Both experiences and material gives me satisfaction. Material helps to give me enjoyment in my life around work and get more out of experiences. For example, a good camera gives you more memories from a trip. Looking back at old footage gives me a smile and a warm fuzzy feeling. A cellphone with GPS can be very helpful on the road and enjoyable in your average life.
A bigger tv could also give you (cinema like) experiences. But experiences like wandering in the streets of a ex east bloc city in the middle of the night with a drunken homeless guy feels very different.
There is a certain balance that i like when it comes to this question.
Im not happy with my current life at all. I have whatever crap i need, but now im fed up with my job (or maybe more with the job providing company itself), i don't have a girlfriend and my friends are separeting from me. I would really like to just travel around and live in hostels and meet new people at the moment.
Back in 2008 i thought i had it all figured out. I wanted to work 6-9 months a year and travel the rest. I was pretty low with the money when i came back home in spring 08 and was going to go somewhere again when the winter comes.
It was the year when recession came and i got scared that it would be hard to get a job again and also i wanted to fix other parts of my life, so i decided to work till next year or after that and collect some money along.
I ended up just spending money during that time. A better car. tv, bicycle and so on. Making it more enjoyable to stay at home.
It's only few more weeks before my summer holiday starts. Im counting on experiences like traveling around europe, bungee jumping and gliding to keep me going.