Originally Posted by
free
The solution to wanting stuff you can't afford is to adjust your expectations in life such that you are happy with what you have and stop lusting for more and more stuff, in an endless quest that can never be satisfied.
My wife and I can afford to live "a lot better than we do." I live in a small, dumpy house that only cost less than 100% of our income at the time and is worth less than 100% or current annual income. I drive a 17 year old vehicle and ride a 15 year old scooter. I have no boats, quads, snowmachines, RVs, or other expensive rolling toys. I have no "recreational" properties. I have a few modest guns, nothing special. The last one was bought maybe 11 years ago. I wear basic clothes. I don't have much in the way of "fancy things", and I don't spend much time thinking about the shit I could buy and finding a place to store it. I neither want nor need more "stuff". Sure, I will splurge once in a while, but for the most part, I'm really not out there buying stuff...and it is satisfying.
A good guide as to determining what you should buy is estimating how often you will use it. I spent $1700 on a desktop computer recently. I use it every day, all day, M-F and sometimes on weekends. What about $1700 gun? How often would I have to use that to decide it's something I should buy? What's the threshold? Once a year? Once a month? Once a week? What's reasonable? The answer will vary, but there just is no way I could justify having that in my life, no matter how easily I could afford it. This approach is what keeps me from wanting and buying a bunch of stuff that I totally do not need and would likely rarely use, and certainly not missing owning.
Summary: people think they own stuff, when generally it ends up owning them.
As for your "raffle", yeah, that would be illegal for you.