The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: PBandJelli on February 19, 2018, 04:15:12 PM
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I would venture to guess that 90% of those of us lurking on this board have our finances under control - at least in the sense that we know what we should be doing, independent of whether we take the steps to do them or not. I'd also guess that all of us have little luxuries or splurges that we just don't want to do without. (And accept the toll they may take on our budgets.) Confess them here!
For me:
1) I get 75$ haircuts every six weeks. I could have a longer hair style that costs less to maintain, but I like the cut I have and the hairdresser I have. It requires a cut every six weeks to maintain.
2) Out of season produce. Fresh raspberries year round? YES! (But I don't buy precut or other pre-assembled groceries. Ask me about the less than two minute way to chop fresh riced cauliflower....)
3) Soda - DH and I go through a six pack of diet coke a week.
4) Dinner or lunch out twice a week for DH and me. Not any place crazy expensive, and sometimes we get out for under twenty bucks but this is obviously not a necessary expense.
Mindful that we become millionaires ten bucks at a time (as our "patron saint" says), these do have an impact on our long-term goals, but we've decided the tradeoffs are worth it.
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$12 haircuts every two months or so if I don't catch a special for $7 or so.
I drink at least one can of pop per day in the summer, sometimes more, but I tend to cut back on that more in the winter and drink more milk.
I very rarely eat out, but occasionally, I splurge to grab something in the drive-through, usually just $1 to $3, no more than once a week on average.
I can't think of anything else. I don't have cable TV, I don't consider internet access to be splurging, and my cell phone plan is costing me about 50 cents per month.
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We seem to splurge on our house. We have a mid-century modern house and it has been rather high maintenance. We are getting ready to spend a small fortune on some plumbing work. Plumbing isn't a splurge exactly but choosing this house wasn't very mustachian of us. (the actual house wasn't very expensive but all the updating has been a small fortune).
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We seem to splurge on our house. We have a mid-century modern house and it has been rather high maintenance. We are getting ready to spend a small fortune on some plumbing work. Plumbing isn't a splurge exactly but choosing this house wasn't very mustachian of us. (the actual house wasn't very expensive but all the updating has been a small fortune).
Yup, We just removed the kitchen and scraped the popcorn ceiling in the kitchen and living rooms this weekend. Before that is was the rotten wall due to bad flashing on the deck . . .
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$12 haircuts every two months or so if I don't catch a special for $7 or so.
I drink at least one can of pop per day in the summer, sometimes more, but I tend to cut back on that more in the winter and drink more milk.
I very rarely eat out, but occasionally, I splurge to grab something in the drive-through, usually just $1 to $3, no more than once a week on average.
I can't think of anything else. I don't have cable TV, I don't consider internet access to be splurging, and my cell phone plan is costing me about 50 cents per month.
WHAT?! 50 cent cell plan? Do tell!
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I have a 44 y/o Rolls Royce , more mustachian than it seems as it's insurance is very low , it has nill rate road tax and from April this year wont need an MOT test , it probably wont suffer from depreciation as they are on an upwards slope price wise.
I also like dial a pizza once every few weeks and buy a few video games a year .
Every few years i like to buy some great art i really enjoy.
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3) Soda - DH and I go through a six pack of diet coke a week.
Switch to Root Beer, your teeth will thank you later.
Splurge? European vacations each year.
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I have a rather decent alcohol collection...I don't drink much/often, but I have a lot of variety.
And cars...I'm down to two because of parking limitations (moved from Phoenix to northern NJ, and...well, I don't have space anymore).
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WHAT?! 50 cent cell plan? Do tell!
Tello pay as you go. Paid $5 almost a year ago, got a free $10 credit, and I hardly ever talk on the phone and rarely text. I use it more for other things but have wifi at home and work, so I use very little mobile data. That 50 cent monthly average is actually getting lower with each passing month. I communicate mostly by email, in person, or from my work phone.
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My $45 p/month gym membership and some yoga classes here and there at about $20 each.
A summer pool membership for our family that costs about $600 annually.
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Fancy pants gym with yoga/barre classes and spa facilities. $145/month, but I go at least 4-5 days a week. Total splurge but I love it.
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Bicycles, and trips abroad to ride them, are our main YOLO extravagance. And eating at restaurants instead of carrying a picnic on long bike rides.
Food that doesn't need much preparation. I work long hours, and cooking from scratch is something I chose to sacrifice so that I have time and energy to exercise. I'm not interested in prepping a week's meals in advance.
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One weekend every two months or so, my girlfriend and I borrow her dad's car (free except tolls/gas) and take a trip usually staying at my parents home (free except some wine or dessert for my parents) and spend the weekend eating and drinking and exploring a bit. Sometimes we book an Airbnb but stick to a low-cost option.
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I work rotating shift and I allow myself one fancy coffee drink on each set of night shifts (~ 1/month) It makes being awake at 3am a treat rather than dread.
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I go to lunch ~ 1x per week at work, and dinner ~1x per week with girlfriend.
Also, I spend a lot on groceries, mainly due to very real immune disease which means that I eat a lot of vegetables and lamb, but almost no cereal or white potatoes.
Also, I try to do one international trip a year.
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We buy 3 lb lobsters when they go on sale at our grocery store. They are usually $8.99 a lb and we usually get two or three of them. They typically go on sale during the summer holidays.
I buy food service froze foods on the internet. The dry ice costs $39 to ship the stuff. I hate that cost but the food is restaurant quality and comes in 10 lb boxes. I just chalk it up to part of the cost of the food.
I spend a LOT at the grocery store but pick up bargains and stock up. I have prime rib roasts in my freezer, turkeys, and much, much more!
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I replace my toothbrush every 12 months instead of 3 years.
Sometimes we splurge and put beans in our rice for dinner.
If my fiance behaves I let her use one of the free honey packets I bring from the continental breakfasts at hotels on work travel.
Somtimes if the temperature drops below 20f in the apartment I will let her turn on her heated blanket instead of using the Tupperware with lukewarm leftovers trick.
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We go out to eat about once a month.
We have too many Australian Shepherds (but I DIY their food and GF bathes/grooms them, so everything there is optimized pretty hard).
We drive a 17 year old luxury station wagon that gets shitty gas mileage (24MPG city, 29MPG highway). Luckily, we only have one car for a household of two adults.
GF has been spending a lot on clothes lately due to ongoing weight loss (good problem to have, but spendy short-term). I compensate by spending about $20/yr.
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Travel. I like going new places and seeing new things.
Books. But I've gotten much, much better about this in the last few years. All glory to the hypno-library!
The cat. My purr-bucket is pretty cheap though.
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Eat out once per week...~120-$150 per month.
Spendy vehicle....$22k
Spendy MTB... $2k
Gym membership... $30/mo
Spa stuff for her... $150/mo
High Speed internet...$70 per month
Beer/wine...$100 - $150 per month
Otherwise we are pretty cheap (relatively speaking) on everything else....housing, food, clothing, all other amenities/treats.
We feel pretty decadent overall, but at our current income and NW, don't feel guilty about it. We still save 60%-70% pre tax. Waiting on date for pension/health care to retire.
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Our biggest annual expense is property tax. We live in an area with low(ish) home prices so we were able to buy cash. But, the taxes are the mortgage that never goes away.
We also bought a new (to us) van last year. It was 1.5 years old with ~ 20k miles on it. It was the most expensive vehicle we've ever purchased and we financed half of it (which I've never done before). If all other spending stays the same, this will reduce my annual savings rate by ~ 1.5% to ~40.5%. But, it makes our frequent trips to see grandparents easier (with our 3 kids) and we'll keep it for 10 - 12 years or so. So, I'm comfortable enough with the purchase.
Our big recurring splurge is food. We almost never go out for food, but we buy fresh food that is generally pasture raised / organic. Luckily, we live in a place with good local farmers so we can buy direct from them at prices way less than what we'd find in the grocery store (particularly for meat). We like this because we know the farmers and have been to the farms. Despite the "deals" we get from local farmers mean that we pay less than we would if we bought similar food from the grocery store, but we could easily save money on groceries if we were optimizing for cost (instead of whatever we've defined as "quality").
Lately, I've been in to board games. From Black Friday to now, I've purchased a bunch of games to play with my kids (Catan Jr, Ticket to Ride First Journey, Catan, and Forbidden Island). Many of these were Christmas or Birthday gifts (I'm getting my 5 YO Codenames Pictures on her birthday), but I certainly need to go cold turkey (but I've heard my 8 YO say that she wants to get me a game for my birthday...I'm hoping for Stuffed Fables which I think would be awesome to play with my kids). I justify this to myself because we play the games together as a family, but we certainly have (more than) enough now.
The other thing I splurge on from time to time is video games. But I only really play off-line, so I almost always buy 1-2 year old games (preferably used on craigslist) because pretty much nothing depreciates faster than video games. I've spend way less on this habit since I realized that with a NY State address I can assess audio-books from the NYPL for free.
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WHAT?! 50 cent cell plan? Do tell!
Tello pay as you go. Paid $5 almost a year ago, got a free $10 credit, and I hardly ever talk on the phone and rarely text. I use it more for other things but have wifi at home and work, so I use very little mobile data. That 50 cent monthly average is actually getting lower with each passing month. I communicate mostly by email, in person, or from my work phone.
How do you find Tello?
After PTel died, I went to Ting but my use case is similar to yours and the bill was too much at ~$15.
Then, I went to H20 wireless but the service sucked. At one time, I had no reception for 5 days. No one there answers the phone (service). And using the chat service keeps you waiting forever then cuts out when you're next in line.
I'm currently with T Mobile and their $3/month Tmobile pay as you go. It's fine, but paying $0.50/month would be better (if Tello is more like PTel and less like H20 Wireless).
Edit: The prices of the packages look good too. My wife uses far more texts than me, but they have (No 4G data) + (100 minutes) + (unlimited texts) for $5. That's about ~ $10 less than she pays with Ting for similar total usage (she doesn't really talk but texts a fair amount). It also says you get unlimited 2G data after 4G data runs out...not sure if that means you get unlimited 2G even if you pick 0 MB 4G (we don't use data anyway, but having even slow access in emergencies could be a benefit).
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House (repairs and interior design); repairs are a splurge bc like another poster I chose a mid century house that hadn’t been updated (ideal since most modern updates are horrific).
BIFL - after getting a taste of quality, long lasting items, I will never go back. I BIFL things that have an impact/ improves my daily life, such as good shoes, water filtration, comfortable durable clothing (I am slowly replacing my wardrobe as it wears out, with BIFL-esque pieces.
Pets: they get what they want and I am constantly investing in things to improve their quality of life
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Just splurged on five new bras. I didn't need five. In fact, I didn't *need* any because I still have a few that aren't falling apart. But you know what? New bras that fit make me look better. I'm struggling to lose weight, and sometimes wonder why I should make the effort to groom when I don't look like I'd want to anyway. But at least my girls are going to be where they should be, and not near my belly button and not mashed up against my chest.
Hopefully they'll still fit when I get to my goal weight (rolls eyes).
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Theater tickets, travel, Twitch subscriptions, concert tickets, Apple music, Corgi, art supplies, college classes for fun, hosting friends and family (food costs), good whisky, fountain pens and ink (currently on a no spend until I use up most my inks), tattoos, gardening supplies (this year we just may break even with the food production), eating out once or twice a month and treating our friends/family when it's our idea, movies, whatever my students are selling for fundraising, yoga studio membership, Playstation Network, HBO Now just for John Oliver, board games.
Monthly housekeeping and garden care have become necessary with my disability, but I still consider them an extravagance.
That said, we drive old cars, invest a good chunk of our income, and use the library like crazy. Our house is small and drab compared to friends (and MUCH cheaper because of that; plus, we love it), and a lot of the above is paid for by actively spending below our budgeted amounts for things like groceries, getting rebates, and cashing in loose change (that last one makes up 100% of my tattoo and fountain pen fund, for example).
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We have a 2017 Toyota Tundra with a rooftop tent, put 18k miles on it in the last 12 months with 3 months of travel and moving across the country. So 2018 mileage will be quite a bit lower.
Also have 72 month loan on it at 1.75%! But invested $ is higher so it doesn't bother me. I will likely breakdown and pay it off early.
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Travel, concert/theater, and property. I travel frugally, but my work schedule allows for some great trips (five two-week long vacations/year!), so hope to take advantage of that soon. I enjoy live concerts and theater. And does anyone really need to build a house in the woods on almost 9 acres? My answer is "yes!"
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I drive a lot in my work commute, albeit in an old $2K car that gets 30 mpg.
We go out to eat a ton. Multiple times per week.
We just started renting in a new place that is about 30% more, for no real practical reason. We just like it better.
Our spending has gotten a bit out of control, mostly on eating out. However, we still save probably 2/3 of our pay roughly and have a good amount saved up. We could cut back and get to 75% or even a bit better, but oh well.
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FOOD is the biggest line item on our budget, bigger than our Mortgage. DH does all of our kitchen related chores (dishes, cooking, groceries, etc) and although it drives me crazy to spend the amount that we do on food, it is not a hill I am willing to die on nor do I want to start doing any of these chores.
We also spend more than most MMM on transportation. We purchased a house that is located in the middle of nowhere (before MMM) and don't really want to move but jobs are 30-60 miles away. We have discussed potentially moving but usually just end up depressed at the thought of leaving our house or seeing what is available on the market (I am not into McMansions or split-level homes).
I will probably be spending more than I normally will spend annually on clothes this year. I am currently 8 months pregnant and just took a new job in a very corporate setting, prior to that I worked in this field but at the factory level. The dress expectations are very different from one to the other so my pre-pregnancy work clothes will be useless with the new job. I plan to hit up sales during maternity leave but I am also a buy quality over quantity so I anticipate a full professional wardrobe will probably be more than I normally spend on clothes. Especially if you count the maternity clothes that I had to buy, but most of those I got at thrift stores because I do not plan to need them for long.
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I spent $4.82 for two scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone at Baskin Robbins. Facepunch worthy!
It was my second trip with in 10 days, but the first trip they didn't have waffle cones so I didn't
get one.
Can I divide $4.82 by 2, because I made two trips for one cone? ;-/
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we own a boat that costs us about 1-2.5k a year
we go to restaraunts about 2k a year worth
we have dogs - 1-2k a year
we travel a ton for about 2-3k a year
we own a big mcmansion on a lake - this added 1-2 years to our FIRE timeline when we decided it would be worth it - it is worth it to drop a paddle board in out of your back door and load up the boat with people from behind your house.
most of the first 3 things are just noise after we decide to upgrade our house - once you have the money stacked up in your 20s you're really just waiting on the compounding unless you truly want to go to a 40k a year budget like MMM
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Travel we probably spend more on that than our house or anything else each year.
1 or 2 trips out of the country per year down from 2 or 3.
2 or 3 extended trips out of the state
And camping 2 weekends a month during the summer.
Working to reduce the spend without cutting back on travel. Should have my companion pass soon, working on travel hacking and planning to boondock in the camper opposed to staying at pay sites.
I know it is anti MMM but it is the one thing that keeps me going and that I (so far) refuse to give up. Sold my Clown car last year, sold the mc mansion the year before and purchased a small townhouse.
On the plus side I hit a 91% Savings rate and 67% combined household even with the travel :)
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
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- $39 monthly for the gym
- breakfast out once to twice a week (breakfast out and people watching/catching up on news is my weakness)
- my best friend and I treat ourselves to Steak n Shake every couple weeks (those $4 meals are the real deal)
- $10 a month for spotify (I love music too much not to)
- once spring hits I will be doing a lot more fishing with my dad, which will turn into a few more meals out
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Haha for us also house repairs. Killer! We're planning to take a break from that this year. We've been diligent about keeping up with regular checks and preventative maintenance of the top shelp Carrier heat pump (including getting the air ducts professionally cleaned every few years) installed a few years ago to try and extend it's life as long as possible.
Haircuts, I keep mine long so I get a $30-50 hair cut like once or twice a year...
I go through phases where I splurge on fancy cheese wedges from Whole Foods. (I recently picked up Cabot's premium reserve block of cheese at Costco to keep those taste buds satiated for a while.)
A few times a year DH and I will go out for a fancy meal with nice wines. Otherwise we don't splurge too much on takeout but will occasionally order from the neighborhood Thai restaurant or Dominos.
DH had a bad habit of shopping online for hot deals on good toys and last year collected far more than we could even give kiddo without overwhelming her... he also had a similar habit with shopping for his fancy whiskeys.
All of the worst of unnecessary shopping habits are under scrutiny and the main priority for our resolutions this year.
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Wow, I'm super frugal on some things mentioned in this thread. Like hair cuts. I literally pay $0/year for that. I have my husband cut my hair for me. He does a good job and I'm happy with it. Also, we're super frugal for eating out. DH's budget spreadsheet says that we only spent $150 eating out for the entirety of 2017.
I just bought a slightly over $800 mattress (taxes and shipping included, sale price) from a local mattress store. It's a very nice mattress though. It will be replacing a mattress that is over 10 years old that probably should've been replaced a while ago. Considering it gets slept on pretty much every single night (minus a couple of vacations a year) each year, it's worth the investment. I COULD HAVE bought something cheaper, but I wanted something that is most likely going to last for years.
I have a pet, which of course is a splurge. But it's a VERY cheap pet - a cockatiel that costs $30 in a big tub of the fancy, expensive food (not an exaggeration, there's much cheaper food choices for parrots) every 3-4 months. Cage liner cost is free though, since I just ask the in-laws to save their newspapers (they're old school) and use that.
I've had Amazon Prime for most of the time that I've been FIRE. That's a splurge too, though I honestly feel I get more than my money's worth. I'm now currently going on a month without it though since the year ran out and I haven't had to buy much from Amazon lately. I most likely will get it again sometime during this calendar year.
And then of course, there's my hobbies. Some are free, like checking out books from the library or bird watching. But some of my hobbies, like video games, add up for sure. They are generally way cheaper of a hobby than people think they are though, considering how many hours of entertainment you can get from a single one and if you make sure to buy them on sale.
But life isn't worth living if you don't enjoy it, so it's worth splurging on things that actually matter to you.
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Travel is the first thing that comes to mind, but we travel crazy cheap thanks to credit cards rewards and general toughness when it comes to travel. I guess splurging is relative though. Some people might think it a splurge that I spend $70 on a private airbnb w/ bathroom instead of $25 on a hostel or something.
I'm kind of running out of things I could cut that would make an appreciable difference. I could give up playing video games and maybe that'd save me ~$500 a year (if I didn't pick up a more expensive hobby), but that doesn't move my FIRE date at all.
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Okay, I think I have an interesting approach to answering this question. I'll define a splurge as anything that I could realistically cut without majorly impacting my living situation (i.e., no moving 10 towns away) that also moves my FIRE date up by at least one year.
A brief glance at Zillow indicates that I could sell my house and buy a condo free and clear that we could make it work in. It adds 15 miles to my commute, but axing a mortgage and investing the proceeds would shave off 1 year. So would cutting out restaurants completely.
I could also save a year by reducing my travel spending down to $1K a year + rewards.
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I didn't realize Dr. Peppers was splurging. I've cut down to about 6-8 per day. I was up over a case a day back a few years ago. And guess what? Good teeth & gums. I also eat sweets like they are going out of style.... yeah, those tricky dentists like to get people on that sugar trick. Kinda like weight lose.... I'm not fat either AND I don't work out. My buddy who never eats sweets because they are so 'BAD' for you had to get 2 teeth fixed the other day. lol
We don't really call it splurging, we just live life. Who is going to die tomorrow? Yep, ya never know.....
On a side note, we can afford it but even if we made $8 an hour.... ya never know what tomorrow will bring.
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By far it's travel.
I've been keeping it close-ish to 5,000 a year for many years. Last year I went part time and have 100 vacation days. I spent something like (best estimates, haven't added this up yet: biting nails):
2,500 to go to Indonesia for 7 weeks (used points for the flight)
5,000 for 7 weeks in Ethiopia, Djibouti & Somaliland
150 go home for Christmas
1,500 for 3 weeks in Midwest & make my way down to a conference in AL
50 for the eclipse.
So about 9,200 for the year - I guess not too bad. 2018 will be way worse. Taking a month long cruise in April with my mom and that's around 4,000. Haven't decided what to do with my other 75 vacation days.
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And cars...I'm down to two because of parking limitations (moved from Phoenix to northern NJ, and...well, I don't have space anymore).
Oh no. No, no, no! Please tell me that sexy, forced induction beauty from '91 is still with you.
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Food... milk from a local dairy farm's herdshare program, pastured eggs and meat, lots of delicious fruits and veggies. Good beer (when I'm not pregnant).
Travel... less so than many people here, but our not-yet-three-year-old has been on 8 different plane trips since we travel to visit family so often and took a trip to Spain.
Kid activities and education... we go to toddler art class once a week, and will be enrolling him in a Montessori preschool this coming fall.
My sewing hobby.
Living in a walkable location.
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Frequent splurges:
Cheap sushi once a week (~$20/month)
Though I cut my own hair, I splurge on Aveda and similar expensive haircare/body products, buying in bulk when possible: ~40/month
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And cars...I'm down to two because of parking limitations (moved from Phoenix to northern NJ, and...well, I don't have space anymore).
Oh no. No, no, no! Please tell me that sexy, forced induction beauty from '91 is still with you.
lol yes, for the moment at least.
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WHAT?! 50 cent cell plan? Do tell!
Tello pay as you go. Paid $5 almost a year ago, got a free $10 credit, and I hardly ever talk on the phone and rarely text. I use it more for other things but have wifi at home and work, so I use very little mobile data. That 50 cent monthly average is actually getting lower with each passing month. I communicate mostly by email, in person, or from my work phone.
How do you find Tello?
After PTel died, I went to Ting but my use case is similar to yours and the bill was too much at ~$15.
Then, I went to H20 wireless but the service sucked. At one time, I had no reception for 5 days. No one there answers the phone (service). And using the chat service keeps you waiting forever then cuts out when you're next in line.
I'm currently with T Mobile and their $3/month Tmobile pay as you go. It's fine, but paying $0.50/month would be better (if Tello is more like PTel and less like H20 Wireless).
Edit: The prices of the packages look good too. My wife uses far more texts than me, but they have (No 4G data) + (100 minutes) + (unlimited texts) for $5. That's about ~ $10 less than she pays with Ting for similar total usage (she doesn't really talk but texts a fair amount). It also says you get unlimited 2G data after 4G data runs out...not sure if that means you get unlimited 2G even if you pick 0 MB 4G (we don't use data anyway, but having even slow access in emergencies could be a benefit).
I have no complaints about Tello. Since I'm such as low usage user, the PAYG option is great. About 3 years ago, I was on Sprint proper for years edging up to about $50/mo (what a waste), then I was with RingPlus before they had to shut down. And Tello is another Sprint MVNO - but no roaming on Verizon towers, but for most places I go combined with such little usage requirements, the coverage is certainly good enough for me.
I only had to deal with support during signup, and they responded by email within a day or two. I haven't had any reason to contact them since.
With the Tello PAYG, you just have to make sure you show some usage at least once every 3 months (it used to be 6 months) to keep your existing balance rolling over and to keep your account active, and your balance can last a long time if you don't use it much. I keep updates and most apps disabled for background mobile data and avoid using data based apps unless I'm on wifi.
You have to get a plan with a data bucket to get the unlimited 2g. I had a family member get one of those low cost plans. You can also add a PAYG balance on top of a plan.
Here's the official Tello thread over at the old R+ forum that was started when I first registered with Tello.
https://social.ringplus.net/discussion/11778/official-tello-mobile-thread
If I had felt my usage warranted a plan with buckets of minutes, texts, and data, I might have gone with Twigby, which has roaming on Verizon towers. Tello actually lowered their plan prices a few months ago and also have a 30% off 3 months deal right now for new accounts.
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And cars...I'm down to two because of parking limitations (moved from Phoenix to northern NJ, and...well, I don't have space anymore).
Oh no. No, no, no! Please tell me that sexy, forced induction beauty from '91 is still with you.
lol yes, for the moment at least.
Good. If you need a fellow Mustachian to drive her from AZ to NJ, let's just say I could probably find someone to help with that.
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And cars...I'm down to two because of parking limitations (moved from Phoenix to northern NJ, and...well, I don't have space anymore).
Oh no. No, no, no! Please tell me that sexy, forced induction beauty from '91 is still with you.
lol yes, for the moment at least.
Good. If you need a fellow Mustachian to drive her from AZ to NJ, let's just say I could probably find someone to help with that.
Oh it's in NJ already -- sitting in my garage waiting for me to figure out why it won't run...hopefully eliminating the entire (lately problematic) OEM ignition system and going to coil on plug will help. I might find that out this weekend!
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I replace my toothbrush every 12 months instead of 3 years.
Sometimes we splurge and put beans in our rice for dinner.
If my fiance behaves I let her use one of the free honey packets I bring from the continental breakfasts at hotels on work travel.
Somtimes if the temperature drops below 20f in the apartment I will let her turn on her heated blanket instead of using the Tupperware with lukewarm leftovers trick.
Not a whole packet of honey surely? You spendthrift
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I buy good coffee, which I define by not anything sold at the grocery store or starbucks
I mostly buy organic, grass fed, etc meat/eggs. Surprisingly since making this switch, I find myself eating smaller portions, so it hasn't really caused my food costs to change.
I buy and own a lot of nice gear for mountain biking, skiing, hiking camping. My life revolves around being outdoors, so it's worth it.
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I didn't realize Dr. Peppers was splurging. I've cut down to about 6-8 per day. I was up over a case a day back a few years ago. And guess what? Good teeth & gums. I also eat sweets like they are going out of style.... yeah, those tricky dentists like to get people on that sugar trick. Kinda like weight lose.... I'm not fat either AND I don't work out. My buddy who never eats sweets because they are so 'BAD' for you had to get 2 teeth fixed the other day. lol
We don't really call it splurging, we just live life. Who is going to die tomorrow? Yep, ya never know.....
On a side note, we can afford it but even if we made $8 an hour.... ya never know what tomorrow will bring.
I'm not judging, just observing. And reading this made my gut hurt!! ughhh
I used to go 1-2 cream soda's at day from my grandmas house when I was in middle school/high school.. if I did that today I would feel awful! Funny how different peoples' tolerance can be.
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WHAT?! 50 cent cell plan? Do tell!
Tello pay as you go. Paid $5 almost a year ago, got a free $10 credit, and I hardly ever talk on the phone and rarely text. I use it more for other things but have wifi at home and work, so I use very little mobile data. That 50 cent monthly average is actually getting lower with each passing month. I communicate mostly by email, in person, or from my work phone.
How do you find Tello?
After PTel died, I went to Ting but my use case is similar to yours and the bill was too much at ~$15.
Then, I went to H20 wireless but the service sucked. At one time, I had no reception for 5 days. No one there answers the phone (service). And using the chat service keeps you waiting forever then cuts out when you're next in line.
I'm currently with T Mobile and their $3/month Tmobile pay as you go. It's fine, but paying $0.50/month would be better (if Tello is more like PTel and less like H20 Wireless).
Edit: The prices of the packages look good too. My wife uses far more texts than me, but they have (No 4G data) + (100 minutes) + (unlimited texts) for $5. That's about ~ $10 less than she pays with Ting for similar total usage (she doesn't really talk but texts a fair amount). It also says you get unlimited 2G data after 4G data runs out...not sure if that means you get unlimited 2G even if you pick 0 MB 4G (we don't use data anyway, but having even slow access in emergencies could be a benefit).
I have no complaints about Tello. Since I'm such as low usage user, the PAYG option is great. About 3 years ago, I was on Sprint proper for years edging up to about $50/mo (what a waste), then I was with RingPlus before they had to shut down. And Tello is another Sprint MVNO - but no roaming on Verizon towers, but for most places I go combined with such little usage requirements, the coverage is certainly good enough for me.
I only had to deal with support during signup, and they responded by email within a day or two. I haven't had any reason to contact them since.
With the Tello PAYG, you just have to make sure you show some usage at least once every 3 months (it used to be 6 months) to keep your existing balance rolling over and to keep your account active, and your balance can last a long time if you don't use it much. I keep updates and most apps disabled for background mobile data and avoid using data based apps unless I'm on wifi.
You have to get a plan with a data bucket to get the unlimited 2g. I had a family member get one of those low cost plans. You can also add a PAYG balance on top of a plan.
Here's the official Tello thread over at the old R+ forum that was started when I first registered with Tello.
https://social.ringplus.net/discussion/11778/official-tello-mobile-thread
If I had felt my usage warranted a plan with buckets of minutes, texts, and data, I might have gone with Twigby, which has roaming on Verizon towers. Tello actually lowered their plan prices a few months ago and also have a 30% off 3 months deal right now for new accounts.
That's awesome info! Thanks DreamFIRE. I think that this will lower the cost for both my wife and I (probably saving $12-15 / month).
And we all know that Millionaires are made $10 at a time.
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I buy good coffee, which I define by not anything sold at the grocery store or starbucks
I mostly buy organic, grass fed, etc meat/eggs. Surprisingly since making this switch, I find myself eating smaller portions, so it hasn't really caused my food costs to change.
I buy and own a lot of nice gear for mountain biking, skiing, hiking camping. My life revolves around being outdoors, so it's worth it.
Startbucks coffee beans are pretty good! We get them often and french press at home.
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We have two big dogs. We do our own grooming and feed them Kirkland food to keep costs down but they are a serious hit to the budget every month. I wouldn't want to live without a dog though.
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No sure about the quality of Kirkland dog food. It is probably very good because Costco seems to have quality products. I would check out other dog foods to compare. Some pet foods are crap and if it costs a few dollars for a better quality dog food it might help your dogs live a longer healthier life. Maybe Kirkland is the best for all I know! I have two dogs and one is a tubby Pomeranian and has to be on Hills weight management dog food that is prescription. The other one is a skinny 15 lb Poodle and now has kidney problems. He is 14 years old and this just developed. We have to buy him prescription kidney dog food too. Talk about costing a fortune. But they are our babies and love them dearly. Anything for them. The Poodle has been 15 lbs his whole life and never gains any weight. He loses a few ounces but pretty much stays the same. The Pom is a piglette, a vacuum cleaner and doesn't have an off button when it comes to food. He did lose weight with the weight loss dog food but no sense taking him off as he will just gain weight on something else. Food is his God but sometimes the Poodle could care less.
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Expensive mountain bikes. But I ride the shit out of 'em at least. :D
Also, a $6 22oz craft beer a couple times a week. I love beer but I prefer really good beer only a couple of times a week vs. cheap beer more often.
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2) Out of season produce. Fresh raspberries year round? YES!
I'm building a custom home. But I draw the line at out of season produce. For shame, sir, for shame!
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WHAT?! 50 cent cell plan? Do tell!
Tello pay as you go. Paid $5 almost a year ago, got a free $10 credit, and I hardly ever talk on the phone and rarely text. I use it more for other things but have wifi at home and work, so I use very little mobile data. That 50 cent monthly average is actually getting lower with each passing month. I communicate mostly by email, in person, or from my work phone.
How do you find Tello?
After PTel died, I went to Ting but my use case is similar to yours and the bill was too much at ~$15.
Then, I went to H20 wireless but the service sucked. At one time, I had no reception for 5 days. No one there answers the phone (service). And using the chat service keeps you waiting forever then cuts out when you're next in line.
I'm currently with T Mobile and their $3/month Tmobile pay as you go. It's fine, but paying $0.50/month would be better (if Tello is more like PTel and less like H20 Wireless).
Edit: The prices of the packages look good too. My wife uses far more texts than me, but they have (No 4G data) + (100 minutes) + (unlimited texts) for $5. That's about ~ $10 less than she pays with Ting for similar total usage (she doesn't really talk but texts a fair amount). It also says you get unlimited 2G data after 4G data runs out...not sure if that means you get unlimited 2G even if you pick 0 MB 4G (we don't use data anyway, but having even slow access in emergencies could be a benefit).
I have no complaints about Tello. Since I'm such as low usage user, the PAYG option is great. About 3 years ago, I was on Sprint proper for years edging up to about $50/mo (what a waste), then I was with RingPlus before they had to shut down. And Tello is another Sprint MVNO - but no roaming on Verizon towers, but for most places I go combined with such little usage requirements, the coverage is certainly good enough for me.
I only had to deal with support during signup, and they responded by email within a day or two. I haven't had any reason to contact them since.
With the Tello PAYG, you just have to make sure you show some usage at least once every 3 months (it used to be 6 months) to keep your existing balance rolling over and to keep your account active, and your balance can last a long time if you don't use it much. I keep updates and most apps disabled for background mobile data and avoid using data based apps unless I'm on wifi.
You have to get a plan with a data bucket to get the unlimited 2g. I had a family member get one of those low cost plans. You can also add a PAYG balance on top of a plan.
Here's the official Tello thread over at the old R+ forum that was started when I first registered with Tello.
https://social.ringplus.net/discussion/11778/official-tello-mobile-thread
If I had felt my usage warranted a plan with buckets of minutes, texts, and data, I might have gone with Twigby, which has roaming on Verizon towers. Tello actually lowered their plan prices a few months ago and also have a 30% off 3 months deal right now for new accounts.
That's awesome info! Thanks DreamFIRE. I think that this will lower the cost for both my wife and I (probably saving $12-15 / month).
And we all know that Millionaires are made $10 at a time.
The $5 plan and Paygo prices haven't changed, but I just found out they lowered their prices a couple days ago for many plans. For plans with 1 GB of data, the monthly fee dropped $5. I'm sticking with my ultra low cost Tello Paygo.
http://blog.tello.com/offers/announcing_new_unbeatable_prices_for_tello_mobile/
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The main thing we splurge on is remodeling our house, trying to keep its 1915 originality intact.
And our Amish furniture. In our defense, the quality of stuff sold in a lot of places doesn't compare to the Amish furniture.
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House remodel here as well. It is DYI but still costs a lot of $$$
Oh ...and I bought Roomba recently. Worth every penny :-)
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I get into a short season of splurging mostly buying clothes and shopping things in amazon. This would last anywhere between 2 weeks to 4 weeks. I don't spend ridiculously though, it could be $150 max. And this season comes twice or thrice a year :(
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Kindle ebooks vs. always going to the library.
Buying what I want from the store this week vs what is on sale.
Travel.
Eating out 1-4 times a week between lunch and dinner.
Wine.
My cats, especially the one that needs medication and more expensive food (which means all of them get more expensive food).
Cleaning service for the house.
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We eat out usually a couple times per week to the tune of about $65 - $125 for the two of us.
I always drive a pretty new full size, 4wd, four door, expensive pickup that isn't the most fuel efficient, etc. but I like the way it rides and I can haul whatever I want.
Probably blow at least $15K annually on hunting and fishing trips and all of the associated costs.
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I love to travel although I'm pretty frugal about it. My bff and I were in London for 8 days last year and spent less than $1000 total each for the entire trip, everything included (Flights were free, thanks to points).
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Travel - one big trip every two years. $5K to $10K
Our combined budget is 10% luxury, 50% savings/investments and 40% frugal living.
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I have a gardener. I banged my head against my small plot of land for about 4 years; gave up last summer and am loving the free time it's affording me. It's not the mowing or hedge trimming - don't mind that so much - it's everything else. Paying $100/month, which is perhaps $70/month more than it was costing me to do it myself. Translates to about 8 hours saved per month (less when I was lazy), but beyond that it's the elimination of annoyance/stress of not working on it when I always knew there was more I could/should be doing for upkeep.
There are more things I could list, but that's probably the worst cardinal sin.
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I spend a lot of money on groceries and don't plan on reigning in. Lately I have been buying frozen food from a food service company, I buy stuff from Amazon, Peapod, Walmart, grocery store. I have a mini grocery store in my basement! I even buy this great hot sausage from a place in Rhode Island and have it shipped to me. My feeling is that YES I spend a lot but I don't eat out. Yes, there is a handful of times per year or less but I enjoy eating at home and eating gourmet! When I go out to eat, I am always disappointed in what I get. I am spoiled with my food at home! I am not fussy either! I will eat anything...except spiders or crickets.
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before I get a face punch...
I work in a, well, cosmetically driven sector of my industry.
my non mustacian purchase is Botox because, until I am FI- I have to look the part to make my living! About $1k/ year.
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Kindle ebooks vs. always going to the library.
My cats, especially the one that needs medication and more expensive food (which means all of them get more expensive food).
Did you know about Overdrive/Libby (or similar services?) A lot of libraries link to this service you can access with your library card number and you get ebooks and audiobooks for free, of course (and can send them to your Kindle or Kindle app). Since I have moved a lot, I have managed to also collect a bunch of library cards, so sometimes if I don't find an audiobook or ebook from one library, then I try the other, and generally have managed to find a great deal of things on my to-read list. But I totally understand just wanting to outright buy something because it can be convenient if a book is on hold for a long time, or if it's just not available at any library. Not the worst habit to have!
I also get a little spendy on cat food/litter. Personally, I believe their health care costs can be more expensive when you don't take care of them nutrition-wise.
Clothes is something I spend a lot less on than I did before, but I still buy some here and there. I try to thrift, but if you have a certain style in mind, it can be hard to find what you need or want in good condition, much less your size. I try to stick to consignment/second-hand shops like Thredup and use coupon codes, while still not going crazy and being very picky. Also sometimes do get what can be considered an expensive haircut (70-ish bucks) and would like to eventually get my hair processed/dyed to a certain style. Good haircuts can make one feel and look good, so I think they're important. I also don't feel like I can go cheaper because cheaper hair cuts usually look bad, in my experience. I've tried. It's not worth it.
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100 dollars a month to do whatever we want with. Today kinda sucked cuz the gf wanted to do a spur of the moment expensive activity that turned out to not be very fun, take all day, and burn through most of March's cash. She was wanting to go to a restaurant we really like this month, but that's waiting till April now.
I don't mind that the money is gone; I mind the opportunity to spend it on more enjoyable purchases is gone.
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I second (third?) quality coffee. We buy our from a local roaster.
Spending for a good cause. Something like buying plants for backyard landscaping at a nonprofit nursery that employs people with mental disabilities.
Brooks Brothers shirts. On sale, but still...
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2) Out of season produce. Fresh raspberries year round? YES!
I'm building a custom home. But I draw the line at out of season produce. For shame, sir, for shame!
Move to Alaska. Then your produce will be so expensive year round that you'll barely notice the small percentage it increases when it is out of season.
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When I find a penny I always say 99 more and I will have a dollar! I save all my bottle return money in a jug and count it all up every 3 years or so. All lose change goes into it and my Costco rewards bucks. Really adds up!
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I splurge on groceries. We buy “certified clean” produce that costs three times the produce at the local wet market (think, $3 for three carrots). Cheese ($5 for 200g). Certified clean eggs ($5 for a dozen). Just not really willing to risk our health to save a few bucks in China. We tried eating wet market groceries for a period of 2-3 weeks because it was a super busy time period and the wet market was literally right outside our compound. After three weeks, we all started to experience stomach issues. As soon as we switched back to the certified clean food, the stomach issues went away.
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Yesterday we ordered some new lights for our house for a price of 750 USD, which is a splurge. These are LED light from Philips that can be smartly dimmed and programmed and can give an endless ampunt of colours. As this is our first light of this type, we needed to buy a programmable box.
When we bought our house 2,5 years ago, we couldn't find a nice lamp for the dining table and ended up buying a cheap Ikea lamp. The idea was to ever buy a nicer lamp if we found one. That is what we did now. And as our living room is a bit too dark, we also bought two extra lamps (on sale) and some smarts light bulbs that we can put in our existing lamps.
We also think this investement might add a value to our house when we will ever sell it. And we will enjoy it in the mean time.
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I thought of another one. We bought a cottage. $200k gone. Pretty much no hope of it ever appreciating in value. And we pay someone else for maintenance and upkeep, I guess kind of like an annual HOA fee. And the cottage is a 15 hour flight away, so we use it for only 2-3 weeks a year. Luckily, it’s near our extended families, so they plan to use it during the rest of the year.
From a Mustachian perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. From a joy perspective? Makes total sense. We’ve been Mustachian-ly renting cottages for the past 20-25 years and have decided it’s just not the same as having your own family cottage. Not all cottages, lakes, and beaches are created equal. That’s why we jumped at the opportunity when we came across a lakeside, water view cottage on the perfect lake beside the perfect beach in a gorgeous forest.
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I thought of another one. We bought a cottage. $200k gone. Pretty much no hope of it ever appreciating in value. And we pay someone else for maintenance and upkeep, I guess kind of like an annual HOA fee. And the cottage is a 15 hour flight away, so we use it for only 2-3 weeks a year. Luckily, it’s near our extended families, so they plan to use it during the rest of the year.
From a Mustachian perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. From a joy perspective? Makes total sense. We’ve been Mustachian-ly renting cottages for the past 20-25 years and have decided it’s just not the same as having your own family cottage. Not all cottages, lakes, and beaches are created equal. That’s why we jumped at the opportunity when we came across a lakeside, water view cottage on the perfect lake beside the perfect beach in a gorgeous forest.
We also own a small cabin, 5,5 hours driving away. We use it 30-40 das a year. It is in a place with a nice view and lots of outdoor terrain of different sorts. We love being there. The investment sucks, ut has even sunk in value. But it will still keep some value and we can always sell it if we need extra stash in retirement. We also tend to use it as a base during a year of much travelling.
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Malkynn- I am right there with you! I have RBF (resting bitch face). People tell me I look less tired when I stay regular with Botox. And I tend to need more than most people, lol
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I bought a brand new bike this year. I try to avoid buying new things, but if I have to buy new, I tend to go for the most optimal item so it lasts as long as possible, instead of buying something cheaper that is suboptimal and will eventually need to be replaced. I try to buy something that I can keep until it wears out completely. Until I find that item, I have no problems with making do with cheap / free stuff. It took me about 6 years of living independently before my home was furnished completely to my taste.
I only own a few pairs of shoes, but I only buy good quality shoes. I buy good quality coats too, and I have my winter coat dry cleaned at the end of every winter.
I love cooking and my partner is away for work quite often. To make cooking and eating alone a little less boring, I sometimes buy food that is a little more fancy than I would normally buy.
I love to embroider and I use hand dyed threads most of the time.
I go to concerts and festivals a few times a year, although I try to get into them for free or with cheap tickets. I don't drink, so other than tickets those nights are not expensive.
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We splurge on our vacations. Although we travel hack our flights/hotels we don't limit our spending on things that we usually restrict such as eating out daily and entertainment.
We also have a bi-monthly cleaning service. But being that we are self-employed we actually consider this a good business decision since we make more money working than we do cleaning.
We also have a lot of pets.
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We splurge on our vacations. Although we travel hack our flights/hotels we don't limit our spending on things that we usually restrict such as eating out daily and entertainment.
We also eat out on our yearly week to the south. But we limit it to dinner, and eat only a main dish with sometimes a starter/desert divided by two. But we do eat at our favorite restaurant.
We have the impression that we would gain so much weight, eating out for all meals and having 3 course meals for dinner. So for lunch we just buy something and eat it on the beach or on our balcony.
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-Amazon Prime
-$60/mo for my dance fitness class. It fills my soul cup and I'd cut other places before I'd ever consider cutting this.
-Pet insurance. This is actually a necessity, in my opinion. But I know it's mostly viewed as a luxury. It's easier to budget for a monthly payment than it is a surprise vet bill. And I'd remortgage the house to save my pets.
-Quality groceries. Someone said it above; all the money in the world is worth nothing without your health.
-Electronic cigarette stuff. This is all my husband.
-Wine. Sorry not sorry.
-Our house. I suppose some people would see it as a waste. We have 2 acres, a stream, a swimming pool... and I'm never ever moving. Ever.
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Glad to see I'm not the only one with a travel problem!
This year our (personal) travel includes:
- January: Husband spent 5 days visiting a friend in LA
- February: I went on a solo trip to Bahamas (6 days)
- April: I'm taking daughters (6+9 yo) to Carlsbad for spring break (5 days)
- April: Added a few personal days to a work trip to Madrid, Spain (8 days)
- June: Wedding in Punta Cana (5 days)
- July: Family vacation TBD
- October: Wedding in NY (5-7 days)
I always try to take advantage of airline miles, credit card sign-on bonuses, more frugal accommodation options like Airbnb, and cooking meals in the rental kitchen rather than eating out. But it's still a splurge, for sure.
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Travel for me too. I budget about 1,500 a year for holidays. Usually it works out as cheap flights and more expensive costs while there (going elsewhere in Europe) or expensive flights and low costs while there (southeast Asia being a pretty good example). We're off to the US this year, but staying with a friend, which should mitigate the double whammy of costs.
Junk food is a big one for me, although declining fast since I started prepping a week of lunches at a time.
The big one, though, is the three thousand euro I intend to spend on a super-fancy new time trial bike this time next year so I can ride very slightly faster on the bike leg of the races I do. It's going to be a ludicrous expenditure, since I'll ride it in anger perhaps half a dozen times a year and gain perhaps a few second a kilometre, but it's become pretty clear that I'm not going to trouble the podium anywhere without a TT bike.
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Wow, I feel like a spendy pants compared to some things on here. I thought Republic Wireless was cheap, I didn't realize there were sub $5 plans out there. I do text a bit so I'll stick with Republic.
My splurges.
1. Concerts. I've averaged around $600/yr on live music. That is normally made up of 1 music festival($200-300) &/or seeing a band I love in concert($100), and then many cheaper shows($15-25). This year two of my favorite bands are coming to town, and then each is also going to a nearby city at a later date. Yes, I'm seeing each one twice, no that doesn't make sense, but it's worth it and I'm doing that instead of going to a festival.
2. Coffee. I make my own, and my equipment is cheap(Aeropress) so probably $20/month.
3. Video games. I might buy 2 a year, so probably $100-120/yr.
4. I eat out more than I should. I'm trying to get better about this.
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In many, many ways...
1. Retirement home, that I don't live in yet (letting my parents use it for their retirement until they pass to help them out).
2. Paying for lawn care for that retirement home (and honestly, I'll probably pay someone to take care of the lawn for the rest of my life because I hate mowing/weeding/edging etc).
3. Vacations - This year so far booked includes/included January trip to Playa Del Carmen, May-June trip for a week's diving in Cozumel, going to do a ~$3k liveaboard dive trip in November or December in the Caribbean, and still plan to book at least 1 more week out of the country when I figure out where I want to go for Labor Day week).
4. I have my dog and I'll never get rid of her.
5. Saving up right now to buy a boat in ~5 years or so. I started early since the boats I'm looking at cost between $60-160k (depending on how old of a boat I decide to get when the time to buy comes around).
6. I'm sure there's more, but those are the big ones I can think of right now.
Still saving ~40-50% of my income each year, so I don't mind the expenses for these things that make me happy.
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When I find a penny I always say 99 more and I will have a dollar! I save all my bottle return money in a jug and count it all up every 3 years or so. All lose change goes into it and my Costco rewards bucks. Really adds up!
@Roadrunner53 - couldn't resist asking ...
Where is the splurge in that?:) - Spill the pennies - how much does it add up to after every 3 years or so and what do you splurge it on:)?
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First we had a 5 gallon glass water jug we save money in for about 7 years. We threw in cash, lottery winnings like $5, 10, 20. Sometimes we broke a $100 bill and threw in the $50 left. We saved coin, pocket change. We threw in $100 bills now and then. After about 7 years we counted it up and we had $5,000. I lugged all the wrapped change to the bank and it was heavy. Decided that jug was a pain with the narrow neck so found a gallon jug to use. I have thrown in my last years Citi Visa rewards of $440 into the jug and this year have to cash the new Visa rewards of $581 and it will go in the jug. So right there is $1,000-$2,000 without thinking about it. Not sure what the splurge will be yet. I still have the $5,000 and now this stache. What would you do with around $6-7,000?
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I just bought a brand-new gravel bike (Salsa Vaya in swanky Chevy orange). This was a huge splurge for me, but I decided it was worth the investment because I ride frequently and year-round, and my old (2002) gravel bike was causing severe neck and shoulder pain.
I also spend a lot on cross-country skis, chocolate, concert tickets, and my cat (also Chevy orange).
(I like this thread because now I feel less guilty.)
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Retired now (and loving it) so all those years of scrimping and saving are now paying personal dividends. We still live frugally except for one thing....TRAVEL!
Vietnam last year, México for three weeks this winter. This fall is a train trip across Canada with a few weeks exploring the Maritime provinces. Then we head to India and Nepal. So excited. Tiger safari, camel fair, Mt Everest....and so much more.
The biggest splurge....first class seats for the India trip! Told hubby we need to try it once...
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Retired now (and loving it) so all those years of scrimping and saving are now paying personal dividends. We still live frugally except for one thing....TRAVEL!
Vietnam last year, México for three weeks this winter. This fall is a train trip across Canada with a few weeks exploring the Maritime provinces. Then we head to India and Nepal. So excited. Tiger safari, camel fair, Mt Everest....and so much more.
The biggest splurge....first class seats for the India trip! Told hubby we need to try it once...
Wow..enjoy @Bendigirl, sound like an amazing time!
We hiked to Everest Base Camp two years ago and the mountains surrounding the whole region are beyond beautiful!
I am trying to pull back from my travel spending since that has been an achilles heel for me, but I just received two weeks off in May so it's either a hiking/camping trip locally or Iceland :)
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Planters Cashews, although this coming to and end.
Stocked up when Sam's had them on sale, but they
have dropped Planters brand and went with their own
Members Mark Brand, they are not the same. :-(
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I fly 1000 miles every two months - about $250, or $125/month - to continue dating somebody far away.
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I spend $10/month on restaurant food. I spend $0 to $25/month on books (an average of about $12.50). I spend $10/week at my favorite local "comic" shop (mostly role-playing games board games, and card games (no CCG's) but including the occasional graphic novel or comic). I go on vacation every three years, usually spending about $1,500, so that's about $10/week too. Once a year, on Black Friday, I spend $120 on DVD's (bandwidth is expensive here in Alaska so DVD's are cheaper), so that's another $10/month.
On Sundays I stay home, turn on the heat and warm up from 58 degrees to about 63 degrees. This takes about $2.50 worth of electricity a week in the winter (half the year). I heat my bathroom up to 63 or even 64 degrees all the time. This probably costs me $3/week in winter (half the year) and about $1.50/week the rest of the year. When I'm sick, I go home from work early, and that probably costs me $750 a year in lost wages.
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We've splurged on our rescue dog. She's going through intense heartworm treatments right now. I haven't added up the costs to date, but I think it's around $1k. But, she's the best dog ever, and we've given her a loving home with a family who adore her.
I spent about $900 on yard improvements this spring.
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We've discussed clown cars but can a person own a clown bike?
I started out with a new $350 mtn bike a decade ago. Loved riding it but it is so hilly around here which limits my motivation to ride. Wanted to commute to work and be presentable so...
E-Bike kit. $650. Big battery for $450.
And a battery charger upgrade. And smooth tires when the old knobby tires wore out. And a rear-rack. And panniers. And windbreaker jacket. Helmet. Clip on mirror. Open finger gloves. Warm bicycle gloves. Blinky lights. A better seat post. Better seat. Front sprocket upgrade. Deraileur, rear gear cassette, new chain, cables and brake pads.
I'm into this thing for $1800 now I'd estimate. And I love riding it. Help on the hills, fun on the flat roads.
I want to tour canal and rail to trail bike paths all over the country. And build one for DW too so she can keep up.
Splurge on a week to week basis? A restaurant trip or grocery store trip where we don't mind the nickels and dimes. And "Hulu Live".
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Wine. We share a bottle nightly over dinner and life is too short to drink bad wine.
Travel. Two weeks in Hawaii coming up.
Home. It's really a joy to live there, and now that it's how we want it, daily access to quality of life is free.
Eating out. We might go three weeks without eating out but when we do it's easy to drop $300 or more (see #1)
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I have a terrible hot-chocolate habit. There is a high-end chocolate place is close to my office, and all was well until one day my hairdresser was a little bit late for our appointment, and I decided to see if this hot-chocolate could possibly be worth $6. (I can see the face-punches coming...)
It was so good... that I actually get them twice a day sometimes. (Hangs head in shame) I am sort-of cutting back right now.
I also splurge on:
double-smoked cheddar, maple smoked salmon chunks, and raspberries from Costco.
And... Fluevogs.
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WHOAH! $12 a day for hot chocolate! I am not very frugal but this is over the top! Yes, I am face punching you hard! Find a recipe and make it yourself. Invest in a thermos. Yes, old school but they keep beverages hot! I am the pig that buys 3 lb lobsters when they are on sale during the summer but this blows my mind! LOL!
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I'm addicted to Europe. I go about every 6 weeks.
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I'm addicted to Europe. I go about every 6 weeks.
This would be a much sicker addiction if you were referring to the band!
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Bridge player/enthusiast here. I play quite a few tournaments every year, which involves lots of travel and hotels. Costly. But it's my passion/hobby. Occasionally I'm hired to play and/or my travel/food expenses are covered by the client, which at least subsidizes some of my costs. I'm close to FI and own my own business/work form my laptop so I have the flexibility to do this. Bridge is a scary addictive hobby, and tends to be extremely popular in the retired affluent crowd.
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I've been splurging on my sport shooting hobby a little bit lately. Instead of carrying the rifle around in the cardboard box it arrived in (with the chamber lock on it and the bolt locked in a separate little transport case I have) I splurged on a real carrying case. Also picked up a scope to use instead of just using iron sights. Tried to order some spare magazines too so I can enter another class of shooting event at my local range but unfortunately even standard capacity magazine seem to have a run on them right now due to the political climate, so are backordered with estimated multiple month waits for manufacturing to catch up...
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I looked at C7 Corvettes today.
omg. So pretty.
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I spend around 90 euro 3 times a year to get my hair cut and colored - not mustachian at all but I'm not willing to give this up. Our biggest splurge though is airline tickets to see family overseas. 110% worth it IMO.
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Just got foil highlighting at the hairdresser and with tip cost $156.00. Will get a keratin treatment on Tuesday and that is another $115 plus tip and gotta buy some special shampoo and conditioner too. So I figure another $50 on top of the $115.
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I looked at C7 Corvettes today.
omg. So pretty.
Wait till GM does there 20% off + incentives at the end of the year and scoop up a Z06
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A decent burr grinder so we can brew with freshly ground coffee every morning.
Well-made (often expensive) shoes/boots. I bought a pair of Frye boots for $250 5 years ago. I treat them with leather cream a couple of times during the winter and will send them to be resoled if winter ever ends this year. They are hands-down the most comfortable boots I’ve ever owned, and they still look good. I expect to have them for at least 5 more years (hopefully longer). I rarely buy shoes so I prefer to spend on quality.
Yarn. I’m a knitter and previously had a bad habit of buying pretty, sometimes expensive natural-fiber yarn even if I didn’t have a project in mind. I’m getting much better at having at least a vague idea of what I want (sweater, hat), waiting for a good sale, and buying the rough quantity needed for the project.
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I love my fancy sunscreen! I don't mind paying a good deal more for it.
I'm not sure if bras count as "non-mustachian." It seems debatable . I'd been cutting corners on bras for a couple years, but I just got a good new one and I regret waiting as long as I did. I struggle to find anything that fits me for under about $70, but I expect I'll be buying a few more soon.
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I get a deep tissue massage every other month. Relaxing and since i’m An endurance athlete, really helps with soreness.
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I looked at C7 Corvettes today.
omg. So pretty.
Wait till GM does there 20% off + incentives at the end of the year and scoop up a Z06
New is too much for me, at least optioned the way I want it (2LT w/Z51) and the C7 Z06's have overheating problems if you push them hard. I did find a 2015 (2LT, Z51, NPP exhaust, 7MT) for $42,500 private party (MSRP'd $70k, probably sold for $60-62k) and I'm sorely tempted. I think the biggest depreciation hit has been taken already and I could grab the sweet spot of used. My MR2 Turbo consumed over $23k over the last ten years (maintenance and modifications and I did not track everything, so could easily be $25k+), so Corvette-levels of depreciation would be about what I'm accustomed to paying to keep the MR2 going. Plus having warranty for a bit would be lovely.
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My passion is the outdoors and my dream has always been to own my own ranch to hunt, fish and enjoy time with family. I purchased 640 acres a year ago at 35 years old. The expense has been pretty staggering and extremely non mustachian but the feeling I get pulling through the gate is worth every penny.
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My passion is the outdoors and my dream has always been to own my own ranch to hunt, fish and enjoy time with family. I purchased 640 acres a year ago at 35 years old. The expense has been pretty staggering and extremely non mustachian but the feeling I get pulling through the gate is worth every penny.
Wow, I can imagine!
We're definitely not yet at the point in life where we can afford to own a property with land, but buying a place like yours is the ultimate goal for me.
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My splurge is to buy expensive beer (if I like the type) whenever it is on sale. Can get some great deals that way. Almost never buy the expensive beer at full price. Seems way to high to me, IMHO. My everyday beer is $12.29 for a 30 pack of 12 ounce cans, and tastes good to me.
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My splurge is to buy expensive beer (if I like the type) whenever it is on sale. Can get some great deals that way. Almost never buy the expensive beer at full price. Seems way to high to me, IMHO. My everyday beer is $12.29 for a 30 pack of 12 ounce cans, and tastes good to me.
Beer prices outside of Ireland make me want to cry a little bit. That's marginally over ten euro for thirty cans; here, I'd be astonished to find a drinkable beer for anywhere even close to treble that price.
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I love my fancy sunscreen! I don't mind paying a good deal more for it.
I'm not sure if bras count as "non-mustachian." It seems debatable . I'd been cutting corners on bras for a couple years, but I just got a good new one and I regret waiting as long as I did. I struggle to find anything that fits me for under about $70, but I expect I'll be buying a few more soon.
Sometimes you can find discounted new bras (including new-with-tags) in non-standard sizes on eBay. I have a really small ribcage (i.e., US manufacturers don't make bras in my size) and I don't think I've paid full price for bras in several years, thanks to eBay.
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My passion is the outdoors and my dream has always been to own my own ranch to hunt, fish and enjoy time with family. I purchased 640 acres a year ago at 35 years old. The expense has been pretty staggering and extremely non mustachian but the feeling I get pulling through the gate is worth every penny.
That is one of my dreams. Finding private spots to hunt around here isn't very easy unless you want to pay for an expensive lease. Luckily my brother bought some land last year that I can hunt. Although the three hour drive there sucks.
We've been splurging lately on eating out. I finally got my wife to eat sushi and now she wants it as much as I do. Too bad good sushi costs us about $50 with a tip. We decided to limit ourselves to it once a month. Other splurges of mine are fishing/hunting related stuff. I'll also pick up an Xbox game once in a while to add to my backlog.
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I splurge on organic, and really good food for cooking. My restaurant budget is about $30 a month, which is maybe 1.5 meals in my town...so I cook everything from scratch, and it makes me so happy to have all of the ingredients I want, and all of them are the best quality. I know I could have a smaller food budget, but I care too much about food quality, and it makes me happy to know I'm putting good food in my body. I compete at a decent level in endurance sports, and I really tribute feeling strong and healthy to eating super well. I know I could save an extra $150 a month if I didn't care, but it's not worth it!
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My wife and I are DINKs so we've hired a dog walker and a cleaning person. I also have a pretty high pain tolerance for spending money on vacations.
No regrets.
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The long-dormant Catholic in me feels like I should confess my sin here...for our anniversary, my wife and I went to a Michelin-starred restaurant and went for the tasting menu. WITH WINES. Well over two hundred euro gone, and I don't regret a penny. I don't have the requisite skills to cook a single one of the courses we ate, and even if I did it'd cost me a fortune to source all the ingredients (where does one even buy ten grams of smoked eel, anyway?) One of the most spectacular meals I've ever eaten, and I have no problem with the idea of working to a slightly later retirement date in order to be able to afford our annual extravagance.
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Got my hair done today for a Keratin treatment. Treatment, trim and a bottle of special shampoo and conditioner with tip cost $172.00. Last week I had foils done and that was around $150. WHEW! I don't do this often so I don't care! I worked and saved for retirement and so be it if I spend once and a while!
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I will go to the convenience store close to work on Wednesdays to purchase lunch. (On Wednesdays their burgers, pizza slices, and/or sandwiches are "special" priced at $1.). I know I could make the same thing cheaper at home, but this seems like such a "treat" to have it for lunch...at work.
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ScreamingHeadGuy, what a great find! You should buy a bunch of stuff and freeze it! You could have it more often! Pull it out of the freezer and take to work for lunch more days than just Wednesday!
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-Travel
-Kids sports
-Nice wine. We rotate between the Costco cheap kind, and a local vineyard that is *amazing*. We also limit wine drinking to the weekend, so we try & keep things in check
-Massages. I can get an hour deep tissue massage at work for $30. It's an amazing deal, and I do tip, but try to get them every 6-8 weeks. I have lupus, so this helps with some of the aches & pains.
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I get a deep tissue massage every other month. Relaxing and since i’m An endurance athlete, really helps with soreness.
I just started this but im doing it once a month and mainly for the endurance athlete reasoning... I cant seem to make it through a season without injury hope it helps!
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I spent $30 on e-books this week. I spend about €100 on physical and e-books every year. I have a library card to the local university library, but I don't have a regular library card. Library subscriptions are not cheap in my country and I seem to get fines all the time because I'm terrible at remembering to return them. I do try to buy used books if I buy physical copies and if I'm not going to read a book again, I sell it or give it away.
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House (repairs and interior design); repairs are a splurge bc like another poster I chose a mid century house that hadn’t been updated (ideal since most modern updates are horrific).
Our house (also) midcentury modern, was our huge splurge. It came upgraded. No plans to ever sell it. Have to keep my desires to tear down walls and add more square footage in check.
Living life in moderation on the way to FIRE
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I just bought a $600 sleeping bag. Western Mountaineering bag. One of the best you can buy.
I backpack a bit. The bag should last 20 years.
Darn, when I amortize it, it's not much of a splurge. RATS!
My other splurge is a KTM 1190 Adventure motorcycle. Rode it today.
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Alcohol, oh-oh, alcohol! I splurge on craft beer, whiskey, and rum, both at home and at the new Jazz bar that opened in my town recently. I've decided going to the bar 1-2 times a week to have 1-2 drinks and listen to free live music is a necessity for me. It helps me to maintain some kind of social life here in this isolated town which allows me to continue to live in this LCOL area thus furthering my early retirement goal. Home beer budget is about $87 per month, bottle of whiskey or rum about $25 every 3 months, bar visits are about $60-$120 per month.
I also splurge on fancy natural toothpaste. $10 for a 3 ounce jar. It is the Cadillac of toothpaste! Worth every penny. My teeth have never felt so strong and it does a great job of whitening without harsh ingredients. The flavor is also absolutely delicious. Falling asleep with the sweet taste of natural wintergreen and clove lingering in my mouth is awesome! I estimate 1 jar will last me about 3 months, based on what I've used so far. :)
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Alcohol, oh-oh, alcohol! I splurge on craft beer, whiskey, and rum, both at home and at the new Jazz bar that opened in my town recently. I've decided going to the bar 1-2 times a week to have 1-2 drinks and listen to free live music is a necessity for me. It helps me to maintain some kind of social life here in this isolated town which allows me to continue to live in this LCOL area thus furthering my early retirement goal. Home beer budget is about $87 per month, bottle of whiskey or rum about $25 every 3 months, bar visits are about $60-$120 per month.
I also splurge on fancy natural toothpaste. $10 for a 3 ounce jar. It is the Cadillac of toothpaste! Worth every penny. My teeth have never felt so strong and it does a great job of whitening without harsh ingredients. The flavor is also absolutely delicious. Falling asleep with the sweet taste of natural wintergreen and clove lingering in my mouth is awesome! I estimate 1 jar will last me about 3 months, based on what I've used so far. :)
@DouglasFir - can you share the name of the toothpaste?
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My splurge is to buy expensive beer (if I like the type) whenever it is on sale. Can get some great deals that way. Almost never buy the expensive beer at full price. Seems way to high to me, IMHO. My everyday beer is $12.29 for a 30 pack of 12 ounce cans, and tastes good to me.
Craft beer definitely my weakness, especially when I live in western MA and I work in Vermont. Last week I bought some beer for myself and my buddy - is was $162.50 for two cases of beer from the Alchemist (48 16oz cans), including the fabled Heady Topper. Also just went to Hill Farmstead in VT and spent about $90 on some growlers and cans. So average cost is about $4 per serving. So about 10x the cost of your usual, hahaha.
As a quick aside for the beer folks - if I have to say it, the Alchemist stuff is good, but honestly alot of other breweries have caught up and perhaps surpassed. But Hill Farmstead beer continues to be just out of this world amazing, every single time.
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Alcohol, oh-oh, alcohol! I splurge on craft beer, whiskey, and rum, both at home and at the new Jazz bar that opened in my town recently. I've decided going to the bar 1-2 times a week to have 1-2 drinks and listen to free live music is a necessity for me. It helps me to maintain some kind of social life here in this isolated town which allows me to continue to live in this LCOL area thus furthering my early retirement goal. Home beer budget is about $87 per month, bottle of whiskey or rum about $25 every 3 months, bar visits are about $60-$120 per month.
I also splurge on fancy natural toothpaste. $10 for a 3 ounce jar. It is the Cadillac of toothpaste! Worth every penny. My teeth have never felt so strong and it does a great job of whitening without harsh ingredients. The flavor is also absolutely delicious. Falling asleep with the sweet taste of natural wintergreen and clove lingering in my mouth is awesome! I estimate 1 jar will last me about 3 months, based on what I've used so far. :)
@DouglasFir - can you share the name of the toothpaste?
Yes, it's Uncle Harry's Fluoride Free Peppermint flavor. Available from Amazon. Not for the faint of heart. There is some salt taste and the essential oils are STRONG! Definitely opens your nasal passages every time you brush. Not everyone might like it, but I happen to love it! It has 4 1/2 stars rating and over 1200 reviews, though, so I am not the only one. :)
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I pay for lawn mowing and a Spring cleanup plus I pay for someone to plow the driveway (it's the same landscaping service that does it all).
When I downsized I decided to buy a small house (rather than a condo) but pay for the exterior maintenance tasks that I don't want to do!
With a savings rate of 60%, I am fine with outsourcing the jobs I don't want. I am super frugal in plenty of other areas.
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Botox
Everything else is a need
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We have a 2017 Toyota Tundra with a rooftop tent, put 18k miles on it in the last 12 months with 3 months of travel and moving across the country. So 2018 mileage will be quite a bit lower.
Also have 72 month loan on it at 1.75%! But invested $ is higher so it doesn't bother me. I will likely breakdown and pay it off early.
I’ve never paid more than 0% interest on an auto loan. Once you have 800+ credit, they should just be willing to give you stuff for 0%.
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Bridge player/enthusiast here. I play quite a few tournaments every year, which involves lots of travel and hotels. Costly. But it's my passion/hobby. Occasionally I'm hired to play and/or my travel/food expenses are covered by the client, which at least subsidizes some of my costs. I'm close to FI and own my own business/work form my laptop so I have the flexibility to do this. Bridge is a scary addictive hobby, and tends to be extremely popular in the retired affluent crowd.
I live in Marblehead Ma and I was always fascinated by the articles chronicling Peter Lynch's wife and her bridge playing.
I am paying for my daughter to learn how to play squash. We are lucky to be the only YMCA in the USA to have courts and a pro. It was rated as one of the best 30min workouts
Long game we are driving distance to 3 of the best women's prep programs in the country if she gets good at it.
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I just bought a second-hand titanium road bike (Lynskey R230 for bike people) for 2000AUD. It's an upgrade from the 850AUD bike I bought brand new in 2008 (much lower spec), when I first started cycling.
I crashed the older bike this week and was annoyed at waiting for replacement shifters I ordered, as I'm going to fix it myself. So it was somewhat of an impulse buy, but also super-delayed gratification as I've held off buying a nicer bike for almost 10 years.
I'm car-free and commute nearly 100mi/160km a week so I will get use out of it. Just went for my first proper ride and its everything I wished for. So much more responsive and smooth over the bumps.
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We have a 2017 Toyota Tundra with a rooftop tent, put 18k miles on it in the last 12 months with 3 months of travel and moving across the country. So 2018 mileage will be quite a bit lower.
Also have 72 month loan on it at 1.75%! But invested $ is higher so it doesn't bother me. I will likely breakdown and pay it off early.
I’ve never paid more than 0% interest on an auto loan. Once you have 800+ credit, they should just be willing to give you stuff for 0%.
That's new only, I assume? I've never seen 0% on a used car before.
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We have a 2017 Toyota Tundra with a rooftop tent, put 18k miles on it in the last 12 months with 3 months of travel and moving across the country. So 2018 mileage will be quite a bit lower.
Also have 72 month loan on it at 1.75%! But invested $ is higher so it doesn't bother me. I will likely breakdown and pay it off early.
I’ve never paid more than 0% interest on an auto loan. Once you have 800+ credit, they should just be willing to give you stuff for 0%.
That's new only, I assume? I've never seen 0% on a used car before.
I’ve never financed a used car so I suppose my knowledge base is limited in that regard. If you’re going used, it’s best to pay it out of cash on hand.
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We have a 2017 Toyota Tundra with a rooftop tent, put 18k miles on it in the last 12 months with 3 months of travel and moving across the country. So 2018 mileage will be quite a bit lower.
Also have 72 month loan on it at 1.75%! But invested $ is higher so it doesn't bother me. I will likely breakdown and pay it off early.
I’ve never paid more than 0% interest on an auto loan. Once you have 800+ credit, they should just be willing to give you stuff for 0%.
That's new only, I assume? I've never seen 0% on a used car before.
I’ve never financed a used car so I suppose my knowledge base is limited in that regard. If you’re going used, it’s best to pay it out of cash on hand.
Why? I have 1.99% on a used car and that's better than market returns, and cost me far less in interest than a few months worth of depreciation on a new car. ;)
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Splurged for lunch Thursday. I normally take lunch to work, but on Thursday, I went to a restaurant for BBQ brisket with a couple sides and a drink - was almost $10 with tax. I rarely do that, but on occasion, I loosen up a little.