 Share
|
« Previous McArdle | Next McArdle » |
Email
Print
|
Another good question
By
Fontana Labs asks:
I don't regard a car as a luxury, but I miss my bike fiercely, and am saving up for a new one. (One that will live inside) In house laundry, which I am now enjoying for the first time, is pretty sweet, but not that big a hedonic improvement over in-building laundry. Laundromats are appalling, especially if you don't have a car and the nearest one is a quarter of a mile away.
My votes:
1) Sunlight. I didn't realize I cared until I lived in a cave-like apartment which required 24 hour electrical lighting for a couple of years.
2) No roommate
3) New clothes. When I started out as a journalist, my salary was low, my taxes were and my loans and rent together were over $2,000 a month. I couldn't afford things like meat or new clothes. The meat I didn't miss, but after several years of unemployment, all my clothes were slightly tattered, stretched, and vaguely out of style. By the time I got a raise, I understood, for the first time in my life, what Victorian authors had been describing when they made their heroines shabby: I looked frumpy, and couldn't do a damn thing about it.
4) A full sized stove
5) High speed internet
In a nice post about the dangers of the hedonic treadmill, Ben A wonders what luxuries would be agonizing to give up. His list: no roommates, in-house laundry, car. . . . Other candidates? What would hurt to leave behind?
I don't regard a car as a luxury, but I miss my bike fiercely, and am saving up for a new one. (One that will live inside) In house laundry, which I am now enjoying for the first time, is pretty sweet, but not that big a hedonic improvement over in-building laundry. Laundromats are appalling, especially if you don't have a car and the nearest one is a quarter of a mile away.
My votes:
1) Sunlight. I didn't realize I cared until I lived in a cave-like apartment which required 24 hour electrical lighting for a couple of years.
2) No roommate
3) New clothes. When I started out as a journalist, my salary was low, my taxes were and my loans and rent together were over $2,000 a month. I couldn't afford things like meat or new clothes. The meat I didn't miss, but after several years of unemployment, all my clothes were slightly tattered, stretched, and vaguely out of style. By the time I got a raise, I understood, for the first time in my life, what Victorian authors had been describing when they made their heroines shabby: I looked frumpy, and couldn't do a damn thing about it.
4) A full sized stove
5) High speed internet
Join the Discussion
After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus