How do we define absurd? As in a lot of people on the planet don't have it? That would be a lot of things. Absurd as in "out of the ordinary? Absurd relative to the people in the same socioeconomic group? I'm boring. Nothing.
I guess I'll try this: A decent job that is allowing me to have medical insurance and get paid enough that I can save money and hopefully have enough money to retire, or work a little maybe just for insurance in retirement.
I don't think I enjoy that fact because I'm always aware that it is a situation that a shitton of people will never reach, and that's what makes it feel like a luxury.
These things can be said for practically all Finnish apartments built this millenia. Buildings built before the 90's, on the other hand... Personal saunas were a bit rarer and apartment buildings would just have one large one you could reserve hours on. Sometimes free sometimes for a marginal fee.
But yeah. I think some might consider that a luxury, I guess.
I have a smartwatch, which I got for my birthday. I have no real need for such a thing, but I really do enjoy it. I spend most of my time at home, and it's nice to not have to do stuff like go find my phone and take it outside with me if I want to sit on the deck in case I get an important text or call or miss an alarm.
Also, because other people are mentioning audio and music- my dad was born in 1931 and died in 2016. He absolutely loved classical music and was a real expert on it, especially the Russian composers. He pointed out that in his lifetime, if he wanted to listen to recorded classical music, he had to go from multiple 78 records, about 3 minutes per side, which you had to just keep flipping over and switching to the next one if you wanted to listen to something long (this is where the word 'album' came from, it was originally a literal album full of 78s) to a smartphone or mp3 player that could hold virtually every CD in his massive collection.
That was definitely a luxury, but a luxury that gave him a whole lot of comfort in his old age.
Edit: I just hung up on a telemarketer from my wrist. God, that was satisfying.
About once every 3-4 months I take a 4hr hot bath with, phone in a waterproof sandwich-bag, bluetooth speakers, tunes, Epsom salts, and reading material.
It's excellent self-care. (No, the water doesn't go cold, I let out half the water and top it up with more hot, when needed).
Lawn. I have a lawn. Just grass. Takes water and space. Makes a little O2 and that's it.
FWIW, I'm trying to get rid of it. Plans to build a solar array in the back yard, cover the patio with a greenhouse that connects the house to the garage, side yard is going to be raised planters, and the front is going to be mostly wildflowers with some small pathways and nooks for reading and relaxing. I'd like to get it to the point where I can "mow" the whole property with just a string trimmer.
I live a comfortable decently comfortable life. I know a lot of people are struggling. We just got a house a year ago. And as a younger generation, that's hard to do these days. I would say simply having a house feels like a luxury.
I get to work from home every day, and so does my wife.
We each have our office space so we can work in peace but at any point in the day we can just have a chat, we can have lunch together, we can have our evening planned and be out of the door at 5pm
It's just all so much better than the old office-based life
I work 24 hour shifts but also get paid to sleep. This results in 6-7shifts a month to cover a full time job. It allows for a lot of free time and also easilly able to add extra shifts if needed during tough times
Fiber. In addition to my cheerios every morning, the kind that gets me reliable gigabit symmetric internet service with lag consistently only a couple ms. You could argue I overpay since I don’t use anywhere near that bandwidth, but it just works. Internet use is so much nicer than neighboring towns with shitty Comcast monopolies
My absurd luxury is probably my PC. I had a pretty decent one but saved for 1yr and built a $2,600 one. It was unnecessary in almost every sense of the word.
I sit in the back of my car in the parking ramp on my lunch break, throw my Nintendo Switch on a seatback headrest mount, and play Diablo II like I'm flying first class. First time I've ever had something with 4 doors and I'm using every damn door
I have a genetic predisposition to be a night owl. I proved it with a DNA test, comparing my results with actual scientific research on various genetic-related conditions. Plus, my mother's side of the family always stays up super late every night.
Unfortunately, I signed up for the US military when I was 17 and they require you to get an early start every day. So I spent 20 years going to bed when I'm not tired and getting up at godawful early hours of the morning. I would basically get a lack of sleep for a few days until I was so tired, I'd pass out early and get a solid night's sleep, then start the cycle over again. My days off were the only days I got to sleep in.
Now I'm fully retired and have nothing important going on each day, so I can finally let my body adjust to its preferred sleep schedule. I'm wide awake until 2-4 AM (sometimes later), then I sleep until 10 AM to 1 PM. It's so nice not having to set an alarm anymore and naturally wake each day. I've never felt so rested!
I live in a tropical humid place that regularly gets 40+Celsius temps even during "winter" (it is currently "winter")
But I can afford air conditioning. A lot of people in my country cannot, and have just an electric fan and a lot of water to get them through the days.
Which is more common in Asians, but I am European. This means my earwax is almost white and completely dry, which makes it just crumble/flake out. But more importantly, my sweat is almost odourless. I am a bigger dude and sweat a lot as it is. When I used to take a certain medication that made me sweat insane amounts I would literally be wet above the belt when I walked a minute. No stank. I check regularly and have my partner check my smell but I legit have to shower more often because my hair is greasy than because of body odour. When I had super short hair the thing that made me want to shower is when my skin gets oily, which happens after about five days. I still shower every other day because hygiene, but it's a really nice perk.
Don't be too jealous though, nature balanced that out with heaps of mental health issues.
Having my washing machine and dryer inside my home. After having lived in an appartment with a shared laundry room for 10 years, that chore isn't as tedious.
Work from home and live near a very nice park. When I am stressed or bored, I just put a fake meeting on my calendar or set my Teams status to busy and go for a walk to clear my head.
I have 2 lap cats who will fight each other over who gets to sit on my lap.
And I live in a house from which my lap cats and I can take a walk into the woods and onto a beautiful apple orchard on a private path without meeting anyone else. But it's also within 10 minutes bicycling distance to the center of a beautiful historic city, which is an international tourist attraction (Heidelberg).
I pay 500€ rent per month for the house, an acre of land, a 3-storey barn, a shed that fits 10 bicycles and my workshop, and a small log cabin.
Day AND night moisturizer for my face and eyes feels pretty absurd and with inflation over the last four years is entering what I consider to be luxury territory for my budget.
But, I love taking care of my skin and looking nice, and my face feels amazing after applying the moisturizer, so whatever.
When I was a kid, we had a single family home in a major city. Amazing being able to walk or take transit everywhere but also not share walls and to have a back yard. That crappy little house is totally unaffordable to me now.
Ridiculously expensive tea from artisanal tea gardens. Like four bucks and more per portion (which you can brew 6-12 times in that sitting, though). It's addictive and sets your standards so high, I can't drink cheap tea anymore
I live next to a large open field in the middle of my city. I'd guess its about 15 acres. It's beautifully undeveloped with a few paths through it. Lots of people use it to walk their dogs and stuff.
Why is it empty?
The land is contaminated. It used to be a rail yard about 50 years ago. A company in a major city hundreds of kilometers away owns it and as far as we know has no intention on scraping the top few feet off it so it can be rehabilitated.
Sucks to know that the land is poison but nobody's growing stuff there. Many people enjoy it, including me and my wife. The view off my back deck is about 750m of green right smack in the middle of the city. Love it.
Unfortunately I’m not young enough to pull this off anymore, but back in my early 20’s I would engage in some light identity theft for the purposes of free luxury golfing. I have two rich uncles who are both avid golfers and both members of a ridiculously expensive country club in the city where we live. They also both have sons, and the club benefits extend to all minor children. So, I’d pretend to be my 17yo cousin and with my other cousin (who was only lying about his age, not who he was), we’d regularly hit the links. For non-members, the typical price for a round of golf was like $200
I either buy a cafe con leche from a local place, or make moka (no idea why this autocorrected to mija, I am not boiling my daughter) pot coffee with freshly ground beans - not just any type, the same beans the cafe uses, from the local coffee roaster.
Also get gently woken up, no alarm, and have sex every morning.
My mornings are the most ridiculously indulgent time, every day.