8 'Normal' Purchases Middle-Class People Justify — Even When They’re Wasting Money
Yankrukov | Pexels Growing up, I’ve seen people around me obsessed with things that made no sense to me. Like cricket tickets, for example. It’s a guy hitting a ball with a stick and a bunch of grown men running around chasing it. Plus, you can barely see the action taking place if you’re not in the first few rows of the stadium.
You’d have a 10x better view of everything that’s going on watching it at home, on your TV set. Not to mention the privacy of your home, comfort of your couch, and reasonably priced concessions of your choice. A lot of the purchases I’ve seen people make, especially people my age, just feel like I’m watching them throw money away.
Anyway, this list isn’t going to be about sports cars and luxury items; that would be too obvious. Most of us can already agree that they are a complete waste of money. Instead, I’m going to go through the 'normal' purchases middle-class people justify, even when they're wasting money.
Here are the 8 'normal' purchases middle-class people justify — even when they’re wasting money:
1. Cars
I’m not just talking about BMWs and Jaguars. All cars are a waste of money if you live in a metro city with decent public transport, cabs, and buses.
The cost of buying them, the cost of maintenance and repairs, washing them, paying for parking wherever you go, fuel, and road taxes. Even with all the upkeep and money you spend on it, it’s a depreciating asset.
In 2010, my parents spent 6L on a car and had to pay 5L on top of that just for a parking spot in our building (apparently that didn’t come with the deed for the apartment, just Mumbai things).
I did the math, and when I counted how much we spent in total, including recurring costs like fuel, maintenance, repairs, polishing the exterior, and daily car washes because pigeons would crap all over it, it would’ve been cheaper for us to book an Uber every time we actually need to go somewhere by car. We would’ve spent less money and been more comfortable.
The only time it makes sense to own a car is if you’re famous or a target and you need it for the privacy and security it offers. Or if you live in a remote location that’s only accessible by car. But otherwise, it’s completely useless. Waste of money.
I live in Mumbai, where congestion and lack of space are huge problems. One of my main reasons for not wanting to buy a car is the lack of parking. You literally can’t park anywhere here. There’s just no room. Owning a car would be pointless, seeing as I wouldn’t be able to take it to 90% of the places I need to go.
2. Watches
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All watches are useless in this day and age. Not just Rolexes and Audemars. We’re already glued to our phone and it gives us the correct time. Even changes the time automatically when you enter a different time zone.
You don’t really need a watch to check the time anymore. It’s just a fashion accessory at this point, and one frankly nobody cares about as much as you think. So why do people still buy them?
Simple, they crave adulation. Wearing a watch makes you seem more professional, more successful, but only to people who believe image = substance.
3. A home
Houses are up for debate. But I think in many cases it’s actually more financially responsible to rent than it is to buy.
A lot of people will argue that while buying a home comes with a lot of upfront costs, taxes, and debt, it helps you build equity over time. The cost of housing keeps rising, so it’s an appreciating asset. But in my opinion, this line of thinking does not make sense for most locations.
To me, it only makes sense to buy a home if you’re living in a location that meets all the following criteria:
- You’re in an economically and politically stable region (which is getting rarer these days).
- You’re in a location that isn’t prone to natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc.
- High safety index, low crime rate.
- Low mortgage rates.
- You have a job or a business that will remain tied to the same location for at least 7+ years.
- Stable housing market growth rate (3% each year)
- Little to no factories nearby (Meta and X’s data centres have been lowering the property value of nearby residents by polluting their air and water supply.)
- You’re a multi-millionaire, and you can cover your losses.
When you rent, you have the freedom of mobility. If one location suddenly gets too expensive, or let’s say other problems arise, like environmental problems, political problems, etc. You can move after giving your landlord one month’s notice. But if you own the place, it’ll be 100x harder to relocate, and if the economy’s not doing well, it doesn’t matter how much your house is worth on paper; you might end up having to sell it for a lot lower than that.
4. Coffee Shops
I’ve seen people spend ridiculous sums on coffee. By ridiculous, I mean spending half their salary just on coffee alone. I’ve tried coffee at Starbucks and other expensive baristas, and I’m not saying the coffee was bad. It’s just not worth what I paid for it.
I can make 10 coffees at home for the price I paid just for 1, and I’m not talking about Nescafé or other instant coffees. The good kind — Lavazza’s one example.
The only reason I can see people choosing to go to expensive coffee shops over learning how to make a decent joe at home is to fit in with a certain crowd. The trust fund crowd. The BMW and Mercedes crowd. My dad-owns-a-villa-in Europe crowd. If you’re one of these people, just know this: until you reach their level of wealth, they’ll always see you as a peasant.
I have nothing against coffee; I enjoy it myself from time to time. But of all the things in life you need money for, coffee should be at the bottom of the priority list. If coffee is a beverage you rely on every single day and you’re not a millionaire, it makes more sense to make it at home.
5. iPhone
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I consider the iPhone to be a luxury item, and it’s the only one I’ll put on this list. The reason why it’s the only luxury item I’m adding to this list is that it’s one of those few luxury items that have been marketed so well that even people who can’t afford them go into debt to own them. It’s become something of a status symbol.
This is just my personal opinion, but iPhones stopped being special in 2012, like most Apple products. The demise of the iPhone started with Siri. I was great for YouTube content, but it stinks as a personal assistant.
Almost every feature they’ve come out with since then is meh. They seem fun to play around with for a while, but they’re not worth the extra grand. You won’t be using them often.
Truth is, you can get a high-performance phone that does most, if not all, the things you can with an iPhone at less than half the price. The way I see it is, iPhones are built for two kinds of people.
- Savants who actually plan to use every single feature to the fullest.
- Insecure teenagers who want to impress their friends (who also have iPhones, which makes it not so special to own anymore).
But for the everyday person, it’s just not worth the money.
6. Paid online courses
If you’ve paid for an online course and it really helped you — great! I’m glad you got your money’s worth out of it. But I really believe paid online courses are a waste of money and, in some cases, outright scams.
The internet is overflowing with free information from a variety of different sources. You can pretty much find the answer to every question online, and you’re more likely to find truthful information on platforms that don’t pay their users, like Reddit. When there’s no financial incentive, there’s often no reason to lie either. The truth will never be profitable because it’s often ugly or just plain boring. It doesn’t capture and retain the kind of attention selling hopes and dreams does.
There are thousands of incredible and free online courses on platforms like Udemy and edX, as well as forums where you can go and discuss your ideas and experience with people of all levels of experience in your industry. You’ll learn 100x more by putting yourself out there and trial and error than you would from a course.
Another important thing to remember is that most online gurus and experts trying to sell you their courses don’t actually want you to succeed. The course is often a way of covertly developing a parasocial relationship with their customers, to keep them on the hamster wheel. There’ll be a new course to buy every month because of how fast the world is changing, and professions are being displaced by AI. And it doesn’t matter how many courses you’ve already taken; if you don’t take this latest one, you’re going to get left behind.
If you’re prepared to shell out a large sum for your education or upskilling, I would recommend paying for a 1-on-1 consultation or mentor instead. Someone who makes the bulk of their income doing what you’re doing right now, better than you. Not someone who makes the majority of their income selling courses and info products.
And lastly, credentials will always take precedence over certifications. 10 certifications in Python or Excel have nothing on experience and a portfolio of successful projects.
7. Anti-aging products and cosmetic treatments
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Let me start by saying what this does not include. This does not include skin creams designed simply to retain moisture or heal ailments. It does not include shampoos or conditioners designed to make hair stronger, smoother, or prevent breakage. It does not include face washes and cleansing lotions designed to help you maintain clear skin.
Put simply, this includes any supplement, product, or cosmetic treatment that’s promised to make you look younger than you really are. I’ll never understand this obsession people have with wanting to seem younger than they really are. We all get old, it’s natural.
I think it’s more important to focus on your physical health and simply looking good for your age because here’s the ugly truth: We're all going to get old and gross eventually, even if you’ve won the genetic lottery, which most of you haven’t. Your genes laugh every time you try to reclaim forever lost glories instead of seeking new, more age-appropriate ones.
India’s anti-aging market is growing rapidly, even though none of the products and supplements actually work as promised. The celebrities that swear by them really use steroids, Ozempic, botox and plastic surgery.
And even though all of this is well known, indian consumers keep taking the bait. They keep believing a certain supplement will take 10 years off their appearance. And their friends and family will always tell them what they want to hear, out of sensitivity, of course, because the people who go for these products are often sensitive, no surprise there.
8. Vacations to expensive countries
To me, there are a total of 3 legitimate reasons to travel:
- You want to experience a different culture.
- You want to experience a change of scenery.
- You want to unwind and engage in leisurely activities.
Most people say they travel for these reasons. So why have I put travel on this list? It’s because they don’t. I’ll explain with a short story.
Flashback to 2014, my family insisted on Hong Kong for a vacation for the same reasons: different culture, different scenery, leisurely activities, etc. But when we actually stayed in Hong Kong, we experienced neither. Hong Kong is an incredibly expensive city, far more than Mumbai, so if we just wanted leisure, a resort somewhere in India would’ve been a lot cheaper.
We ended up staying in an overpriced but tiny hotel suite, the 4 of us crammed into a single room. Most of the food was expensive and non-vegetarian, so like typical Indians, my mom packed lunch and dinner for the first 3 days we were there. We didn’t speak Cantonese, so we didn’t really interact with any of the locals. The places we went to were the malls, Disneyland, and a few local restaurants that weren’t even Chinese.
Put simply, we didn’t experience the culture because we didn’t eat their food or talk to anybody. We weren’t exactly comfortable the entire time, so no leisure either, and no change of scenery because Mumbai also has malls, tall buildings, and overcrowded plazas. And you can find plenty of amusement parks here, too. Who cares if it isn’t Disney-themed? A roller coaster is a roller coaster.
There was nothing we experienced in Hong Kong that we couldn’t experience for one-third of the price right here in India. We would’ve been more comfortable; we would’ve been able to actually interact with people and enjoy the local food had we just picked a different part of India.
It seems like we took this vacation just to be able to tell people that we took this vacation and have a few pictures to show for it. Watching my parents make decisions like teenagers was frankly embarrassing for me.
What a total waste of money. This is what happens when you travel without a clear purpose and without proper research. Traveling just for the sake of traveling is a waste of money. If you’re going to travel to a country more expensive than yours, forget about leisure. Travel for a change of scenery and culture.
If you’re traveling to a country with lower prices than your own, you don’t have to participate in culture or explore all the sights to have a good time. You can enjoy living like a king or a queen for a week, and it’ll still be worth the money. That said, make sure it’s a safe country.
It makes no sense to travel to a place that’s more or less the same as where you come from. Hong Kong and Mumbai are cut from the same cloth. Tall buildings, congested streets, rows of malls and commercial estates, and lots of traffic. That’s what made it a waste of money for me.
If you’re from a village or just live in a really remote small town, you might find Hong Kong fascinating and worth the money. I won’t be going back to Hong Kong for the same reason I’ll never visit New York. It’s just more of the same in a different language.
And also, don’t waste money on dumb stuff. Ask most people how they built their wealth, and they’ll tell you they did it by saving every penny they could whenever they could.
Arpit Mehta is a freelance writer and SEO specialist. His work appears on Medium and select online publications, where he reflects on AI, modern work culture, and writing as a profession.
