Do you live in luxury? If so, what are your luxuries?

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Probably, yes. At least, relative to most of the world. We’re certainly above the median income of the United States, although we live in an expensive area (our rent is close to 3k a month). For our area, we’re comfortable but not wealthy.
 
“The best things in life are free…”

Today; sun on my face, wind and rain on skin… Glorious, soul-healing scenes of sea, beaches, mountains…wilderness…

People to chat to… ancient monastic places… calm waters, flowers…

The luxury is having the small old car that becomes my legs and enables me to access these things.

Maybe the secret re luxuries is also our ability to truly value them, rather than take them for granted because everyone else has them?

Blessed day…
 
We have a lot of luxuries. First of all, we live in a safe neighborhood with dependable public services. We own two cars, which is in and of itself a luxury, though neither car is particularly luxurious. Our house has some room to grow our family and we have space to have family and friends over. We can afford to purchase occasional clothing, toys, and various doo-hickies that we don’t really need, but enjoy for entertainment and comfort. We have a myriad of choices for medical care and education for our children. We live in a beautiful community with an amazing assortment of opportunities for entertainment, education, and recreation for our family, much of which is completely free of charge. We can afford to go on roadtrips to visit my husband’s family at least once a year and often twice. We can even afford to go out to eat occasionally. (Probably way more than is good for our waistlines.)
 
My first thought when I read the OP was air conditioning. I’m not trying to be funny or quippy but last year my car needed many repairs including AC. I had freon added and when I turned on the AC I felt the glorious, icy air from the vents for the first time in a couple of years (not counting the icy air during subzero winters). I thought, “This is what it’s like to be rich.” I’m just a dork but I felt rich.
 
One of the family proverbs in my family of origin is something like this–do without necessities, but never do without luxuries.

On occasion, this could be taken rather far (like I grew up without medical insurance or much in the way of routine medical care, but we went on ski vacation), but there is something to the idea.

So, after a rather scary incident with our oldest car (I got to coast downhill through a major intersection with no power), we sold that car and are now a family of five with a single car. My husband travels on occasion and is going to be taking our only car from time to time. Pretty soon, I’m going to have a week with two kids at home and no car. I have some workarounds and think we’re going to be OK, but it would be nice to have a second car again. But we’ve only owned two cars 3 of the 19 years we’ve been married, and we lived without any car at all for the first 9 years of our married life.

We also are able to cheap out on electronics, as my husband is very good at getting maximum value out of old and inexpensive electronics.

Here’s some stuff that that sort of unconventional living pays for:

–water park season passes
–iced mochas
–Blue Bell ice cream
–parents’ day out for Baby Girl
–music lessons for Big Girl
My maternal grandma lived that way. Mom said that if she got $20, they’d have steak on Monday and shredded wheat the rest of the week. Once she took them on a trip to Six Flags in Texas on less than $40. They ate a lot of Jack in the Box tacos, but they had a blast. I think grandma was so used to living in poverty that she literally couldn’t imagine a live where she was financially stable, no matter what she did, but she didn’t want her kids to grow up without ever getting to ride a roller coaster or having that adorable dress in the window. She never did for herself though. It was always for her kids, or even other people’s kids.
 
My maternal grandma lived that way. Mom said that if she got $20, they’d have steak on Monday and shredded wheat the rest of the week. Once she took them on a trip to Six Flags in Texas on less than $40. They ate a lot of Jack in the Box tacos, but they had a blast. I think grandma was so used to living in poverty that she literally couldn’t imagine a live where she was financially stable, no matter what she did, but she didn’t want her kids to grow up without ever getting to ride a roller coaster or having that adorable dress in the window. She never did for herself though. It was always for her kids, or even other people’s kids.
Yeah, I can understand that. I might have overdone it a bit on my kids for things like Christmas and clothes because when I grew up we were poor and didn’t have what the other kids had (I’m not complaining–we always had enough to eat and shelter,etc.), so I wanted my kids to have it better. But we really did not go overboard, and they didn’t grow up to be spoiled (they began working as soon as they could and are very industrious today). I think it’s natural for parents to want their kids to have it better than they did, as long as it’s not going overboard and substituting things for what really matters.
 
This may wind up being a very short topic, but I have noticed that many discussions about feminism, ABC, NFP, etc. involve some posters assuming the average “cafeteria” Catholic is a selfish materialist, who lives, or at least aspires to live, a “luxurious” lifestyle with yearly vacations, a McMansion, a car for everyone over the age of 16, a giant flat screen TV in every room, closets full of clothes and shoes, etc.
The average Catholic IS selfish because they make all of these lame excuses about not having families and like much of the rest of the American/Western/East Asian public whine and complain when their entitlements are in danger (Well, DUH!) or that it’s all too expensive. They do none of the things you list below.
And that either this lifestyle itself, or the sins committed to achieving this lifestyle (whether that be ABC, “NFP with a contraceptive mindset”, both parents working, etc.) that is somehow against Catholic teaching. (I also realize there is much debate as to whether these are sins in the first place).
Backup a second. I don’t know if all of these luxurious things are sinful, but they do have consequences. Having a crampy house in the burbs, a cabin at the lake and an iphone, laptop and college education (really to de-catechize your kids) for each child is absurd especially when people in general and not just Catholics say “but it’s too expensive”! :crying:

We now have people who write about making 500K+ a year who want pity that it’s too spendy for them to live in parts of NYC or Silicon Valley. They want to be seen as poor little old victims. One of these dear gems popped up on the vainglorious CA site Yahoo, Inc. where the family was pinning but was giving 18K a year to charity and 12 K a year for kids getting special lessons like it was some kind of enshrined right.

Naturally, no one bothers to ask why things are so expensive. Property tax hike for school so we can create a new GLBTQ club or a build a shiny new football stadium half-full on Friday nights? But, but we can’t say no to that, why because “the children!”

See, it’s now a vritue not only to market oneself as a sniveling victim but to not do any investigation whatsoever on cost increase. Because if we did that, no one would feel sad and sorry over hurt widdle feelings. :crying:

Those are the people who are being discussed, not you.
Many on CAF seem to long for the “good ol’ days” where the majority of Catholics had at least 7 children, lived in tiny houses and had all the boys bunk in one room and all the girls bunk in another, or perhaps lived in a one room cabin with no running water or electricity, sent all the kids to Catholic school, and in general were much holier and devout than is the case now.
Strawman. Besides, the people who are closest to arguing for those things are leftist liberals who will still keep their iphones and laptops but want everyone else to give up things.

No Catholic on here has said hey let’s go back to no electricity or running water.
I have a 36 inch flat screen TV, in the living room, I have an all inclusive cable TV/Net/Phone package that costs a little above $100, I also have 2 cell phones, one cost about $100/month, the other is a Tracfone that is my back up phone, I rarely use it, and I “top off” with $50 every 3 months, so $200 a year.
My furniture is very cheap, either IKEA or equivalent, plus some “vintage” goods I sourced from eBay, my own parents, and various garage sales. Oh, and HomeGoods as well.
I have owned the same car for the last 10 years.
I do not think I live in luxury, I have a lot of money saved and I do think that if I ever marry and have children I might cut back my work hours, as I fortunately work in a field where that is quite feasible. Maybe my only luxury is buying cosmetics at Sephora instead of a drugstore, though I also use eBay a lot to buy the same cosmetics at 50% off or more.
But perhaps I am a deluded modernist woman corrupted by feminism,
No pity parties.
who should just quit her job so a man can take it to support his family, and move back in with my parents until I am married? I do send them money every month and visit them about every other week. I do not think living with them is an option for me as my father used to be very verbally and emotionally abusive, though he has mellowed with the years.
What’s wrong with this?

If this is your idea of being corrupted by feminism…you’ve been living under a rock.
I personally doubt the “Christian patriarchy” model of women being “perpetual minors” who should NEVER be independent of a man, and should go directly from her father’s “mantle of protection” to a husbands, and rely on either an adult son or brother to support her in her old age if she is widowed, to be at all Catholic. But some Traditionalists seem to see such a model as ideal and God-ordained.
Basically, another strawman. And more whining about the patriarchy. :bighanky:

Traditionalists often argue more about the role of government in all of this as opposed to your own personal decisions which don’t seem to be bad at all.
 
Liberals liberals liberals :mad:
Brother, I have to ask: are you a Pepe the frog meme that has somehow gained sentience? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not politicize a post. It’s pretty impressive in a weird way.
 
Here is an oddity:

In modern America, it is regarded as more luxurious to pay for rides than to have a car and drive oneself.

(I’ve been thinking about this one because I am temporarily carless this week, and using the Uber app on my phone very heavily to take care of basic family errands and shuttling.)
 
Here is an oddity:

In modern America, it is regarded as more luxurious to pay for rides than to have a car and drive oneself.

(I’ve been thinking about this one because I am temporarily carless this week, and using the Uber app on my phone very heavily to take care of basic family errands and shuttling.)
You could pay for a car rental with just a couple Uber rides.
 
Yes. I live in luxury. I now have a car, which I did not have a while back when I had to shop for groceries and drag them home in a cart.

I have two wonderful dogs, which I could not have the years I lived in apartments. (No pets, and that included dogs, cats, hamsters, goldfish…)

I could never get that one about the goldfish and hamsters. They don’t make noise or anything.

I have my own washing machine and dryer! Living in apartments, I had to drag clothes to a laundromat in a cart. (I did have a cart! But the wheels squeaked.)

As I jokingly said to my daughter when I got my first mink, “I own my own Dion” which was the name of the store my mother bought it from. Then I gave it to my daughter for posterity.
 
Brother, I have to ask: are you a Pepe the frog meme that has somehow gained sentience? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not politicize a post. It’s pretty impressive in a weird way.
First of all, the post you are quoting isn’t even a real quote of mine. You made that up.

Secondly, I voted for Ted Cruz in the primary. Do the math.

Third, Don’t call someone brother and then follow it with an insult. FOORRRRRR
SHAMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Fourth, go to the Clubhouse.

Fifth, I don’t care what you think is impressive or weird.
 
You could pay for a car rental with just a couple Uber rides.
Depends on distances, frequency of usage, and parking costs.

I was checking on our local car rental rates, and it looks like the most basic option for one week is $225 (with tax included) and renting a minivan (Dodge Grand Caravan or similar) for a week is $400, $472 with tax. :eek: Plus fuel costs, of course…

I’m about three days into the experiment and I believe I’ve spent $70 (over 6-7 different orders depending on how you count) on Uber, with at least one round trip ahead of me. I may even finish up under $100 for the week. In fact, I suspect I will.

Obviously, I’d get more use and flexibility out of a car rental, and maybe I could get a better deal than the numbers I found (the prices I used were from the first company I saw), but it’s not clearly the case that a car rental would be the cheaper option. I would need to average $32 of Uber every day for a week to reach the break even point–which I’m not going to do.

So, again, why do we think of the Uber as being the luxury option while the car rental is the sensible, economy choice?
 
There’s an interesting phenomenon where feeling like we could have someone but we don’t makes us more frustrated than if it was simply never an option. We had a small example of this in graduate school. There was a snack machine in the hall that had a credit card reader on it, always broken. The fact that it was constantly broken was a source of endless frustration - far more than simply having a machine that didn’t even have that as an option.
 
Fifth, I don’t care what you think is impressive or weird.
Your lack of concern for my feelings is a microaggression. Kindly apologize sir/ma’am/whatever your preferred gendered honorific is.
 
Depends on distances, frequency of usage, and parking costs.

I was checking on our local car rental rates, and it looks like the most basic option for one week is $225 (with tax included) and renting a minivan (Dodge Grand Caravan or similar) for a week is $400, $472 with tax. :eek: Plus fuel costs, of course…

I’m about three days into the experiment and I believe I’ve spent $70 (over 6-7 different orders depending on how you count) on Uber, with at least one round trip ahead of me. I may even finish up under $100 for the week. In fact, I suspect I will.

Obviously, I’d get more use and flexibility out of a car rental, and maybe I could get a better deal than the numbers I found (the prices I used were from the first company I saw), but it’s not clearly the case that a car rental would be the cheaper option. I would need to average $32 of Uber every day for a week to reach the break even point–which I’m not going to do.

So, again, why do we think of the Uber as being the luxury option while the car rental is the sensible, economy choice?
Why do people think that Uber is a luxury? I had never heard they did. But the prices you quoted for the rental do not even come close to any I have ever seen. I know people that rent a car for the weekend to make a multistate trip and it’s never been more than $60. My husband had to rent a car for 3 weeks (21 days) and we only paid $150–$50 of that refunded as long as the car is returned undamaged with full tank of gas. So I’m not sure if that may play into why some people would think it was a luxury. Uber is not available here. Taxis either. We don’t have any public transportation at all. What we tend to do is ride with a friend or neighbor and normally it is free (or extremely cheap) if the need arises. Exceptions for crazy schedules (like my husband needing to be at work at 2:30 AM every day) or outrageous needs (multistate trips). So to me, the city bus is kind of a luxury I took for granted at previous locations. The closest any public transit is to me now is 3 towns over. Something else we don’t have is pizza delivery. Or any other food delivery for that matter.
 
Why do people think that Uber is a luxury? I had never heard they did. But the prices you quoted for the rental do not even come close to any I have ever seen. I know people that rent a car for the weekend to make a multistate trip and it’s never been more than $60. My husband had to rent a car for 3 weeks (21 days) and we only paid $150–$50 of that refunded as long as the car is returned undamaged with full tank of gas. So I’m not sure if that may play into why some people would think it was a luxury. Uber is not available here. Taxis either. We don’t have any public transportation at all. What we tend to do is ride with a friend or neighbor and normally it is free (or extremely cheap) if the need arises. Exceptions for crazy schedules (like my husband needing to be at work at 2:30 AM every day) or outrageous needs (multistate trips). So to me, the city bus is kind of a luxury I took for granted at previous locations. The closest any public transit is to me now is 3 towns over. Something else we don’t have is pizza delivery. Or any other food delivery for that matter.
$150 for a three week car rental is insanely cheap. :eek:
 
$150 for a three week car rental is insanely cheap. :eek:
Yes it is. I don’t think that most places have prices like that, but they usually have other options. We don’t. So the people renting cars have plenty of business and they make plenty of money. It’s one of the many things I’m going to miss when we move.
 
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