How about mesh router? Sounds like creep.
How about Bata sandals as a pain relief? Depends on durability.
see also
“low-cost” is subjective (No debate please.) but Indisputable value-for-money.
- — half-ranked by impact and value of the pain-relief
- eg: dhost.. relieving those countless pains on the free wordpress.com site
- eg: small laptop with git-blogg .. without it I couldn’t work on my active ideas. A kind of pain.
- eg: 2-printer lifestyle, with plenty of paper + spare cartridge
- eg: standing desk .. often feels very comfortable. Therefore I call it a pain relief.
- eg: powerline networking .. relieving pain of wifi dead zone
- eg: $10 LED lamp .. relieving pain of power sockets + heat from a table lamp
Items below are medium-cost pain relieves.. not really belonging to this blogpost.
- eg: counselling on chen2mi2?
- ElderShield
The rest of this blogpost are extensions of the theme.
— Sophia Cui said cars are real pain relieves even in SG. I don’t understand it, but she has freedom to spend her own money. Not low-cost enough to be a lifestyle creep.
— I asked Umesh why his stay-home wife needs a maid, when his 67-year-old mom can help with childcare. I liked his detailed answers. I think old habits are the biggest obstacle, if someone in his shoes really wants change (i.e. remove helper). Many families similar to his could make do without maids.
One old habit is home-cooking-as-default. His mom is possibly rather old for a change in this habit, though some grandmas do change.
I guess the #1 decision maker is likely the wife (rather than husband or mother-in-law). Without the maid, the wife would take on most of the workload. Attitude and perception is possibly the key (difference from my wife). She actually worked for a while before having first baby, and after the baby girl grew bigger. She was possibly less used to stay-home-mom lifestyle than other Indian housewives.
— creep? Lifestyle_creep is a vague concept. This blogpost provides valuable clarification using sharp examples.
Jolt: dhost is a great example. I couldn’t afford it in my younger years.
Jolt: 2-printer does sound like unnecessary luxury, but so did powerline when first deployed
(jolt: two-car family sounds like creep, but so do my multiple laptops, but this jolt doesn’t belong to this blogpost.)
Q: What specific criteria disqualify dhost as lifestyle creep?
- criterion: total hours saved (less measurable than $cost)
- .. total annual cost is not really a criteria per se but a crucial factor
- criterion: In hindsight, do you see it as wasted spend or overpriced product?