I forgot about this thread!
OMG we've been buying so much stuff lately. I've been documenting it in my journal but this seems like another good place. We've been pretty frugal for a long time because of living in a VHCOL area and having to pay for two kids in daycare and it's felt pretty good to update some things.
1. Kicked off the spending spree with a Cuisinart 14 cup food processor--the one recommended by Wirecutter and Cooks Illustrated. List price is $220; I found a couple selling theirs new in box on Craigslist for $150 so I bought it. We're trying to become 75% vegetarian and the food processor makes a lot of veggie recipes way easier. Totally worth it. I've lost five pounds since we bought it the weekend before Thanksgiving. I make hummus, mushrooms for mushroom bolognese, mirepoix for veggie soups, pie crust, curd...all kinds of stuff. My husband loves it and uses it to make himself tuna salad for lunch while he works from home. He's lost a lot of weight, too.
2. A new couch from Costco! It's a giant sectional that came in six pieces. It was $1100. We spent 5 years on a small Craigslist sectional that we bought for $300. Buying furniture in Hawaii is really challenging because shipping typically almost doubles the price of the furniture, so your options are pretty limited out here. The Costco couch is awesome. The only thing I regret is taking so long to buy it.
3. These peel and stick subway tile backsplash adhesives:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DRGBZPM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. We live in a condo that we own; it has a small and dingy galley kitchen with a back wall next to the stove and dishwasher that's hard to keep clean and that gets splattered with food a lot. The tiles are very shiny; they reflect light and brighten the place up a lot. They are also easy to wipe down. They were pretty easy to install and so far have held up nicely (but it's only been a week). We spent $130 on enough to cover parts of three walls.
4. I'm a little sheepish about it but we just broke down and bought the Dyson stick vac for $300. Our last couch and area rug got so disgusting because we never vacuumed. Our condo is small (~900 sf for two adults and two small children) and I think the Dyson vac is going to help us keep it less filthy. My husband loves it, although he raised an eyebrow when I bought it. I did a lot of research and apparently cordless vacs just don't last that long--only a couple of years. I'm prepared to replace the battery in a couple of years. I figure we never pay for a housecleaner and I'm so tired of filthy floors.
5. We replaced the ceiling fan in our bedroom because the old one had pull chains and was out of alignment and made a terrible racket. The new one is whisper quiet and has a remote control. It was $115. So nice. So much easier to fall asleep.
Sorry Mustachians! We still save quite a bit of money!
