<p>Video games/video game systems–I don’t play many games, but I’ve bought systems to finish a series I’ve liked (e.g., I bought a 3DS so that I could play Ace Attorney Dual Destinies and Kingdom Hearts 3D, and I bought a PSP so I could play Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep).
Traveling to see my family/friends (about a 90 minute drive)</p>
<p>I would have to say books (some people wonder why I can’t just borrow from the library. I want to take my time in reading them and don’t want to have to stress out about getting it done in time to return. And, maybe I will want to reread it some day.) I do re-sell the books I don’t want to keep, either at a local used book store or on half.com.</p>
<p>I don’t like it when people judge what other people appear to spend. We do not have a lot of money, my D qualifies for the PELL grant and other need based FA. Yet, she just took a week long trip to Honduras. She worked her butt off and paid for all of that herself. She maintains a 3.7+ GPA while working roughly 20 hours a week at a local pizzeria, where she gets wonderful tips. She pays for her own rent, her own groceries, her car gas, her books, all of her personal expenses except for her phone bill and car insurance. Yet people judge her dad and I on spending money that we don’t have on a trip for her, assuming that a kid wouldn’t be able (or want to) work hard in order to pay for it themselves. Not everything is as it appears from the outside.</p>
<p>Ok, sorry. I am off the soap box and done ranting now.</p>
<p>cars, watches, salavatore ferragamo shoes (work wonders on bad backs), golfing in Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines & Ballybunion</p>
<p>Smartphone service
Premium ice cream
Gasoline for my SUV</p>
<p>We also splurge on berries out of season.</p>
<p>Books. Books. Books.</p>
<p>Trying new food
Entering races</p>
<p>Theater tickets, French tea</p>
<p>Hair products and salon services
Organic milk
College tuition
Dental care products
Lawn and pool service
Wine
Amazon for books, new and used, although I use the library and their home delivery service, a lot!</p>
<p>syrstress, you own goats?</p>
<p>private HS & private college tuition
mechanics (don’t do any of our own car repairs or oil changes)
musical instruments for kids (lovely barely used trumpet and violin)
orthodontia for kids
lovely jewelry from H to me
vacations & travel–lots of trips from the time kids were 6 months old
quality food and clothing, even if the price isn’t the lowest (rarely using coupons)
quality service professionals whenever we need something done around our home (rather than lowest bid)
dining out when we feel like & not only for special occasions</p>
<p>Antique furniture. Wine. Whole Foods. Books. Full pay private school tuition.</p>
<p>But I could not care less about the car I drive, as long as it’s safe, or having brand name clothes. I have also cleaned my own house and mowed my own lawn for the past two years and found that I actually enjoy doing those things!</p>
<p>Just thinking, definitely our home. We live in a big expensive house. It’s a huge luxury and enormous expense. It also allows 3 generations of a large family to live together comfortably including the two elderly grandmothers to my children. Also great location. </p>
<p>Dental expenses for me are also a lot of money, and I go to a specialty dentist since I’m very bad about anyone working on my teeth. </p>
<p>Clothes, furniture, car, wine, organic foods, new things, vacations. Not where we spend our money.</p>
<p>I already posted this on the other thread, but I figured I would post it on the ‘official’ thread too.</p>
<p>My pets - food, medical care, their accomodations at home, housing if I need to go away - for all of that I do my research and try to find the very best available and what would make them healthiest and happiest (I don’t necessarily see it as a ‘splurge’ but a necessity).
Travel
Organic/high-quality food for me
Kindle books</p>
<p>I could cut back or downgrade in the following areas (but I just don’t want to).</p>
<p>Shoes - if you saw my poor misshapen feet you would know why.
Vacations - We rent on Martha’s Vineyard…enough said.
Food - I shop at Whole Foods.
Lawn and landscape service - It costs a fortune but I don’t view it as a luxury any longer. I am old.</p>
<p>Our ultimate indulgence was to buy a little apartment in NYC some years back. DH wants to retire there. Me, not at all. The man has worked eighty hours a week his entire adult life and having this place brings him such joy that as long as it doesn’t hurt us financially, he is entitled. Now that the real estate market has recovered I look at it as part of our savings. We will hash out the retirement thing in a few years. :o</p>
<p>VeryHappy - Yes, we own a herd of Boer (meat) goats for show and breeding. S1 and D manage and run the operation. It was very important to me that my kids know the value of hard work and livestock is a great way to do that.</p>
<p>I love reading about different posters’ areas and mindsets. A couple of weeks ago I kept seeing “services” in cc posts. Took me a while to figure out what it meant. A few people around here get their houses cleaned once a week; a few have the pest guy in if the lady bugs get really out of control. Other than that, life is pretty much a kind of a do-it-yourself venture.</p>
<p>I have one other thing that most of you probably wouldn’t pay for -embryo transfer for goats! Cows are usually artificially inseminated; goats are not. It’s a complex, multi-step process where live breeding is used and then the embryos are transferred to recipient does. Only a couple of vets in the country do it.</p>
<p>If you’d asked this five years ago, I would have said vacations - but now that I’m officially unemployed (I’ve been a student teacher now for six days!), this will have to go.</p>
<p>However, I still splurge (a little) on books - the old-fashioned kind with hard covers and paper pages. I’m a dinosaur.</p>
<p>Private school tuition - high school and college (full pay)
Beach house
House Cleaning (even though I’ve been stay-at-home mom for 23 years and am now “retired” cause kids are 23 and almost 20)
Lawn care
Home in very expensive area with a huge tax bill for those public school we don’t use (see above)
Restaurant meals
Brand new cars for both kids (mostly because I hate driving and wanted the kids surrounded by a new airbag system) </p>
<p>Truth is, I am actually very frugal - can’t bring myself to spend full price on clothing, purses, shoes or boxed cereal.</p>
<p>Wine/Bourbon/Brandy
Tea
Luxury yarns
Enough crafting supplies to last a lifetime
Travel
Entertainment</p>
<p>Building a new home and retiring at ages 55(DH) and 52 (me).</p>
<p>Movies… always go to matinees but not too unusual to go twice in a weekend.</p>
<p>Eating out…not expensive places (think Panera Bread) but usually end up eating out twice on weekends. </p>
<p>Pedicures (summer only)</p>