Basically, by intentionally depriving myself of something, it stops being "normal" and becomes a luxury. I was at my parents' house for Christmas in December, and felt like I was at a 5 star hotel.
I've done similar "hacks" to my diet. I did a month where I ate nothing but rice and beans (a very very healthy dish, actually). The first week or so when I was finished with the experiment, everything I ate tasted amazing.
The car that I drive is fairly beat up; I drove my sister's car to San Diego a few months ago, and I might as well have been driving a Bentley. A CD player? I can listen to whatever music I want!? It doesn't rattle when I go over 55?!? I can hold a conversation inside without having to yell?? etc. etc.
Silly, I know, but effective.
Absolutely not. You could try it the other way. Work harder to earn more money, to be able to buy better stuff to get the same fealing. ;)
I slept in a hammock for a while in a cramped basement apartment; it was one of those cheap nylon mesh ones, but really comfortable. Until the gentle rocking motion wore through several of the nylon cords and dumped me on the concrete floor one night. Worse, I knew from rock climbing that nylon rubbing on nylon wears ropes out really quickly, but it never occurred to me to apply that to the hammock until after.
I also use a small cylindrical neck pillow and a twin-size down comforter.
I've been using this setup since mid-April with great success.
(I've not met a hammock)
I think I'd say you know when it's set up properly when you feel almost weightless in that the hammock suspends your weight evenly. I wouldn't go by pictures of hammocks that have been set up as many are way more loose than I'd consider livable.
Hammocks are cold, that is the biggest problem. You also can't really just flop down on one and lounge out the same way that you can in a bed.
From a totally utilitarian standpoint of "place for sleeping", a hammock has some benefits. It's small, it's highly portable (mine fits in my backpack), and it is pretty comfortable.
In reality, though, most people use their beds for a lot more than sleeping. Reading in my hammock is pretty difficult, so is using my laptop if I want to type anything. You can't comfortably fit more than one person in one (unless you've got a garden hammock with spreader bars on it).