Of the people who have opinions on my spending habits, many would claim that I am a cheapskate. There is great irony here, because I actually quite enjoy spending money. I look for pristine opportunities to spend money. When I spend money well, I feel quite satisfied.
Now, the reason why this character misattribution exists is because I find it incredibly hard to find things that I am excited to spend money on. A while back, I bought a second-hand book at Strand—”Walden; or, Life in the Woods” by one Mr. Henry David Thoreau.
I bought it for seven dollars and change. I was excited to spend money on it. Unfortunately, as I write this essay, I can’t recall—or even find—the exact location of the book. What I can remember, however, is this line from the “Economy” section:
The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods
I was quite amused by this framing of how much something costs. There are many ways this can be interpreted, but I enjoy a more optimistic interpretation.
The reason people often mistake me for a cheapskate is that I am not a spendthrift. In my book, spendthrifts spend money on things that also take a lot of life away from them. In this modern world, it’s actually quite easy to be a spendthrift. While I can only speak for my generation, and people in the circles I am acquainted with, I notice that it is quite common that a lot of the daily trades and purchases that are hawked to me and my ilk are what I call chump trades.
Chump trades double-dip—you pay in the fiat currency of your choice upfront, and then you pay in “life” over time. I try my best to avoid chump trades. But because most trades presented to me are indeed chump trades, I come across as a cheapskate.
If you take a deep breath before a trade and ask yourself “Am I partaking in a chump trade?”, the right answer usually presents itself to you. Often, most people don’t do this. A chump trade is also not just about the actual goods that are to be traded; it is about the people making the trade. Why? Because one has to remember that the fiat currency in question only makes up part of the trade. The other (more important) part of the trade is the “life,” and everyone trades different “life,” which, unlike fiat currency, is not fungible. So that means what is a chump trade to one can be a great trade to another. For example, buying a trip to Tuscany could be a chump trade for some (under the influence of implicit societal pressures), and a beautiful trade for others.
There are some simple chump trade heuristics I use:
- Are you going to post about it on social media, or a public forum at some point? Or, alternatively, if no one ever knows I own/did this, do I still want it? Likely a chump trade.
- Does the trade give you the means to produce something? Likely not a chump trade.
- Did I want this before I saw someone I admire want/have it? If not, likely a chump trade.
- Will this trade result in some form of pathemata mathemata (“learning through suffering” or “things learned through experience”)? Definitely not a chump trade.
- Do I think I would want others also to own this? Likely not a chump trade.
- Will I spend dozens of hours on the history or technicality of what I bought on a weekend? If not, chump trade.
- Will this trade make my family happy? Likely not a chump trade.
Fortunately, I don’t have a recent memory of a chump trade I made. But as with most chump trades, the chump often is in denial or conveniently forgets it.
Things I truly enjoyed having money spent on.
Okay, since this is an essay on how I am actually not a cheapskate, I wanted to refocus on trades that gave me great joy. I loved spending money on them, and will spend on it again, very happily. For the purposes of this conversation, trades made by my wife will be accounted for under my trades. It’s our money.
- DDJ FLX4: This is my gateway into DJing, and is a creative outlet. I even bought an Apple Music subscription for its Rekordbox integration so I can discover and mix music more conveniently (before this, I didn’t really listen to music).
- Meta Ray-Bans: I love taking pictures with this. This is my daily driver for taking calls as well. And I have created some home movies with this too.
- My 8-inch aluminum fry pan: I bought this at a restaurant supply store in The Bowery, which was apparently part of “Operation Nexus.” I love the size and delight at every opportunity to use this. I just used this to make a wonderful tortilla chip salad.
- My ClassPass membership: While I am definitely embarrassed at how many credits have gone unused, I have now introduced my wife to deadlifting.
- Fresh vegetables and fruits: I will spend obscene amounts on vegetables and fruits (especially those I can spend some time cutting on my wooden chopping board).
- Knives: I bought my first Japanese knife about 5 years ago (which I still use, as recently as 45 minutes ago). Clearly, my friends noticed this. I have since been gifted many more Japanese knives.
- Nice pants: I bought nice pants that are somewhat loose and classy. I feel fancy in them.
- A nice white shirt with a rough texture: My wife says I wear this shirt too often, but I always get compliments on it and the texture feels sublime.
- Tea: A beautiful tea, brewed in an all-too-expensive Chinese teapot, is a great delight. (Thank you, Mark, for the teapot. I use it a lot.)
- Books: I have too many books. I am getting through a backlog.
- ChatGPT + Cursor + Windsurf: Probably one of the best trades of my life.
There are many more examples of enjoyable trades I have made, but I want to make more. I yearn to spend more money. I pine to spend more money. But I don’t want to spend it on chump trades.