Why do women need to buy branded bags?

[Mehtis]

I totally saved money with my contract in comparison to getting it individually. Around 360€ vs. 500€ and the contract is suuuper cheap. Covers basically all my needs for 5€/month and more.

[Lady Rhonwyn]

All smart phone prices might as well be the same when people are buying the newest. Plus, don't 2-year enslav...er, contracts usually even all the prices to sub-$200 anyway?

/says the guy with a tracfone

The way I see it, either you pay cash, or you pay via contract. It probably comes up to similar prices in the long run.

You usually pay more than when you'd have gotten a sim-only contract.

I totally saved money with my contract in comparison to getting it individually. Around 360€ vs. 500€ and the contract is suuuper cheap. Covers basically all my needs for 5€/month and more.

We went for a sim-only contract. Why replace your phone when your old one is still perfectly serviceable? Not that I have a smartphone...

[Mehtis]

Well, my old one was not servicable anymore. I was looking for a new phone, then a friend referred me to this particular deal. Now I'm a real smartypants with a smartphone in my pants.

[Leonora Windleaf]

While I don't know everything about every guitar, I can honestly say that this is not an apt analogy. Guitars are one thing where you really do get more for your money. I don't know where it starts and ends, but I've handled $200, $500, and $1,000 guitars and there is such a difference at all levels.

This is true in most cases. A 3000$ Gibson Les Paul Custom is just miles ahead of a 500$ Epiphone Les Paul Custom.

I'm refering to a specific case here, I should have mentioned that before, sorry! I forget that I'm not on talkbass.com here, lol.

Squier, a sister company of Fender, builds licensed copies of original Fender instrument, usually with cheaper materials, and sell them for less money. A couple of years ago, Squier brought their "Vintage Modified" and "Classic Vibe" series, with much better quality materials and better construction. Now, Fender has released their "Modern Player" series, with pretty much the same stats and quality as the Squier VM/CV series, and they are also built in the exact same factory in china. Main difference is the name on the Headstock, and the price, somewhere around 100-250$ difference. A lot of people are willing to pay the difference just because it says Fender on the headstock.

[MixedVariety]

One day my girlfriend walked into Mark Jacobs, and bought a bag for 400£,

All I can think of when I see something like that, is how many weeks' worth of groceries that would buy my family.

[Alaris]

You usually pay more than when you'd have gotten a sim-only contract.

I mean, cost of phone included.

Well, my old one was not servicable anymore. I was looking for a new phone, then a friend referred me to this particular deal. Now I'm a real smartypants with a smartphone in my pants.

Same here, my phone was dying, so either I renewed with my current evil company, or I switched and got a phone at the same time.

I could get a contract + phone, or contract that included phone, or whatever.

This is true in most cases.

I tried some really expensive wines once. Apparently, anything above 50$ a bottle all tastes the same to me (as in I could probably find a cheaper bottle that would taste the same to me).

Also, even if there's a difference, I focus on differences that matter. To help make the choice, I classify the difference in what will actually improve my quality of life, what will save me money in the long run, what will create a dependency...

I generally find that spending on appearances doesn't increase your well-being, especially if done to "keep up with fashion". Instead, it creates a dependency. You're better off spending 100$ on books to learn how businesses create needs, and self-help against addiction to fashion.

[Kael Valeran]

All I can think of when I see something like that, is how many weeks' worth of groceries that would buy my family.

I never thought of it that way. Its a shame that the cost of groceries can be significant in some parts of the world. In Asia, a meal(very good meal) can be delivered via a hawker at the price of only 2£. Many of our food stores also open 24 hours, unlike the UK.

I got so accustomed to cheap food that I never bothered to consider groceries as 'cost'. Its just like penny change. Why is food in western countries so damn expensive anyway?

[teina]

All I can think of when I see something like that, is how many weeks' worth of groceries that would buy my family.

I was thinking along those lines, except with video games. It's easy to point at people and say that they're wasting money on bags or whatever, but shouldn't we look at relative spending instead? If a millionaire hotel heiress wants to blow $1000 on a bag, that's probably like me blowing $35 on a Charr plushie. A poor family would probably be aghast at someone blowing $35 on a stuffed animal when that can feed their family for a week.

IMO if you have the money and you can afford it, go buy whatever the heck you want. If you can't afford it, it's not essential, and you still buy it anyways, then you're just bad at money.

Now, we can argue what "can afford it" means...

-T

[MixedVariety]

I never thought of it that way. Its a shame that the cost of groceries can be significant in some parts of the world. In Asia, a meal(very good meal) can be delivered via a hawker at the price of only 2£. Many of our food stores also open 24 hours, unlike the UK.

I got so accustomed to cheap food that I never bothered to consider groceries as 'cost'. Its just like penny change. Why is food in western countries so damn expensive anyway?

Sorry, wasn't trying to make you feel guilty.

It's not that food is expensive, so much as that I went and had a fairly large family for the times. Here's how it goes for me: I've got a family of 6. We do a pretty good job of shopping, but still it adds up to around $150-160 a week. That probably seems like a good bit of money--and it is, over $600 a month--but if you divided it out by 6 it roughly comes out to $27 a week per person. Say $28 per person. Divide that by 7 days a week, and each person in my family eats for about $4 a day...not bad for 2 or 3 meals per day. Some of that, by the way, isn't food: toothpaste, toiletries and cleaning materials, paper goods...that's all part of the grocery cost.

Even though we do pretty well considering, it's still a $600+ a month bill.

[Kael Valeran]

Sorry, wasn't trying to make you feel guilty.

It's not that food is expensive, so much as that I went and had a fairly large family for the times. Here's how it goes for me: I've got a family of 6. We do a pretty good job of shopping, but still it adds up to around $150-160 a week. That probably seems like a good bit of money--and it is, over $600 a month--but if you divided it out by 6 it roughly comes out to $27 a week per person. Say $28 per person. Divide that by 7 days a week, and each person in my family eats for about $4 a day...not bad for 2 or 3 meals per day. Some of that, by the way, isn't food: toothpaste, toiletries and cleaning materials, paper goods...that's all part of the grocery cost.

Even though we do pretty well considering, it's still a $600+ a month bill.

Family of 6? No wonder. But if you think that way all the time, you'll be asking, why don't people just sleep on the beach. They can avoid council tax, rent/home tax. Tents are quite durable nowadays lol. Well, I think its unreasonable to save to such an extent but we should spend well within our limits. However, the limits for majority of people are being stretched. Not everyone is a spend thrift, but I find it harder to live now than 20 years ago.

I remember my parents home 30 years ago costing only 300k, now it cost 2.4 million. By inflation rate standards the home should only cost a million tops. Food prices have also risen above inflation rates, but salary remained low for most vocations. Must be the baby boomers, our generation is going to suffer.

Now, we can argue what "can afford it" means...

It is difficult to define spending well within your limits. When you first start out, you want a home, a job, transport, and essentials like food clothing etc, but a lot of it is unaffordable especially if you did a PhD or studied for a long time and incurred debt. How much money are you willing to spend? Most people graduate at 23-24, some 25-27. What are the odds that you can provide for your family before the age of 30(where risk of down's syndrome increases for having children and hence most people compromise at 29).

Also, having a child isn't like crapping into the toilet bowl. It requires luck, and time. If you are slogging at work, there is no time to produce a child. There is always the need to get a loan if one wants to start early and hence almost everyone would be in debt(initially). Moreover, mortgages are usually under 1% interest now, its a good time to invest. So we will surely spend past our limit, possibly having a 10-30 year loan depending on skillset. On the other hand, some people are unwilling to neglect 'essentials' such as having a child during the safe period, sending children to the best schools, going for a holiday, funding on self-education etc.

I feel a 10 year loan is reasonable. anything more is insane. While it is best not to incur any loan at all, sleeping on the beach is not an option.