如何才算将钱花在了刀刃上？

 　　5 Things We Should Spend More Money On, And 5 Things We Should Not

　　Imagine that you are sitting on the front porch of your house sipping¹ lemonade with your family on a warm summer’s night. You sit back and reminisce with them about how you… bought the newest HG TV?

　　Materialistic² gratification only lasts so long. It is said that our brains adapt to  happiness. With materialistic things buying our happiness, we are successful for a brief moment. New things will lose their shine and we will lose our interest.

　　Instead of spending your money on things that will eventually be obsolete³, try spending it on something that will make lasting⁴ memories. Memories become a part of our lives forever and help make us who we are. The good experiences will forever stay good in your mind forever and the bad ones turn into a funny anecdote⁵ in the future.

　　Below is a list of 5 things you should spend less money on and 5 things you should spend more money. Use these tips to save money so that you can spend it on experiences that will enrich the lives of you and those around you.

　　5 Things you shouldn’t spend too much money on:

　　1. Electronics

　　Electronics in this day and age are almost a necessity, but that doesn’t mean that you need to spend money to get the newest thing. The shiny new feeling of your devices are very short lived and it is almost guaranteed that there will be a newer and better model of the whatever device you own within the next year.

　　2. Home Decor Fads⁷

　　There will always be a new popular theme to decorate your home with. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to get the signature look you see in the magazine; there are always do it yourself ways to achieve the same look. You can make it an experience and a time to bond with friends and family.

　　3. Cars

　　Keeping up with the newest car models is not a smart lifestyle unless you can pay each of them off by the time the next model comes out. This is a way to get you into a never ending hole of debt. You will never have the title in your hands if you keep trading your car (half paid off) for this current year’s model (which probably cost more).

　　4. Newest Fashion

　　You don’t have to feel guilty about giving into buying new clothes, bags and shoes once in a while. But when it gets to the point where you are trying to get each new bag or pair of shoes for about $300 plus dollars, maybe you should skip out on one of these and save the money for something else. There is always going to be a new fad⁶ and there is no point on spending all your hard earned money and losing precious closet space on it.

　　5. Jewelry⁸

　　Fancy jewelry is nice to have for formal occasions, at the office and when dancing on your night out. If you can afford to buy a two thousand dollar watch, good job. For the rest of us, there is a fine line between accessorizing and going into debt for shiny things.

　　5 Things you should spend more money on:

　　1.Education

　　There isn’t another feeling in the world that can compare to the feeling of starting to understand another language without thinking about it. Though some language classes are very pricey, they are worth it. Taking classes on different cultures, religion and different professions will open your mind to a whole different world.

　　It does not mean you need to convert your religion or change your job. It will simply mean that you have walked into a classroom with an open mind and have added the things you have been taught to your vault⁹ of knowledge. You may never know when it can come in handy.

　　2.Traveling

　　Traveling can be pricey at times, but it creates memories that last a life time- even the bad experiences. Typically we all laugh about the bad experiences later on in life. One trip to Europe can cost someone the same as good laptop and the long trips can cost less than a car you don’t really need but want.

　　Trade all those materialistic things in for a night under the Northern Lights, a kiss on the Eiffel Tower, or a long journey backpacking through the Alps.

　　3.Music

　　Learning to play an instrument is a great start to a new tradition in your family. You can pass this down to your children and make new memories. That is, of course, after you have told them about the ones you have when you learned to play.

　　You can also venture out and spend about a dollar or two to take a chance on a new genre¹⁰. Who knows, you could end up with a couple (or a couple hundred) songs added to your music library.

　　4.Books

　　Book are always going to be something different with each reader that turns its’ pages. It is a completely different experience using your imagination to put the author’s words into images in your head. Books won’t ever require you to turn them on, charge them or restart them. They are things you can pass down from generation to generation.

　　It is a much different experience to sit somewhere, with a book in hand, with absolutely no distractions¹¹. Books are portals to explore completely different worlds with a turn of a page.

　　5.Food

　　Trying new food goes hand in hand with traveling the world. Instead of spending a few hundred on a bag, save it for some great food when out and about. Take some cooking classes on food from different cultures. In Italy, they offer cooking classes at a vineyard. You can learn from an Italian chef how to create a great meal. It is something you can take back home with you and teach friends and family.

　　There are several chocolatiers in Belgium that are worth spending the extra dime¹² to appreciate a perfectly¹³ crafted truffle.

　　Remember…put your money into things that will create memories over the instant materialistic things. You don’t have to spend all of it on creating memories but if you do, it won’t be something you regret.

1 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

2 materialistic   

a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的

参考例句：

• She made him both soft and materialistic. 她把他变成女性化而又实际化。
• Materialistic dialectics is an important part of constituting Marxism. 唯物辩证法是马克思主义的重要组成部分。

3 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

4 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

5 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

6 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

7 fads   

n.一时的流行，一时的风尚( fad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It was one of the many fads that sweep through mathematics regularly. 它是常见的贯穿在数学中的许多流行一时的风尚之一。 来自辞典例句
• Lady Busshe is nothing without her flights, fads, and fancies. 除浮躁、时髦和幻想外，巴歇夫人一无所有。 来自辞典例句

8 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

9 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

10 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

11 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

13 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。