<story><title>Why are things expensive?</title><url>https://www.why-expensive.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>somberi</author><text>Experiences are expensive. Things are cheap(er).&lt;p&gt;A medium-quality dinner for two in an expensive city costs 100$.  A beautiful kitchen knife costs about that much, but lasts 20 years.&lt;p&gt;A Broadway musical for a family of 4 costs about 800$.  A good mattress costs about that much, but lasts for 20 years.&lt;p&gt;The given wisdom seems to be that we should value experiences more than things.  Good things also cause small dose of repeated joyful experiences.&lt;p&gt;I am 50 years old, and live a reasonably opulent, upper-middle class, big city life.  I am guessing here -  all the items in my apartment put together, is probably worth 6 months of my work.  A bargain, compared to the joy they give me.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>strken</author><text>Taking a couple of tennis balls to the local park and throwing them with your kids costs about $5, depending on how many you lose. Going for a run along the beach costs a bus fare. You can camp on the weekend for an initial outlay of a few hundred dollars of secondhand gear plus perhaps $40 a trip. Having everyone bring a plate for a potluck dinner costs slightly more than you&amp;#x27;d normally spend for a meal.&lt;p&gt;I think experiences can be as cheap or as expensive as you like. Essentials are the crux of the article, and without essentials most experiences are harder.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why are things expensive?</title><url>https://www.why-expensive.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>somberi</author><text>Experiences are expensive. Things are cheap(er).&lt;p&gt;A medium-quality dinner for two in an expensive city costs 100$.  A beautiful kitchen knife costs about that much, but lasts 20 years.&lt;p&gt;A Broadway musical for a family of 4 costs about 800$.  A good mattress costs about that much, but lasts for 20 years.&lt;p&gt;The given wisdom seems to be that we should value experiences more than things.  Good things also cause small dose of repeated joyful experiences.&lt;p&gt;I am 50 years old, and live a reasonably opulent, upper-middle class, big city life.  I am guessing here -  all the items in my apartment put together, is probably worth 6 months of my work.  A bargain, compared to the joy they give me.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dangus</author><text>Respectfully, this doesn&amp;#x27;t have much relevance to the fact that basic necessities like rent and food are significantly more expensive than they were just two years ago.&lt;p&gt;Housing, transportation, and food account for over 60% of all spending.&lt;p&gt;Experienes and goods aren&amp;#x27;t my problem. My problem is that my dwelling costs $500 a month more than it did in 2021 and I live in the exact same place, and I haven&amp;#x27;t gotten a raise.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;news.release&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;cesan.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;news.release&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;cesan.pdf&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>