Do you have "luxuries" you treat yourself to?

[Greg V]

A monthly massage and good bourbon...not necessarily at the same time.

 

[jabbahop]

Better, softer toilet paper.



Also, like someone else mentioned, we tend now to stay at nicer hotels when we travel... nothing extravagant, but nicer and newer property.

We have septic so have to go with septic safe toilet paper which limits our TP choices. The big conflict in the house now is that my DW bought some single ply TP vs the 2 ply my son's and I prefer. Don't tell her but I end up switching the rolls to the 2 ply and tossing her's ;-)

 

[Dash man]

A couple times a year I splurge a buy a good 20 year single malt scotch rather than my standard go to scotch Johnnie Walker Black. My favorite is a 20 year bottle of Battlehill.

 

[Maenad]

We also splurge on good quality groceries for our cooking. I HATE being cold*, so we keep the temp up to 72 in the house and have a hot tub.


*Yes, I live in Minnesota. Once we retire I think we'll be snowbirding.

 

[pb4uski]

We have septic so have to go with septic safe toilet paper which limits our TP choices. The big conflict in the house now is that my DW bought some single ply TP vs the 2 ply my son's and I prefer. Don't tell her but I end up switching the rolls to the 2 ply and tossing her's ;-)

We have septic too, but I don't fret much about toilet paper. I long ago decided to have my tank pumped a bit more frequently than normal because we have an engineered leachfield and the slight cost of pumping more frequently is minute in relation to the cost of replacing or rejuvenating the leach field. We've never had a problem... your filter on the output side of the septic tank should prevent any floating solids from entering the leachfield.

 

[Nodak]

The occasional telescope or camera accessory.

 

[Bestwifeever]

If there isn't a parking space on the very congested streets within a block of DD's downtown townhouse, I pull into the garage across the street and pay $10 to $16 to park. DH thinks I'm nuts but the stress relief is priceless to me.

 

[Philliefan33]

I just splurged on a pomegranate for $2.50.

 

[NW-Bound]

Thorlo socks!

Never have Thorlo socks, but I suspect that they are overrated. What do they do for you?

Look at what Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, was caught wearing in 2007 when he had to remove his shoes when visiting a mosque in Turkey.

 

[Nemo2]

Never have Thorlo socks, but I suspect that they are overrated.

A couple of years ago, or more, following enthusiastic reviews hereabouts, DW & I purchased a few pairs online. They're OK, but I doubt we'd buy more.

 

[NW-Bound]

And look at what Obama wore before he became president of the USA. Y'all think he upgraded to better shoes after moving into the White House?

 

[NW-Bound]

And many decades earlier, another politician, Adlai Stevenson, well-to-do and highly regarded as an intellectual, was caught wearing shoes with worn-out soles.

 

[RobbieB]

Just ordered up 10 lbs of Turkish (Antep) Pistachios, 2 lbs of Macadamias and 2 lbs of deluxe mixed (no peanuts)

A little extra luxury for the holidays!

 

[I was misinformed]

I am still a fairly frugal guy - but with the transition from accumulation phase to decumulation phase in ER - I have adjusted. At least in the back of my mind the thought is there that the most likely consequence of spending $X will be $X less in some account when I pass on (as long as X is not too large, of course).

I now have two somewhat recurring expenses that I regard as real indulgences: very fancy imported sweets, and business class travel for long flights (after 3 decades of many work-related tanscontinental and transoceanic economy class flights, I feel no guilt in sitting up front in my ER days).

 

[HFWR]

An occasional splurge, but on my budget they could hardly be called luxuries...

 

[ejman]

I just got a fancy (well, sort of) power cable for my tube amplifier. It really, really does sound better!

 

[athena53]

If there isn't a parking space on the very congested streets within a block of DD's downtown townhouse, I pull into the garage across the street and pay $10 to $16 to park. DH thinks I'm nuts but the stress relief is priceless to me.

DH and I always put a high priority on comfort and sanity. We've been known to shell out $$ for a day pass to an airline lounge when we had a long layover but weren't flying Business Class.

 

[audreyh1]

DH and I always put a high priority on comfort and sanity. We've been known to shell out $$ for a day pass to an airline lounge when we had a long layover but weren't flying Business Class.

I got the promo United club credit card with free membership for a year (i.e. first year annual fee waived). And guess what - we're keeping it. It really made a difference in our flying this year. DH really likes it. Enuff said....

 

[sengsational]

Never have Thorlo socks, but I suspect that they are overrated. What do they do for you?

They are not "socks". They are "foot heath modalities". You can budget them under preventive health care.

I consulted for Thorlo (installed their manufacturing execution system) and the CEO did not want to hear anyone call them "socks", lol! So we joked around about "modalities" when he wasn't in ear-shot. I got the employee discount, and I got a whole bunch of them. They're thicker than normal socks, although they did have a dress sock that wasn't super thick. I've got a bunch of those, but of course never have an excuse to wear those. They actually do have "prescription socks" to prevent DVT. You'd do well to have a pair of those babies if you go on any long-haul flights.

 

[NW-Bound]

I am sure that they are better than my cheap socks.

But I wonder if my feet can still fit in my shoes with socks so thick.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

With no disrespect to the OP and some other posters, IMO, I don't consider going from doing something extremely frugal to doing/buying something that should be standard practice or you kind of need, a luxury. A luxury to me is doing or buying something that's beyond what you really need. However, I can understand different perceptions of what you truly need.

 

[EastWest Gal]

My luxuries are the swim spa, the new deck and my flutes. I bought a new flute, a bass flute, and a piccolo head joint in the space of a year. I'm very happy about these purchases.

 

[athena53]

I got the promo United club credit card with free membership for a year (i.e. first year annual fee waived). And guess what - we're keeping it. It really made a difference in our flying this year. DH really likes it. Enuff said....

Yeah, I know. In 2000, Continental sent me a couple of complimentary passes because I had Elite status. DH and I used them before we took off on an evening flight to Rio- it was like a giant cocktail party at Newark Airport. We were hooked. We had some airline club pass or other for years, till our air travel slowed down and we were flying Business on the long-hauls anyway, which included lounge access. On one Coach trip to Seattle we bought day passes ($50 each) in both directions.

When my son was a teenager he balked at the idea of some fancy club- then he found out there were comfortable couches and endless snacks. After that he considered it a requisite part of the trip.

 

[mpeirce]

...and stick that sliver of soap to the next, new bar.....}

I still do that too. Somehow it just seems wasteful. I expect I'm saving, oh, a few dollars every YEAR.

Some habits die hard.

 

[Another Reader]

The real test of frugality is the toothpaste tube. I have been known to cut it apart near the top to get the last few squeezes. And we switch out the wasteful caps that open for the old style screw-on caps.