Spinoff - what's your splurge?

[minkajane]

The un-frugal thread got me thinking. We all have those things we just refuse to be frugal about. Mine is books. If there's a book I want, I'm going to buy it. I get it used if it's going to save me money, but most of the time I can only find them used online and if you add in shipping, it's cheaper just to buy in new in person. Every time I go to Goodwill, I leave with at least five books. I have more than 200 books if you include me, DH, and DS. I have read most (not all) of them. If it's something I can get from the library, great, but if it's a midwifery book or a new Bertrice Small book, I'm buying it, period.

So, what do you splurge on and why?

[Herausgeber]

Travel. I'm fairly sure that most people here would faint if they saw what I spend on plane tickets and rental cars every year. Or each month. :

But my family doesn't live nearby, and it's very important that I see them often, especially since I have nephews and a niece now. They just grow so fast!

Um, and we just bought a sailboat. Used, of course, and paid for with cash. But if you look up "boat" in the dictionary, you'll see that it's a synonym for "hole in the water that you pour money into." Still, it makes DP a much happier man to be able to get out on the water when he needs to, and I'm all for that.

To make up for it, though, we have a modest house and older cars that we plan to drive until they're held together with chewing gum and rubber bands.

[member]

Coffee. I buy only organic, fair-trade, shade grown coffee. I finally found a decent deal online so it's now $6 lb (with shipping added in) instead of the $10-$11 we were paying.

Breakfast at the organic diner in town. DH and I do this almost weekly - we do split the entree (they're HUGE) and get coffee, so it's about $15 a week.

Travel. I am lucky enough to have friends all over the country and I love to visit them. I usually fly, but sometimes we drive or take the bus. Either way it's really a splurge, but one we plan for and enjoy immensely.

[PrettyBird]

We have high speed internet, cable, and a cell phone. I know these are all luxuries we don't need (except I think it is smart to have a cell phone in the car), but since we can pay all of our bills and still save $$ each month we keep them. It would be a huge pain to be in grad school (for my area at least) without high-speed internet.

[frog]

Sub-basic cable. It's $13/month and allows us to get local (i.e., Detroit, rather than Toledo) news, as well as a small selection of channels we enjoy (Animal Planet, TLC, ESPN, TVLand and Discovery Health are our faves).

[Alkenny]

High-speed internet
Books ONCE IN AWHILE...mostly recipe or health books, otherwise I utilize the library and what they don't have I inter-library loan (borrow) it.

[HydeParkB]

DSL and our second car.

We use the internet A LOT, so I think it's a wise area to splurge.

And the second car does make life a lot easier. But dang, it's a money-suck. We are still paying on it, and insurance is about $800/year per car. We put much of our tax rebate toward the loan, so now we're more than half way to having it paid off.

[p.s]

umm..alot

[swimswamswum]

travel- our families live 750 miles away so we visit them often. We also go on a lot of fun little trips for us (usually shoesting, but it still costs money).

DSL

food- I have a weakness for expensive goat and sheep cheese. We also eat out a couple of times a week. It is relaxing for us.

Entertainment- we really like to go to plays, movies and music events.

[Ruthiegirl]

DSL

Netflix

Piano lessons

[Ruthiegirl]

And if I really had money, I would splurge on more organic produce and a weekly massage. Ahhhh...the comforts of money.

[Shirelle]

DSL--I really don't know how we would do online classes without it.
and
Coffee! But I've really cut back. I love gourmet coffee! I won't drink coffee unless it's specific kind, I just don't like it.
and
Organic produce. I'm in a co-op, but it is still a little bit more expensive than buying the commercially grown stuff.

[Lazyhead]

Originally Posted by Shirelle

DSL--I really don't know how we would do online classes without it.
and
Coffee! But I've really cut back. I love gourmet coffee! I won't drink coffee unless it's specific kind, I just don't like it.
and
Organic produce. I'm in a co-op, but it is still a little bit more expensive than buying the commercially grown stuff.

Yes yes. Exactly. And music. I spend lots and lots of money on records and my imported English music magazines. But that's it I swear! :

[Sativarain1]

I have 2 magazine subscription that I get just for me
- Vegetarian Times
- Natural Health

It's nice to always look forward to them in the mail.

[wildmonkeys]

Travel. We do budget vacations and really internet shop for the lowest prices and go in slightly "off seasons" and eat in even on vacations, but we like to go to really decent places. DH & I are going to Paris in Oct. We have been to London, Madrid, Portugal, Peru, Mexico, California, Florida, NYC, etc. and spend a week with the kids at the beach each summer

We also have a membership to a fitness club that costs $100 per month - I do feel like we get our money back in the quality it contributes to our life... DH & I both use it several times a week (it includes great free yoga and pilates classes on top of the great cardio and weight equipment) and the kids enjoy the indoor/outdoor pool, indoor basketball courts, and ds1 has used the rock climbing wall. I wish I were comfortable leaving my 3 year old in the free child care as I would get even more use out of our membership - my very mainstream neighbor is in GREAT shape as she always uses her 2 free hours of childcare per day

Oh gosh, also wine. Not really expensive wine or anything, but we do like to open a bottle on the weekends after the kids are sleeping. I guess we have a bunch of splurges...

BJ
Barney & Ben

[Kleine Hexe]

wildmonkeys, our splurge is wine too. We love wine. Dh will drop $200 in a winery buying wine. Thank goodness we don't go to a winery often.

When we travel we're not very frugal. We used to travel a lot more but we've cut back as we're trying to pay off debt.

I bought organic cherries for $6.99 the other day. That was a splurge. We never buy stone fruit if it's not organic so I don't buy it often.

Also, shoes for my dc. I just find that a higher quality shoe holds up better and longer. My older ds has extremely hot and sweaty feet and the GEOX shoes work great for him. They are very expensive though. I do try to buy them on sale, but I don't buy used shoes. I'm weird about that. I won't spend more than $30 on a pair of shoes for myself but I'll pay double that for my dc's shoes.

[Amys1st]

I splurge/not think about cost/whatever you want to call it:

fair trade coffee. We roast it ourselves and drink it daily and 4 days a week twice a day. Our coffee/espresso machines are $$

Beer. Only import or local brewery. Its a few bucks more a six pack but then we just dont drink it as much.

organic milk. no exception.

as much as organic as possible

dd and the rest of us have way too many shoes. Someone mentioned on the unfrgual thread about kids have tons of shoes. She must have been to my house and saw my dd's shoe collecttion since mine is hidden in the closet.

we love to travel but we do it frugally. We have been to FL dozens of times (parents have place there) San Diego twice, San Fransico, Jersey shore, NYC, Cedar Point a few times, Jamacia, Paris twice-once on our honeymoon and then St Tropez, London, where else??

some "splurges" are not really that but frugal in disguise. I will spend more to get a better product if it means it lasts longer. I will normally use it to death and then get another one years later instead of getting a new one just because its this years model. Last year replaced my 12 yr old birks that I bought in college. I had tears in my eyes