Buy Experiences, Not Things

[sengsational]

I find that planning experiences adds to the fun. I'm kind of a research nut, so I enjoy finding maps, articles, weather conditions, reviews, photos, transportation and sustenance info in order to best prepare for a remote experience. Experiences are much more enjoyable when I'm prepared for them.

Enjoying the planning probably gets easier the more you do it. I'm still working on that (http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/how-do-you-execute-on-diy-travel-73279.html?highlight=diy).

As to enjoying travel, I got to wondering while on the Outer Banks, "why did people first start to come here?" Certainly it wasn't for water slides and go-cart tracks. It seems to me if you can eliminate those distractions and concentrate on why the first tourists showed-up at a location, you'd be better off (and retain some capital too!)

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I thought of this thread today when we were processing some of my thrift shop and estate sales finds. To paraphrase a famous quote, if buying things can't bring you happiness, then you don't know where to shop. I am pretty happy with my latest finds. I have a new $300 glass top desk in my office I bought for $30. My old desk is going to one of the kids who needs a home office for a part-time telecommuting job, the job which saves us from having to provide this semester's spending money, which also makes me happy.

So I am pretty satisfied with this purchase, more so than if we just went out to eat or saw a movie instead for the same $30. I think the key issue is just to get good value from your money and only buy things, services or experiences that are useful, fun, beautiful, entertaining or whatever need you are trying to fill.

If I could buy a new BMW for $100 or take a trip to Paris for $50k, I think I'd go with the thing and not the experience, or if the prices were reversed I'd go with the experience.

 

[photoguy]

It's a slight difference, kind of like "the means to an end vs just it being the means", where a kayak or a convertible (the means) gives you the ability to experience the actual activity (the ends). On the flip side, if you have to buy a new Mercedes convertible instead of a "low class, pre-owned proletariat" brand, then you're making the means more of the "end" versus the object just being an enabler to allow you experience the actual action.

Thanks for the example. I am quite the optimizer for getting value out of material items. On the other hand, my friend would say the experience is driving a sporty car and that's why she needs the BMW whereas I'm valuing where driving can take me (e.g. to see a national park). Of course she is the complete opposite of LBYM

 

[eytonxav]

I find that planning experiences adds to the fun. I'm kind of a research nut, so I enjoy finding maps, articles, weather conditions, reviews, photos, transportation and sustenance info in order to best prepare for a remote experience. Experiences are much more enjoyable when I'm prepared for them.


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Agree, but I also find this to be true for making material purchases.

 

[NW-Bound]

I bought and burned 1,000 gallons of gasoline, and much of it at the expensive Canadian price of $5/gal. That gas propelled my motorhome all over the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia during a 2-month trip.

So, it was one of the "things", but it was really about experiences because all I have left now are just memories and perhaps 1000 photos.

 

[sengsational]

I bought and burned 1,000 gallons of gasoline, and much of it at the expensive Canadian price of $5/gal. That gas propelled my motorhome all over the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia during a 2-month trip.

So, it was one of the "things", but it was really about experiences because all I have left now are just memories and perhaps 1000 photos.

Buying gas for the motor home is like buying a bus, train, or plane ticket, so that wouldn't count as a 'thing', IMHO.

But this got me thinking about Facebook travel posts. Did they really enjoy their travel, or did they go there just so they could brag about it on FB?

If the goal of your spending has an angle of "showing off", then maybe your happiness is secondary. Or maybe you're lucky in your choice of spending in that the direction of the happiness vector and the direction of the show-off vector are the same (engineers on this board will get it). But I figure that's not how it works-out much of the time, so one may be motiviated to spend towards status seeking instead of towards happiness seeking.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, the big amount of gas that I burned was not really "things" in the sense of the thread - I was joking.

Travelers all tend to brag about their trips. However, people traveled long before the age of the Internet that now allows them to have blogs and Facebook posts. So, it is no different than successful market timers talking about their trades, ERs who manage to save enough to quit work, DIY'ers who repair their own appliances then talk about it, etc...

And I am grateful for the digital camera that lets me have so many photos to record the trips to jog my memory later. Thinking back to the day of the 35mm film camera, I don't think I ever used more than 2 or 3 of the film rolls on a trip. So, I did not even have all the trip photos that I now can snap with abandon.

 

[REWahoo]

I bought and burned 1,000 gallons of gasoline, ... all I have left now are just memories and perhaps 1000 photos.

That's only one photo per gallon! You need a much higher efficiency camera.

 

[NW-Bound]

Darn! I forgot to add my wife's photos, which brings down the $/photo cost.

Still, it may work out to a couple of $ per photos, hence still expensive, and most of them are not that good.

It would cost me nothing to surf the Web and download other people's photos, which are usually much better artistically.

 

[NW-Bound]

So, what's the moral here?

Don't buy "things". Do not buy "experiences" either. Just stay home, surf the Web, and live vicariously, and have that much more money?

 

[Meadbh]

I bought and burned 1,000 gallons of gasoline, and much of it at the expensive Canadian price of $5/gal. That gas propelled my motorhome all over the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia during a 2-month trip.

So, it was one of the "things", but it was really about experiences because all I have left now are just memories and perhaps 1000 photos.

Ouch! That's a lot of gas. But think of the accommodation you didn't have to pay for. 60 days at $100 per night would be $6000. So you saved $1000!

 

[REWahoo]

So, what's the moral here?

Don't buy "things". Do not buy "experiences" either. Just stay home, surf the Web, and live vicariously, and have that much more money?

No moral, just do what's good for your morale.

 

[NW-Bound]

Ouch! That's a lot of gas. But think of the accommodation you didn't have to pay for. 60 days at $100 per night would be $6000. So you saved $1000!

Well, we still had to pay for campground fees, although they were a lot lower being past prime travel season.

Could you believe that some commercial CGs charged $100/night in peak season in some spots? For just a place to park, plug in a power cord, and use perhaps 10 gals of water a day? But I guess that is still a lot lower than hotels in the same locale.

 

[NW-Bound]

No moral, just do what's good for your morale.

It was just a rhetorical question.

Of course I have always done what I like to do. Not just traveling in my own way, but also market timing and all that stuff...

 

[gardenfun]

Well, we still had to pay for campground fees, although they were a lot lower being past prime travel season.

Could you believe that some commercial CGs charged $100/night in peak season in some spots? For just a place to park, plug in a power cord, and use perhaps 10 gals of water a day? But I guess that is still a lot lower than hotels in the same locale.

Yeah, I'm amazed at some folks' stories about getting free hotel rooms, or ones at less than $100 a night, at least in popular places.

I was thinking about this when making plans to visit my DS and DDIL in DC in December. I could have found a cheaper room far away from them, but I was willing to pay more for the experience to be close their apartment (a studio so no way I would be able to bunk with them!) and close to the museums, etc. At least I got my ticket for free on United, and at only 25,000 miles!

In any case, even in kinda out of the way Santa Maria, CA, I paid $179 for a (Saturday) night at the Holiday Inn on my way from the bay area to San Diego in early September. sheesh. And that was with the big AAA discount! But I wanted a pool after several hours on the road...

 

[REWahoo]

It was just a rhetorical question.

Yes, purely rhetorical.

 

[mpeirce]

Don't buy "things". Do not buy "experiences" either. Just stay home, surf the Web, and live vicariously, and have that much more money?

Where is that Scrooge McDuck image when you need it?

Oh, look what I found when googling that:

A Scrooge McDuck-style money vault is up for sale in Switzerland | News | Geek.com

 

[NW-Bound]

NICE!


Those coins are not gold, and worth only $US 450K, but that makes it affordable for most of us here, oui?

Well, then there's the cost of the vault, and I do not know how high the bid will go. It is not sure how the vault will be dismantled and moved. What exactly does that vault consist of besides all the drawers?

Still, it would make a hell of a conversation piece, for eccentric people who have a home or basement large enough to install it.

 

[photoguy]

Could you believe that some commercial CGs charged $100/night in peak season in some spots? For just a place to park, plug in a power cord, and use perhaps 10 gals of water a day? But I guess that is still a lot lower than hotels in the same locale.

Rving throughout the US has been a dream "experience" of mine but the economics scare me to death.


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[NW-Bound]

If you avoid the tourist traps, most of the cost of RV'ing is in the fuel, as the campground fees generally are a lot lower than motel rooms. And the fuel cost is minimized by using a smaller motorhome, a class B like the Roadtrek for example.

Speaking of motorhomes, I have been thinking about going to a class B, so that my wife can help with the driving. And besides the fuel savings, a class B gives me better mobility and I also do not need to tow a car behind it.

I have found that I am a traveler not a camper, and do not like to stay in one place too long. So, I would not enjoy a large RV and even my 25' class C often becomes a hindrance, particularly when I have to drag a car behind it.

 

[audreyh1]

We travel because we love the experiences. Then I get double the enjoyment working on the photos from those experiences. Sure glad I spent the $$$ on that camera and lens!

 

[sengsational]

In any case, even in kinda out of the way Santa Maria, CA, I paid $179 for a (Saturday) night at the Holiday Inn on my way from the bay area to San Diego in early September. sheesh. And that was with the big AAA discount! But I wanted a pool after several hours on the road...

I just found "Express Deals" on Priceline. You might try that next time. If you have internet on your phone you can book it that day, as soon as you know where you're going to stop. They have a 3 1/2 star for $100 (+18 tax):

 

[Major Tom]

If you avoid the tourist traps, most of the cost of RV'ing is in the fuel, as the campground fees generally are a lot lower than motel rooms.

...and then there's always boondocking. If you're in the great open west, there is a lot of BLM land to camp on for free too, if that's your thing.

As with sticks n' bricks accommodations, if your budget is limited, there are always more affordable ways to do it. The lower limit is dictated mainly by your creativity and adaptability. I'm not speaking specifically to you NW-Bound, as you know these things, but more to photoguy and anyone else who thinks that RV'ing is outside their budget, although it may indeed be outside their budget if they have specific expectations.

 

[NW-Bound]

RV boondocking is somewhat limited to the western states, which have a lot of public land.

In the east, most of the land is private and the owners do not take lightly to people camping on their land, although I have read an RV blogger who was able to boondock in Nova Scotia by asking for permission. In contrast, Alaska is boondocker's heaven, as you only have the grizzly to contend with.

And by the way, do you know that Texas has very little public land despite its size?

 

[Major Tom]

And by the way, do you know that Texas has very little public land despite its size?

I wasn't aware of that. What DO they do with all that land?