It is a question that has plagued mankind since the very beginning. How can one own the very best things but not have to resort to nicking it?
Well, here I have a suggestion. Sorry to all you career criminals out there, this approach is not against the law.
These days I don’t really own very much, mostly due to the fact that following traveling for 6 months with nothing more than a 32 litre rucksack I have fully adopted the minimalist lifestlyle.
That being said, I do own very high quality stuff as my brand is very important to me.
Having the best of everything in life does not necessarily mean bucket loads of money, it can be achieved more cost effectively by following a few principles. I know this because I like to own good things but I am also an entrepreneur and so am used to living on a bums wages as my companies eat all my capital.
So without further ado, here are few things to keep in mind if you want to own the very best of everything and have yet to win the lottery.
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1. You don’t need 16 pairs of shoes
The biggest mistake people generally make is having too much stuff. The more stuff you have the more cost you have to shell out. Simple really.
When I overhauled my wardrobe I found that I had a lot of stuff, stupids amounts – 100 t-shirts, 20 pairs of trousers in various states of repair, lots of odd shoes and quite a few watches. All bought relatively cheaply no doubt but most of which I never wore.
Roughly calculating the cost I probably had a few thousand pounds worth of clothes I never wore. A massive waste of money by anyones standards.
I took the small amount of real high quality clothes and chucked the rest. My life is freer and I dress better.
Buying clothes is about value. Do you really need 8 pairs of trainer or would it make your life more enjoyable to invest in one really nice designer pair and one high quality set of runners? Same goes for jackets, shirts, tshirts, shorts and trousers.
You don’t need to be a slave to the ever changing seasonal looks. Find what clothes and colors work for you and invest in quality that will last. Be confident in your own style and feel good in the clothes you wear without having to change them ever month for the newest cut.
Invest in small amounts of high quality clothes for less than the price of large amounts of average quality ones. Look sharper and be richer.
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2. Investing in One Apple Mac is better than 3 PCs
The thing about price is that things are not expensive or cheap, they are of high value or low value. My Macbook pro isn’t expensive but my PC netbook was.
My Macbook has high value because it brings joy to my life every day, helps me work more efficiently and will last many years. My netbook is low value because I don’t really need it, it is a hassle to use, tends not to work and I am ashamed to pull it out in public.
My Macbook was £1400 well invested that will give me great returns over many years, my £300 netbook was money wasted that has brought nothing to my life and was ditched.
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3. A small piece of excellent chocolate is better than a bar of so-so.
It will always do your wallet, waistline and generally happiness a world of good to invest in small amounts of really good stuff.
Over the choice of a 30g bar of Galaxy chocolate or a 230g bar of supermarket own brand, choose the creamy Galaxy one. Buy a small amount of organic fruit and veg that you know you are going to eat and enjoy rather than a truck load of pesticide ones which mostly will be wasted. Take a three day holiday somewhere you want to be rather than a 2 week one because it is on offer.
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To Sum Up
To experience the best things in life is simply about being disciplined and the choices you make about where you channel your money.
Remember things are never expensive or cheap, they are simple good value or not good value. The value of the goods will completely depend on you, not the price tag.
Concentrate on making more conscious buying decisions so that you can reduce waste and increase life quality. This approach done effectively really does allow you to experience the very best things in life.
Help Me Out
I give all this advice out for free and so if you like what I write and it helped you, please help me out by letting others know. On this site, it has been scientifically proven that by doing so you will become instantly twice as attractive to the opposite sex. Can’t argue with science.
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Less stuff equals less stress. I need to purge.
Indeed it does Rob, Indeed it does.
Good post Jonny! I learned the lesson of owning too much stuff pretty early on…when I actually didn’t even have a lot of stuff at the time. Moving from apartment to apartment while in college has taught me how “stuff” can weight you down. Also, by owning a lot, you have to spend money to maintain them. I’ve been out of college for a few years now and now have a house, I still live by the same philosophy…buy quality, don’t buy “junk” that you don’t really need (even if it’s on sale), don’t buy more than what you can afford (i.e. house, etc), save your money so that when an opportunity comes up, you have the ability/resources to take it, and spend money on the experiences that you truly enjoy. For me, it’s travel.
I share your passion NP though I have issue. You have left many comments and I still don’t know your name, will it always be a secret?
Knowing my initials is not enough? LOL! You can check out my profile on FB.
Great post.
Thanks for some great reminders.
#1 and #2 are so important.
I went through this again with someone the other day.
They asked what type of laptop should I buy? A Dell, A Toshiba or an Acer
I said none of the above. The answer was , I could buy two dells for the price of the MacBook.
Sigh.
Hi Noah,
Everyone will have a different sense of value. A MAcbook is worth the money to me as I use it everyday and it saves me hours and hours every week. For someone who just uses a computer to surf the internet then it would no be as valuable.
Great post on the lizard brain btw.
Johnny, great advice. Since I’m getting ready for the move, I’m again realizing how much junk I own. A few things were even in their original packing.
Definitely something I will practice.
Hi Moon,
Moving house? If so there is possibly not better time than to radically streamline your life. Trust me, it will be one of the best decisions you make this year.
Quality should win over quantity every time, but it doesn’t. I think consumerism has really taken over and we all think that we NEED so much ‘stuff’ to be happy, or to be better than the next person. Why? It’s all so silly.
Reasonable advise, quality over quantity but come on! A mac a better investment as a pc? Got to be kidding me…I agree the brand is important but a pc is just as well a quality investment as long as you don’t go for the cheapest available.
(typing this from my trusty 8 year old HP laptop)
Lol hello Creesch,
Your comment made me laugh, I can see you are a PC guy and so I am not going to argue though I stick by my Mac.
Still comparing your laptop (macbook) to a netbook is not a fair comparison
True, very true.
The most important quality things you need in life are a good bed, good shoes, good chocolate and fine wine.
That definitely sounds like the ideal life to me, I just need to get myself some fine wine.