastically in that first year. Granted, you can't be terribly picky about what you get -- no special orders when it comes to pre-owned hardware -- but you can save a bundle.

I think one of the problems that many people have is that they want the best, and when they don't have the cash for it they're all too ready to lay down plastic to buy it. That will do little more than make that item end up costing you even more. Borrowing to get what you think you need also erodes your future ability to pay for what you really need, and basically makes you a slave to your creditor. I worked for a credit card firm for several years, and it's heartbreaking to see how so many people dig themselves in so deep just for stuff that, like Disco Inferno says, ends up becoming "... just another space-taker-upper in your house."

Buy what you need, when you need it, but only if you can afford it. Better to do without than to go into debt to get it.

when you are bill gates.