Over the weekend, we spent some time viewing new apartment buildings across Manhattan. And honestly, I felt a little overwhelmed seeing them. A lot of interesting and eclectic buildings have been built in New York in the last five to ten years, and the newer they are, the more insane they become when it comes to amenities and hotel-like finishes. Bowling alleys? Golf simulators? “Room service” “catered” by local restaurants? Laundry and housekeeping services on demand? I cannot believe how extensive some of these amenities can get depending on the building. In addition, some of the views at these buildings seem too expensive to be places I’d actually live: one of the buildings we viewed on the east side in the 30s had full, sweeping views not only of downtown Manhattan, but also water views of the East River and Long Island City.

My expectations for apartment buildings has definitely increased since moving into our current building, where we’ve lived for nearly four years now. But at the end of the day, amenities like spas and saunas and bowling alleys are just far too excessive for me. How often would I realistically use them? Chris uses our pool every weekday, and I use our gym every weekday. We love having a package room where our packages are guaranteed to arrive safely. Outside of that, these other things just seem too frou-frou for me to get excited about or be tempted by.