<p>I try to splurge on everything at this point in my life! !!</p>
<p>That does not mean I buy the most expensive, even if I could. But it is still a splurge. For instance, I may not buy a top luxury car but will buy the top of the lower strata. As an example, not buy a Lexus but buy a top of the line Avalon or Camary. I could buy the Lexus. This is an example. I do not own a recent model Toyota, just an older one for D2.</p>
<p>I have someone clean my house every two weeks. ( I guess this would be the splurge others would have a problem with.) A splurge to some of you, to others a shock to wait every two weeks and to others to have someone come in and clean at all.</p>
<p>Have my hair dyed and cut every 5 weeks at a salon. Your responses about this on this thread is noted.</p>
<p>I will only stay in 4 or 5 ( if I want to pay for the 5 ) star hotels at this point in my life. Did the cheap places and hostels back when I was younger.</p>
<p>I figure that with age goes wisdom and the right to indulge yourself as much as you are able!!! :)</p>
<p>Nrdsb4, it’s funny how our H’s are so similar, yet so different. I could come home with a new haircut, facial, new clothes (not that I ever buy them), anything, and he probably wouldn’t notice it. But if it’s on the credit card bill, oh yeah, he notices! It seems to be regardless of how much money we earn, as we’re doing better than we ever have, but how much we spend on a daily basis, compared to past years. It’s a tracking of the numbers thing, to see how we can improve.</p>
<p>Not that I mind, as if I look particularly bad he probably wouldn’t notice either, so that’s good. We’re trying to save money lately for a really big splurge, so I’m into the cutting back too. It’s actually kind of fun to see how little money you can spend, when there’s a goal.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, is it really a splurge? I mean, my retirement is fully-funded, we have no debt but the mortgage, etc. Maybe it’s more what do I think about before I spend the money or what I might buy when money falls into my lap?</p>
<p>My H has never understood my private splurge(paint and brushes) In fact we started cutting back on expenses a year ago to help pay for a home remodel. When he went to buy me some supplies for my birthday(he copied down the names on some old labels) he positively FREAKED when he found out how much a small tube of Sennelier Cerulean blue costs>(around $30) and my paintbrushes (around $75). My response was a cold icy gaze which he knows too well. We now have a don’t ask don’t tell policy when it comes to that sort of thing. I sell enough paintings to pay for it. (well barely enough )</p>
<p>I can’t see a lawn guy or a housekeeper as something someone would have a problem with (morally?-is that the idea). You are spreading the wealth, giving someone a job.</p>
<p>A 100-pound dog. He eats so much! I justify it by telling everyone in sight he’s a rescue dog, which is redundant given his mutt (good) looks. He eats so much! I do save on security equipment for our home. He eats so much!</p>
<p>Oh yea… good fit college. DS is on a half tuition scholarship. but long story short… we could have saved a lot of money with his full tuition scholarship opportunity.</p>
<p>Can’t take the middle class values out of us and H tends to be frugal. However-</p>
<p>Pool and lawn care here- it’s too hot summers and figuring out the chemicals (change every month or season, not a constant once initially figured out) despite our science backgrounds would not be fun. Also- sharing the wealth, giving jobs to locals.</p>
<p>Cars- I like Lexus, but not the top of the line. Mine uses regular gas. I wish H would get rid of his aging one and splurge on a Prius. We are retired but have enough money that we won’t spend it all (at least not with our spending habits). Lexus ES 350 instead of Camry- worth it to me since we have the funds. Could splurge and replace it in only 8 or so years…</p>
<p>We did not really splurge on house renovations but kept in scale with the upper? middle class neighborhood. Some suffered from the recent downturn and postponed renovations. H surprised me with some changes we made that we could have lived with- inside doors, impact/energy efficient windows. Changing window shades/blinds that still worked. Doorknobs (it adds up when you buy close to 20).</p>
<p>Gardening. Now that the inside is renewed I’m going to buy flowering shrubs and perennials and I’m not going to get the cheapest, either. </p>
<p>I can’t help clipping coupons. A small splurge is just buying something instead of waiting for sales or until I get to the store with the better price. I’m trying to loosen up and not worry about the “nickels and dimes”.</p>
<p>I have a wish list but need to convince H. Landscaping currently. Want to replace lanai/pool area pebbly surface and get rid of most of outdoor counter- maybe next year. Give H a breather in spending money on this house.</p>
<p>We are low maintenance people with mainly small splurges. And- no, we won’t put you on the list to inherit all the money we could but won’t spend in retirement.</p>
<p>I am suggesting to H that we remodel the bathrooms–the “public/kids” one and ours. He says a definite maybe. I’m starting to look at different options. He even bought the faucet fixtures at Costco already, but we’re still exploring tub/shower combos in tight corners (both bathrooms are rather compact).</p>
<p>We also will be buying a new sofa, finally, since H HATES our living room sofa with a passion. Am hoping we will get one we both love, but finding a quality one that we love and can have transported and delivered into our home is proving to be more challenging than expected.</p>
<p>I don’t share hotel rooms anymore. Not even with one of my kids. I don’t sleep well, and I hate having to lie still and be quiet for the sake of a roommate. So when my daughter and I traveled to California last summer to visit relatives, I paid for two hotel rooms instead of one, which considerably increased both our costs and my comfort.</p>
<p>I bought a GPS recently, even though I will only use it occasionally. I got sick of envying my kids their smartphones because they had GPS apps on them. (I don’t want or need a smartphone – I only cared about the GPS apps.)</p>
<p>I waste perfectly good money on useless objects (scarves and necklaces) to dress up my work wardrobe a bit. (The work wardrobe itself consists of neutral-colored basics that I wear until they fall apart. No splurging there.)</p>
<p>I paid extra for texting on my (dumb) cell phone – an expense that irks my husband no end. </p>
<p>And I’m going on a weeklong trip this summer that will cost about $3000. By myself, because my husband doesn’t like to travel.</p>
<p>-Education for our kids (private HS & college, private middle school for S1, summer programs, living expenses for summer internships)
-House cleaning
-Lawn mowing (DH used to do it when we first bought our house, but it’s a hilly property that took him 3 hours to do with a push mower; he quit doing it over 20 years ago)
-Satellite radio for DH’s car
-Wine (Dh’s hobby)
-Vegetable garden (DH’s other hobby that doesn’t always give us back as much as he puts in)
-Sports package on cable (done for the first time this year just for college basketball season)
-Farmer’s markets (I’d rather buy what someone else has grown)</p>
<p>We could splurge on more, but we’re not into having “things”. I’m sure we’ll splurge more on travel once we can do it without having to consider what may happen to my 92yo mother while we’re away.</p>
<p>We didn’t consider paying for private school a “splurge”. I was an accepted expense/budget item. </p>
<p>My splurge, the single serve coffee cup thingys. I buy a hyge box of the kcups things at Costco (got like 200 for $70 or something like that) but they are my little splurge. Waste of money, but time is money, eh?</p>
<p>Like Colorado Mom DS is at a “best fit” school although expensive even with the merit money they offered - bypassed free education in GA and free tuition plus the $2500 at UA - he’s happy and doing well, so I guess it’s an investment, not a splurge.</p>
<p>My husband has a huge problem with it because he feels that housework and yard work are our responsibility, which we would be shirking if we paid other people to do these things. I would love to have a cleaning service come in every few weeks, but he is adamantly opposed. </p>
<p>People can have some very set ideas about the appropriateness of using certain types of services.</p>
<p>In my mind, “splurge” , never applied to the ungodly amount we spent on private school. We budgeted, saved, and thought it out carefully. Doesn’t “splurge” mean “free spending”…with a bit of irrationality thrown in? Just a thought.
Then again, though we live in an upscale area, the schools aren’t what they should be and few people have “issues” with spending on tuition.</p>
<p>Most people don’t have a problem with the things characterized as splurges on this thread. A nicer car, travel, clothing, tuition, landscapers, house cleaning, etc., are typical expenses usually commensurate with income. Generally, most people who have the means indulge in at least a few of them.</p>
<p>Items that are both extraordinarily unnecessary and expensive relative to value seem to me to be eyebrow raisers. A close relative once bought an antique sundial for her sunroom and spend about $20K on it - her decorator chose it and thought it was perfect for the room. This relative doesn’t collect sundials, knows nothing about them, etc., and I had the impression that if the decorator charged $1500 for it, she wouldn’t have known the difference. It honestly looks like something you could pick up at HomeGoods for a few hundred $$$. Now that’s a splurge that others would have a problem with, which is another way of describing something that is a total waste of money. Same person bought a shelf full of expensive (I mean REALLY expensive) antique books just to decorate the room. She doesn’t collect books and they have no value to her other than as decorations. On the other hand, if she was a book collector and these books meant something to her or added to an existing collection, I’d call it a reasonable purchase.</p>
<p>I’d like to hear a few stories about completely outrageous purchases.</p>
!!</p>