but they aren't the best, thats why it's weird.

> No mate, people value themselves and get the best thing they can have.

Not everyone is this embedded in consumerism. Most of us have our proclivities & things we are biased towards (clothing, cars, travel, house, hobbies), but most people don't splurge on everything.

>You don't cheap out on food either

Except many people do. Friend of mine is a chef and likes to quip that people will pour the most expensive oil into their car and the cheapest into their pan. The median American takes home like 35k a year, they're not saving anything for their tombstone, they're lucky if the house is paid off by that time. Yet you see a lot of people run around with the newest top line phone. That's just conspicuous consumption.

Almost nobody except for mobile gaming enthusiasts or VR users gets meaningful premium value out of a new phone at this point. People drop serious money on new hardware every two years that they use for Whatsapp and TikTok.

I think the wide variety of payment scheme is the main reason for buying luxury or premium items from lots of consumers. The monthly payment is so low they don't feel it unless they lose their jobs.

The house? 35k isn't enough to RENT a place of your own almost anywhere in the US, never mind a mortgage, and all the additional expenses that come with owning a home, like maintenance.

The are plenty of places in the US where people get by on $35k. But yeah if you're looking for a big city $35k probably won't cut it.

Even in the middle of nowhere, it's basically impossible to find a 1br for under $1000/month. That's $12k/yr.

At $35k/yr, you have $2500/month post tax, so at $1000 you're spending almost half your post-tax income on rent (and that's not including utilities, taxes, etc).

That math doesn't work, even in cheap places.

I'm not sure where you live, but in my area you can rent a well maintained 3 bedroom home with a yard for $850-950 per month. 1 bedroom homes rent for closer to $550.

I would love to know where you live. Those are like 10 year ago prices here, and I leave in a low COL smallish down in the South.

I'm in the south too actually, about 45 minutes outside Birmingham, AL

I've seen cheaper housing in Birmingham as well, but I don't know some of those areas nearly as well and couldn't vouch for how nice or safe they actually are outside of listing photos online

>people value themselves and get the best thing they can have.

The problem is that what someone considers "best" is highly influential by their social environment, of which status is a part of. If the majority of your friends use Apple, and there is the whole app interactivity that you get with things like iMessage over SMS, if you value the social experience you are going to think that Apple is best.

Cheaping out in food is not uncommon and honestly a great way to save a lot. It's also super easy to decide to do. My wife and I literally don't eat out anymore. Haven't been to sit down place in many months. The value of the experience has degraded so much and the price is so absurd, that every time we used to go out in the past 2 years we questioned why we even bother anymore. And the money we save is used for travelling or the things we choose not to cheap out on (our hobbies).

If the value has degraded so much then you're not giving up anything by sticking to groceries, right? That's a bit different from buying a lower quality phone.

For you, maybe a better analogy would be buying cheaper food at the grocery store.

(I see a lot of restaurants serving outstanding food so it does feel like a sacrifice when we don't eat there, plus we do shop carefully and buy in bulk. I also have an iPhone.)