TL;DR: I don't mean to be rude, but pretty much everything falls into assuming things that have nothing to do with the point I'm making. You can decide that you have more valuable things to do with your time without any of the other things associated with the poorly-sketched cartoon characters you seem to think people with disposable income are.

> There's a concept called the "hedonistic treadmill", where increasingly expensive and intense thrills are never enough for the people who can afford them. I would argue some people I know are stuck on that. If you can go to the beach you can't go to the nice northern beach, if you can do that you can't do Miami, Miami leads to Thailand, and so on.

You're mixing up two completely different concepts. I know people who are at full-speed on the hedonic treadmill who don't fit what I'm talking about, and plenty of people who fit what I am talking about who have nothing to do with the hedonic treadmill.

I probably fit the concept I'm describing more than anyone I know, and here are a list of some of the cheapest things taking up my time these days, along with the weekly cost:

1) playing and writing music - less than $2/wk[1] 2) learning another language - free 3) reading all kinds of reference/nonfiction/fiction books - free/extremely cheap (library + used books + exchanging with friends) 4) Playing sports, weightlifting, running in the park or along the water - free + $15/wk gym membership + free 5) Hiking - free if you have a car, or $70/hike

I don't intend this in an insulting way, but is it possible that you're falling prey to the typical-mind fallacy and assuming that things are universal when they're really just facets of your personality (and perhaps your circles)?

> It's weird to see so many super wealthy people dedicating so much time to super luxurious forms of meditation with gurus, wearing white spandex or whatever, when one can achieve a pretty solid trance-like state and think about their day while doing rote mechanical chores like cleaning and cooking.

Seriously, it sounds like you get your perception of people who pay for menial services from cartoons and Gawker blogs. I like cooking, but I don't find any other menial tasks to be enjoyable: I pay to have my laundry done and for my house to be cleaned, and Uber when I don't have time to take transit (even though I prefer the subway). I also have an 80% savings rate, most of my hobbies cost ~$0

[1] I have a $400 piano and a $300 guitar, both of which I've had for 7 years, so 700/(52*7.5)