Interesting. We have a Vitamix, and I will defend its value, so I guess I'm a Bobo ;)
In all seriousness, I grapple with this myself often. I hang with a crowd that fancies themselves quite educated (well, they are) and liberal. They generally think they're good with money (car and school debt, but no credit card debt), but somehow blow almost all of it, managing to only save enough to save up for specific items (eg., vacations, $1,000+ playsets for the kids, etc). They fancy themselves environmentalists, but are all talking about upgrading to bigger houses, although we all already live in 3-4 bedroom houses with 1-2 kids each. They have pretty clutter-free homes with home-made crafty touches, cook meals at home (at least some), and shun overt consumerism, but still somehow spend all of their high dual incomes.
While I like to think I'm different, and often feel so different that I feel alone, clearly we have at least some things in common. Some differences include that we don't spend money eating and drinking out, we have lower income with a SAHP, but save/invest far more than they do, we don't have car or school loans, and we also are planning on downsizing our house instead of upsizing. But, I will spend money on what I consider to be one-time larger expenses, especially for the house. We may be downsizing, but there's a decent chance we'll redo the kitchen with some kind of stone counters and newer well-researched appliances, wood floors, built-in book shelves, fancy bathrooms, etc. None of this is really needed and possibly even not even better than cheaper alternatives, other than it's just aesthetically preferred.
Anyway, thanks. It's interesting for me to dig a little deeper regarding how much I really avoid being a consumerist sucka, vs just am a different kind that buys different crap (the kind who instead ponders expensive Montessori school for the kiddo and etsy hand-crafted vegan bags).
