Is Luxury Pretty Much Over for You, Too?

Hmm I wouldn't say I'm over luxury items because if I need to buy a purse or jewelry or something I will usually look to a luxury designer first. But I am kinda over luxury as a subject of consumption frenzy and entertainment. Social media has done its work on me over the last few years training me to shop for $5,000 handbags the same way I'd buy new cosmetics to try. That hype urgency and excitement is no longer there. Also, honestly, as my income grows the less I feel luxury has any meaning and so I often question whether the premier price point of a logo is worth it anymore (quality is a different matter though). The aspirational component is no longer there since they are so common now and really what type of aspiration is it to own a luxury item? Baristas these days carry Vuitton and millionaires carry Longchamp! Personal style and comfort is more important.
Great post, lalame! I'm in the New York Metro Area and sometimes carry Longchamp. Exactly who cares what bag you are carrying? More to the point, do you care about what they think? I wonder how many of us, formerly bitten by the luxury bug, still feel the need to acquire clearly recognizable luxury items. I agree with you about quality, and do pay attention to that when buying. A good example, though, of the Emperor Having No Clothes is Chanel's roughly $5,000 seasonal bags. These seasonal bags, the ones with cloth rather than leather lining, may be fun to have for a few years, but have abysmal resale value. Need I even mention how much Chanel's quality has slipped over the past 30 years?

I don't mind spending the "big bucks" for a bag when I know that the quality is there and it's one that works with both my personal style and my lifestyle. I've done a major curation of my bag collection over the past year, and probably will do another edit in the next twelve months. What's made the cut is an assortment of both "high" and low" that works for me.

MillStream
 
This is a fascinating thread. Really enjoying reading all the responses.

Mid covid 2 years ago I moved to middle Tennessee, literally bought a 47 acre farm. I spend most of my time working with my dogs (we compete in many performance sports), tending to the orchard (apples, peaches, cherries) or the large garden.
As such, I’ve stepped away from a lot of luxury items simply because the time I spend “out” somewhere to carry or wear such things is very small.
For me, I almost view the time in my life where I was buying a lot as simply another life chapter, we don’t spend our entire lives in one chapter, we pivot and move on.
 
Luxury is subjective so it’s always interesting to see others take.

Time is very much a luxury for me, so I will spend $$ for things that make my life more efficient on things I’m not necessarily passionate about. Eg there’s a reason I buy a $1000+ iPhone. I want the speed, space and most importantly the simplistic interface. I don’t care about customization. The latest and greatest in tech. I want an intuitive phone that just works. I know colleagues and I’ve done the same, move to just have a 5-10 minute commute to work.

Same with handbags, clothes, jewelry, etc. I don’t care about the label. I care about the construction, the material and the fit. Often they’re correlated. But there are some really great pieces that isn’t $$$$ and there are some expensive $$$$ that I wouldn’t wear even if they gave it to me for free or paid me to.

That said, I would never be over luxury because life is too short not to do what you want (within reason and of course no harm to others) and if I wanted to dress up to go out and run an errand because I feel like it. Like putting on a bright red lipstick or a nice pair of heels, I’ll do it.

At the end of the day if I’m not enjoying myself, and I’m letting people dictate what I do, I’m not living merely going through motions. And if that means I have to take extra precautions, I will. And of course practicality will come into play. I would never take items that can’t be easily cleaned or washed with me if I know it needs to be placed on a conveyer belt where no doubt a lot of germs and possible dirt/grime can transfer. I’ll probably stow it away in my suitcase and when I’m traveling overseas it’s always in groups of 2 or more, cross body for trips where I’ll walk, other bags ok if I’m always traveling place to place via car.
 
Great thread and thanks to OP who posted. I am in the boat of I’m pretty much over luxury. I think there are a number of contributing factors.

One is that I’ve seen pretty much everything out there and bought what I’ve wanted and there is little that wows me or that I really desire anymore. I’ve found having too many items clutters my life and if I buy anymore I can’t enjoy what I have.

Things like exotic bags or cars or high jewelry don’t interest me. They’re too far out of my range of affordability. And where would I even carry or drive or wear such things? I’m not a socialite and very much spend my days with close family and friends or my pets.

Social media has kind of deadened or lessened my desire to purchase a lot of things. I don’t know if it’s because I see too much of these things and then think they are uninteresting or boring. Maybe it’s the influencers who are constantly flexing and promoting that turns me off.

A lot of what I see released today feels so much like fast fashion. It’s too trendy for me and I know myself well enough that a trend is a waste of money for me. Typically it looks very tired after a couple of seasons and sometimes I’ve found the item is not well made.

I am a minimalist and don’t like to stand out and with crime sprees these days, I’d rather look like a very plain Jane and be left alone than get pistol whipped or shot.

I don’t find as much enjoyment with the things I have because I have to think about where I’m going with the item and while they’re insured you all know as much as I do how incredibly difficult some of these items are to acquire. Honestly, there have been a couple occasions where I’ve just wanted to sell it all because the stuff feels a bit burdensome. But then I immediately get this sense of no are you nuts? You’ll never be able to get some of these items again and just try to enjoy these things even if it’s mainly at home and short errands.

I’ve lost several very important people in my life these last few years and there was a time I thought hey life is short just enjoy it right? Buy what I want. But I’ve also discovered that this way of life is really not fulfilling. I would buy one thing and then find myself already looking for the next thing. Perhaps some of it is attributable to boredom. But I also saw that those people I lost took nothing with them. All of it went to someone else or was sold or donated.

When I go I don’t want to be remembered for the stuff I owned but want to be remembered for my legacy of things I did. What I did to give back to the community. So these are the reasons I’ve decided I’m pretty much over luxury. Are there a few kind of bigger ticket items I want to collect? Yes. But I can count them on one hand and I’m in no rush. I don’t think I’ll stop buying luxury but I certainly will be buying a lot less of it as i have these last couple years and I certainly won’t be wasting as much time watching luxury YouTube videos or going on social media to see the latest and greatest posted by influencers.
 
@Irishgal this pretty much what I want to do. I have some land near a body of water that is out in the country and I want to build a house out there. I have a house now but I am tired of dealing with the HOA. I want to live life out in the country. Where people do not care what your carrying of wearing so much.
Me too. I'm inheriting some old farm land in Texas that was passed down from my great grandfather. I think about building my dream home on that land all the time.

I have also been looking at new homes in Phoenix (where I normally live), and get frustrated with how little money can buy compared to a few years ago. Every new build is an HOA too. The same modest floor plan from the same builder in an adjacent neighborhood has more than doubled in starting price since 2018. Ugh!

So, I can't help but wonder if my money will go further in a rural area. Even if I do not build a larger home, I do think I could build a better quality home for the money. And dare I say - MORE LUXURIOUS! :graucho:
 
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@Irishgal this pretty much what I want to do. I have some land near a body of water that is out in the country and I want to build a house out there. I have a house now but I am tired of dealing with the HOA. I want to live life out in the country. Where people do not care what your carrying of wearing so much.

I wanted a house without an HOA and I managed to find one in my city, but it turns out I have covenants that are just as restrictive and much harder to change. Also, I couldn't find a home where I get to own the mining rights, which doesn't sound like it matters much but maybe it will some day? Some family out in west Texas has land that has run with the family for generations and they don't even live on it anymore, it just has some old houses and oil pumps. Luckily they never parted the land from the oil and mining rights, so at least the land makes them money. A lot of people sell their mining rights and then end up with an oil pump somewhere on their property, which looks horrid. I guess what I'm trying to say is be careful buying large tracts of land because sometimes you don't get to completely own your own land.
 
@Evergreen602 it is a nightmare having an HOA. Plus being connected to neighbors and trying to decide whose responsible for which side of the fence. I am so over it...lol @purly I own several pieces of land across different states North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Texas. I own the land and the mineral rights. On one piece of land I have it does have oil and we do get compensated for that. The rest we rent out to ranchers and farmers. My land is tribal land.
 
I wanted a house without an HOA and I managed to find one in my city, but it turns out I have covenants that are just as restrictive and much harder to change. Also, I couldn't find a home where I get to own the mining rights, which doesn't sound like it matters much but maybe it will some day? Some family out in west Texas has land that has run with the family for generations and they don't even live on it anymore, it just has some old houses and oil pumps. Luckily they never parted the land from the oil and mining rights, so at least the land makes them money. A lot of people sell their mining rights and then end up with an oil pump somewhere on their property, which looks horrid. I guess what I'm trying to say is be careful buying large tracts of land because sometimes you don't get to completely own your own land.
I can't agree more with your post. My mother always told me to never sell any of our mineral rights. Some family sold the mineral rights to another ancestor's property. All that's left is a nasty dug up mess on what used to be beautiful old farm.
 
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I still admire it for my well heeled friends (who live at other parts of the world) but for myself it just doesnt make sense, especially with crime being what it is. And to be frank I dont see that dissipating anytime soon. If you wear a nice watch, you'll get mugged. If you even hint money, they will follow you home from the mall or the restaurant. If they think you have anything of value at home, they will break in - regardless whether or not you're home.
 
I wanted a house without an HOA and I managed to find one in my city, but it turns out I have covenants that are just as restrictive and much harder to change.
It’s kind of crazy but there are associations here where it’s restrictive kind of like an HOA. I made sure to read mine inside/out given some of the stories my colleagues would tell me (family/friends buy houses).

They have one kind of weird rule (re:holiday lights) but otherwise I’m fine with it.

The part I like about hoa or being in a condo is the insurance for the building, the water/trash and most importantly the 24/7 security and front desk (two separate teams) are included.

That and amenities standard eg rooftop, spa, gym, etc.

If I ever do a tiny house, I will definitely go big on security and upgrades.
 
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This is an interesting discussion. I think the pandemic, inflation/unemployment, and general inequalities have made conspicuous consumption kind of tone-deaf in a lot of settings. I own around a dozen designer bags and find myself wearing my two Givenchy Pandoras (which fly under the radar, especially since they're no longer very popular) and Madewell tote the most. I adore my Goyard Artois but even feel self-conscious wearing that now. I also noticed that among younger folks, items from older designer houses are less desirable than travels, concerts, and new inclusive brands like Telfar and Off-White.
 
Just wanted to state there are still his people in the world. I live in urban downtown area. Not New York. I have had two episodes where I literally pass out and lose consciousness. The second time I was walking downtown and had just my LV wallet with me. I passed out and woke up to a homeless man helping me. He was so nice. Everyone asks if I called 911. No I just went home. . Turns out I have lost so much weight I no longer needed the blood pressure medicine I was on. So all around good news.
 
This is an interesting discussion. I think the pandemic, inflation/unemployment, and general inequalities have made conspicuous consumption kind of tone-deaf in a lot of settings. I own around a dozen designer bags and find myself wearing my two Givenchy Pandoras (which fly under the radar, especially since they're no longer very popular) and Madewell tote the most. I adore my Goyard Artois but even feel self-conscious wearing that now. I also noticed that among younger folks, items from older designer houses are less desirable than travels, concerts, and new inclusive brands like Telfar and Off-White.
Here just before the pandemic and when I was in classes (college) students were wearing goyard totes and common project shoes along with yeezys… and I’ve seen middle school age wear moncler… and 22 year olds wear prada nylon bags with range rovers…
 
'Social media has kind of deadened or lessened my desire to purchase a lot of things. I don’t know if it’s because I see too much of these things and then think they are uninteresting or boring. Maybe it’s the influencers who are constantly flexing and promoting that turns me off.' - Sadly I couldn't agree more the so called 'influencer' fad has just about killed it for me, it's too ubiquitous now.