Financially well resourced Americans, what’s a facet of life you could spend money/free time on, but just don’t?

38 comments

1. Clothing. I have like 6 days of clothing options before I have to do laundry.

   I hate clothes shopping so I usually go like once or twice a year and I’m set.

2. I could afford way better “dress clothes “ but still only have one suit and a few dress shirts.

3. Cars. I arranged my life to include public transportation and I’m happy this way.

4. High-end A/V stuff. I’m a serious gamer, but I absolutely don’t care what the graphics in my games look like. I enjoy watching TV but I don’t need a 4K screen taking up half a wall. I love music but I honestly can’t hear much difference between a fancy setup with a million speakers and the simple left/right in my car or at my desk.

5. I drive old paid for cars. I don’t care what I drive and I prefer to spend money on other stuff.

6. I don’t drink alcohol or use cannabis or any other nonmedical drugs at all and never have, which a lot of people seem to think is unusual. I have money; I have free time; I’m not religious. Obviously, never having used them, I’m not an alcoholic or addict. They just have never appealed to me. I don’t like feeling mentally compromised or altered in any way. And I don’t like hanging out in bars. I’d rather be at home or outside or something with fewer people around me.

7. Fast food and takeout. It adds up over time and I’m too cheap to want to waste my money on ok food when I can cook better and cheaper at home.

8. I do my own lawn mowing and snowblowing. Everyone else in my neighborhood hires it out.

9. Housing. My mortgage is only around 6% of my compensation. We could move to a bigger home or a nicer area, but we’re content with where we are (and don’t want to lose our property tax base).

10. Cars, electronics, clothes.

    My phone is 7 years old and I’ll probably keep it another year. It is starting to slow down a little but still in good shape. My car is 13+ years old.

    Some of the appliances in my house are original and probably close to 25 years old. They are still ticking along.

11. A car. I choose transit options that either keep my hands and mind free to enjoy leisure activities (or do paperwork) or ones that make me happy and provide exercise.

12. Typical shit like a house below my means, keeping cars long after they’re “paid off”, buying everything I can on sale or opting for the cheap version etc…

    i don’t really drink anymore… and when I do I drink cheap shit (Coor’s Light FTW) but that’s not a financial consideration. I just don’t care.

13. Flying first class. I just don’t see the value in it, and I started cleaning my own pool.

14. My husband and I could afford 5X the house, a new car every year, steak for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

    Instead, we live a minimalist lifestyle with our 1800 square foot house, 10 year old cars, and coupon clipped groceries.

    Just because you’ve got it, doesn’t mean you’ve got to flaunt it.

15. Yoga

16. I could drive a much nicer car than I currently drive but like what’s the point. Well certainly what’s the point now as I work remote and drive like 10 miles a week, but even in the before times, I am not a car guy. It’s a tool, all I need out of my personal mobility cage is good mileage and safety. I’m not paying extra for leather seats!

17. Idk I guess I could get a bigger place but I like a little apartment.

    I don’t tend to buy gadgets. I don’t have an Apple Watch, or a particularly nice TV, or the latest consoles. I don’t even own a kindle and prefer reading paperbacks.

    I dunno I think I’m just like an analog person in a digital world.

18. Cars.

    I could afford a pretty nice car or truck. Not a Maybach or anything, but I could afford a new Tacoma TRD or or an Acura RDX or something, but nope.

    Best believe I’m still driving around in my 06 Accord with sort of broken windshield wipers and sort of broken AC.

19. My car.

    I’m just not a car guy. I’m in the middle of a three year Hyundai Elantra lease. It’s their highest [trim package](https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/build/trims/#/4477) with (probably not real) leather seats, touch screen thingy, built in navigation, etc. but it’s still an Elantra. My wife just leased a new Lincoln Aviator about a month ago that has everything including massage seats. I can see that it’s an objectively nice car but it does absolutely nothing for me.

20. Watching any kind of TV / movies / streaming / sports / video-based social media. I don’t have kids or a commute so I have a lot of unstructured downtime outside of work, but I just don’t care to use it to watch anything. I don’t subscribe to any streaming services, have spent most of my adult life without a TV, and have probably seen fewer than 50 movies and fewer than a dozen TV series. I like “screen time” but would rather browse the internet or play video games.

21. Phone, housing, cars & clothes.

    I’d rather travel, eat well, and have nice gaming computers.

22. Bigger house in a “nicer” area. I built this house in my early 20s when I was a pipeline welder who managed to save up enough money to do it while “living”(was on the road) with my parents. It’s been paid for since the day I finished it, and it’s all the family and I need.

23. Vacation accommodations in hotels/motels higher than Days Inn and flights on airlines that are not SunCountry and Southwest.

    I just choose not to if I can help it. As long as the places are clean and not in a sketchy area, I am fine with it. I do have standards but I am not a princess either.

    Airline tickets will definitely depend on my reason for flying but why would I fly on Delta from MCO to MSP for $350 RT when SunCountry has a nearly-identical flight for $90 RT? Why would I fly AA from TPA to DFW for $250 when Southwest has a flight leaving an hour later but landing same time for $150?

    I get that the other two more expensive ones usually have nicer planes inside but I am not the kind of person who needs that. Kind of like the difference in getting an Uber in a Lincoln Continental vs a Toyota Corolla.

24. I could afford a better car but that’s not for me.

    I splurge on clothes and food – but I don’t drink or do drugs so I doubt I spend more than average when all three are combined.

    I could buy nicer clothes but I prefer to throw stuff out after a few wears when it gets out of season so I love SHEIN for that.

25. I’ll wear shoes till the soles fall off.
    I get absolutely no thrill from gambling and have probably saved tens thousands of dollars based on friends who casually gamble.
    I have had the same H&M peacoat winter coat for 10 years – it’ll probably be back in style soon.

26. I am well resourced financially precisely because I don’t spend money on things I don’t need. Once you stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, life gets a lot easier.

27. Luxury items that I don’t need, like expensive shoes or a big-ass house.

28. Fancy cars. I could afford one, I don’t care.

29. My car. I just…don’t care about having a nice or fancy car. I drive a 2012 Toyota Prius with about 175,000 miles. I plan to drive it until it requires a repair that costs significantly more than the car is worth, at which point I’ll probably get another Prius, hopefully one that’s about 2-4 years old (my current one was 2 years old when I got it). Then I’ll drive that new Prius for 10+ years, rinse and repeat.

30. I still buy store brand.

31. Cars.

    I just don’t care about them for anything more than utility. I have a nice car but it’s old. When I replace it it will probably with something lightly used and not fancy.

32. Almost everything. My house is 924 square feet. I’ve never owned a house with a garage. My truck is from the ’90s, and my car is a Dieselgate VW bought at deep discount. I don’t own a suit. My wedding cost $100. Most of the restaurants I go to are the ones that have $10 combination plates. I grow my own weed. When I’m on the road, I stay in cheap motels by the interstate.

    I will, however, splurge on a VIP ticket to Bonnaroo.

33. At this point in my life / career / earning history, I can own nearly any car I wish short of a Ferrari or Bentley or something. But while I love cars I think buying “status” cars is a terrible waste; I would never even buy a BMW. I drive a Nissan.

34. I wouldn’t call myself well resourced but I do good with what I have and I don’t want for too much.

    I could live a lot “nicer” than I do in a lot of departments but I don’t really give a shit so I don’t. I buy a couple pairs of jeans every two years or so and wear mostly free tshirts from work and friend’s bands. Live in a spare room at my brother’s house part of the time and in my camper van the other part.

    I’m a weird guy when it comes to money. I used to rat race a lot harder than I do now and was constantly miserable and broke and eventually I just stopped chasing nice stuff and noticed I was happier anyway with the cheap apartment and clunky car. I’ve kind of landed in a funny spot now where I’ll hem and haw for weeks about whether I should subscribe to Hulu or something , but on the other hand I’ll also go play poker at the casino and lose $300 in two hours and not give a single fuck about it at all. The hilarious thing is that somehow in the process of learning to not give a shit about money and becoming so easy-come-easy-go about it I’ve actually ended up way better off financially. Three or four years ago I literally could not get a major bank to give me a simple checking account and now I have a 750 credit score and extra money in my pocket most weeks. All I did was stop spending money on shit that doesn’t compel me, while spending wildly on anything that does. I feel like this should not have turned my financial life around so well but it did.

35. Yeah, I’m similar in that I don’t really like fine dining. True fine dining I don’t do at all, and mid-tier fancy places like a fancier steakhouse are a rarity (once every couple years). Basically if I feel like I need to really dress up to go there, I’m not interested. I just feel uncomfortable and out of place at those types of restaurants.

    I love good food, but just really prefer the hole-in-the-wall local ethnic places over fine dining type stuff. I’m a pretty dedicated home cook so I’ll occasionally splurge for high quality ingredients, but I actually prefer the cheap cuts over the nicer cuts most of the time. I’d rather have the brisket off a really good cow than the filet mignon off a lower grade. (Though those darned BBQ hipsters are making the brisket expensive now…)

    I don’t really drink, never do any recreational drugs more serious than caffeine. I kind of wish I liked the taste of beer because I have a real interest in gardening, cooking/fermentation and chemistry, so homebrewing would be an amazing hobby that’s 100% up my lane… the problem is I hate the taste of most alcohol. 🙁 Womp womp. Even award winning microbrewery whatsits I just hate how it tastes.

    I don’t care about makeup or fashion. I wear jeans & t-shirts and cut my own hair. (To be fair it’s also waist-length so this isn’t that difficult or complicated to do.)

    My SO and I are both software developers and we tend to have older electronics and not be that into “gadgets” like people assume we must be. I’m still using an iphone 6s. We waited around 8 years to do another set of full computer builds on our gaming rigs after our first set, though we did a couple incremental upgrades in between. The amount of “you’re seriously still on a 3770?” I got, lol.

36. Cars.

    I have a Ford F-150 which I love; it’s perfect for driving my recumbent bike to the greenway and for taking our kayaks to the lake. I also love being able to go to Home Depot to pick up lumber or whatever. We live in an exurban area (not quite rural, not quite suburban), so it comes in handy for other things, like buying potting soil and plants for the yard.

    My wife drives a Mini Cooper, which she absolutely loves; it’s easy to drive and to get in and out of tight parking spots during her errands.

    The Ford is kind of a beast, and hard to squeeze into smaller parking spots–and my wife suggested maybe we buy a third car, so I can run errands in it. Maybe a Tesla or even a Porsche; I love cars.

    But… nah; what’s the point? I can park the truck farther out in the grocery store parking lot where no-one else is parked, and walk the length of the parking lot. I need the exercise.

37. Fancy vacations.

    I enjoy them, but I have a hard time justifying them. It seems wasteful to spend thousands of dollars on something that I don’t get to keep. (yes, I know I keep the memories)

38. I’m not in the know how enough to spend my money on stupid shit. I like being home a lot and prefer not to go out. If I’m not at work I’m usually home. I do hike and check out nature stuff but it’s usually free because I was in the military. I don’t like drama so I don’t really socialize out of work. Sometimes I wish I had a group of dude friends but my social battery dies quickly.