quote:
Originally posted by Silver Cheetah:
I'm not particularly materialistic either. No car, no cell phone, no TV, no stereo (I have an old ghetto blaster [img]smile.gif[/img] ) second hand computers (people seem to give them to me... great!) furniture all second hand, (you can still make things look great - no need to spend much money!) charity shop clothes, mainly.... What do I spend money on - well, organic food is expensive! I also do quite a lot of personal growth/development workshops, often dance based, and I love to travel, which also costs. I'd rather pay for real life experiences, than 'things'.
I think that people who spend loads on big name brands are mad! All the things are the same, just commodities produced in some third world factory for a dollar each production costs, just some have fancier packaging and are advertised cleverly and expensively, and thus end up costing twice, four times, even ten times as much as the non branded goods.
Trainer with a swoosh, or trainer without a swoosh? I'll go for the latter every time. Actually, I wouldn't wear branded clothes if you paid me. I've always thought that was weird - like you pay a fortune for something, just to advertise Tommy Hilfiger or Nike on your chest. Why? You're paying *them* to advertise *them*. Like I said, the whole thing is bonkers.
On the spiritual side - well. Anyone like to tell me their definition of spirituality? It's something that no-one seems to agree on.... And rightly so, in my opinion. Your connection with the divine (whatever you call it, god, the source, the universe, the all that is, the goddess etc etc) is uniquely personal to you, and everyone's perception and experience of it is different.
SC I agree to an extent with you [img]smile.gif[/img] but there are reasons to spend more for a "Name Brand" in some areas, there ARE quality issues. Personally I buy the best that I can afford, while researching the quality..say for example those "swoosh" brand running shoes. I could pay 1/4 as much for a generic nameless brand at Payless Shoes, but I would not get 1/4 the milage out of them...Id be lucky if they lasted a couple of weeks. Whereas when I pay for quality brand I know Ill have them a year or more...same goes for hiking equipment...would you trust your life to a second hand or the cheapest rope while rock climbing? On the other hand....if quality isn't an issue then sure by all means save the $$$ for those real life adventures [img]smile.gif[/img] Personally I don't give a hoot about the brand...as far as talking to others about how much I spent and stuff...but if someone asked what kind of gear they should get...then Id mention the brands...I think the spiritual vs material issue is being misstated here a bit..what I seem to see is a dislike for bragging about money and brand recognition vs not caring about brand. I just don't see Material and spiritual as being mutually exclusive concepts... But hey I only know what works for me...and we all know there are many different kinds of people.
Ohh and another personal quality issue for me..when I buy the non-brand Jeans at wal-mart they wear out after just a couple of trips on the trail, Ill have holes in the rump or knees, whereas if I buy Lee or Levi's they seem to last much much longer.
To me money is just a tool, I buy the best QUALITY I can afford, and then stretch the item untill it just can't be stretched any more...then I start the cycle over [img]smile.gif[/img] (I do have to say though my personal dating life seems to keep running me into women who are only interested in the size of the bank account and not the person...which really irks me)..of course am I any better??? I let a persons size and health/fitness affect my attractions...so isnt it all one sort of bigotry or another?)
Well that rambled on long enough...sorry for the length.