"A Luxury Once Tasted...

[herbgeek]

When it comes to cars I have yet to desire heated seats, or leather seats.

I do have that desire for heated seats. My butt is ALWAYS cold. But I know that once I do, there is no going back and I will always have to have heated seats.

[Float On]

I bought a favorite luxury wine a couple of weeks ago. $75 per bottle. Drank it right down.

I dont have an urge to drink other wines so frequently any more. But when a bottle of the good stuff is open, I will be a consumer.

It doesn't take much to remember a great wine experience. We use to have an acquaintance who was a wine broker. There was one that was $125 a half bottle and he broke out of case of it and gave us a bottle! No wine has ever tasted as good sitting in a back yard in Kentucky around a fire pit on a cool early summer evening.

[pinkytoe]

The only thing I seem to splurge on occasionally are food and beverage items. Good coffee, olive oil, vinegars, spices, etc. DH was in the food and wine business for many years. He could tell many a story about wine tastings where the wine snobs didn't know they were drinking $12 bottles. To me though, it's really about the value received for the money spent in any category.

[Float On]

I do have that desire for heated seats. My butt is ALWAYS cold. But I know that once I do, there is no going back and I will always have to have heated seats.

Yep. I have heated seat envy as well as the foot movement back door release.

[dado potato]

SteveinMN,

I will keep an eye open for Rochdale Farms butter.

I am fond of Organic Ghee from a farmer-owned co-op based in La Farge, WI. "Organic Valley" brand... I buy it on Amazon.

[catherine]

It doesn't take much to remember a great wine experience. We use to have an acquaintance who was a wine broker. There was one that was $125 a half bottle and he broke out of case of it and gave us a bottle! No wine has ever tasted as good sitting in a back yard in Kentucky around a fire pit on a cool early summer evening.

Wow, I sure hope I don't "taste" that luxury! My idea of a good bottle of wine is Clos du Bois on sale at BuyRite for $13.99. I don't think I'm enough of a connoisseur to be able to appreciate a $75 or $125 bottle of wine.

[dado potato]

pinkytoe,

Have you settled on a favorite olive oil producer? I trust PJ Kabos in Athens, Greece... imported to USA by Accolade Brands, Studio City CA.

[Float On]

Wow, I sure hope I don't "taste" that luxury! My idea of a good bottle of wine is Clos du Bois on sale at BuyRite for $13.99. I don't think I'm enough of a connoisseur to be able to appreciate a $75 or $125 bottle of wine.

Definitely a one time experience in my life! My evening glass of wine (that I like very much) comes from a $5-7 bottle depending on sale price.

[catherine]

I don’t know if you are expressing guilt at the thought of being sold a luxury.....I’ve felt that way. I’ve come to the conclusion that we can describe our lives entirely in selling terms. Because having less or doing without is cultural heresy. I never gave my wants a second thought as long as it fit in my budget......until I retired and started contemplating my life as a consumer and what that meant to my relationship with the earth and others and what kind of extra burdens I was really saddling myself with. Sounds a bit philosophical for a nuts and bolts type person but it boiled down to me havin* slowed down and taken a look around and a look inside.

I succumb to purchasing luxuries but less often than ever and I suspect in the future that’s going to be the trend. Just yesterday I had lunch with my summer golf partner. He told me I needed to buy a new driver. Mine is ten years old, has been repaired once, has a rattle in it. He said I needed to go to this pro shop where they can let me try out all the new clubs. I think I’ll be teeing off with my old driver this year. Along with the set of irons I bought from a guy for $50 a few years ago.

Fighting off the urge to indulge requires discipline. Simple living isn’t easy. But there is something to be gained from avoiding the quest for instant gratification or convenience. I’ve really given this some thought and for me it boils down to four levels of usefulness. Something you absolutely need, something that makes things easier, something that you really enjoy and gives you pleasure, and something that is purely wanted because it’s outrageously indulgent.

I am probably going to purchase another guitar at some point. It will be strictly a luxury. What you see, you covet. I justify it because I play in several different tunings. In fact my one guitar only has five strings because I am playing it in open g. If I get another guitar, I won’t have to waste time returning and messing with strings. Its convenient and its indulgent.

As long as I give myself the freedom to hold loosely to these things, I’m satisfied. When I start clutching them with an iron grip, I risk exposing myself to disappointment.

Love this post. I think it speaks to the emotional drivers and barriers of getting "hooked" on material things. I think that for me personally guilt is not as big a driver as fear. Two fears: a) the fear that I will outgrow my compulsion for a simple life--that it will become unreachable if all of a sudden I NEED a Cuisinart and a Siberian down comforter. I have been reading about food processors for various reasons, and then I told myself to STOP IT! I like chopping. We have good knives. We have a cutting board. Why do I need a motor to take that pleasure from me?

I remember being shocked reading that Scott Nearing said that he constantly had to push away his desires for this and that. I somehow thought that he was born only wanting a bowl with chopsticks to eat from, and stones brought from friends with which to build his home. I guess that's why the 10th Commandment has been around since Moses.

My second fear is that as I MUST limit my wants as I age into Social Security, I want to be content. I'm not fearful of not having what I need. I'm only fearful of wanting more than I have.

I've mentioned one of my favorite books before: A Handmade Life by William Coperthwaite. He was a huge proponent of learning many skills and turning every activity into a craft and turning every thing into a thing of beauty. I'm afraid that while I've always wanted my "ladder" to be against HIS kind of wall (a Stephen Covey analogy), I'll instead wind up with my ladder against the wall of Williams Sonoma and Ralph Lauren.

Finally, I LOVE "give myself the freedom to hold loosely to these things."

[ToomuchStuff]

Some of the car stuff mentioned I would add to, like not having to do a tune up every 12K miles.
On the other hand, I miss things like rain gutters on them, or vent windows.
Personally, I would much rather have a lifeline service land line and pay phones, then the "luxury" of a cell phone. But that has become a necessity out of lack of pay phones, in case of issues or so I can contact work when on runs for them. That luxury though saves me money as the cheapest landline, due to taxes being 50% of the bill, costs in two months, what my cell costs me 95% of a year.
Refrigeration instead of ice boxes. Laundry machines that don't use wringers (offered one of those from the late neighbor when I moved in), a lot of stuff already mentioned.