starting about 3 years ago we tried to institute a "spend money on experiences or assets philosophy". By assets meaning things that hold or go up in value over time. So for household items -- spend a little more on an antique or quality versions, rather than a consumable that will only last a few years and end up in a landfill -- and try to tend towards not spending much money at all on things that are inherently depreciating, making that as small a portion of our spending as possible.

The experiences part we've been successful with, the assets part not always so much.