To revive the thread, anyone spending more now? Things are starting to look positive for the economy. Has anyone that had increased their savings over the last year decided that their emergency fund was large enough and now is the time to splurge and take advantage of some cheap prices on things?
In general I have not been spending any less since I retired. But this past 12 months or so I've held off on a few big purchases.
It's time to get rid of the wife's gas guzzling SUV mom-taxi and buy something easier on fuel. And while I will keep my old big truck, I want to buy something small and super fuel efficient for my use in around town driving. It's the right thing to do in our situation, but I'm just not overcome with blatant consumerism for cars nowadays. If the kids were out of school (and off my insurance) I
could find myself in a new, or gently used Mustang/Camaro/Hemi-Challenger or a Boxster or Cayman. I think I could trust the 20-year-old, but his younger brother thinks and acts way too much like I did when I was that age and no way in hell is he getting behind the wheel of anything more powerful than a four-cylinder.
The local economy finally seems to be slowing down, so I think if I can get one more cooling season out of my two central AC units that this fall might be a good time to spend the dough to replace them and get a good price. Looked into it last year but my AC guy said the commodities prices had really driven up the prices on new units so I held off.
I boosted cash last year by selling some stocks that were timed to take profits and stuck away enough cash for several years of regular expenses, plus 7 years of tuition bills, and some extra that I had left over after buying bargains in the market. That boosted my comfort levels and I was confident enough that we really didn't need to cut spending too much. We skipped a spring break vacation because I just couldn't face spending a lot of money when the market was dropping like a drunk falling down some stairs. So the next 12-15 months will see more traveling/vacations than usual (a winter and spring ski trip instead of just one, etc.). Maybe Europe this year or next spring, but with the dollar getting its teeth kicked in recently I may hold off and wait to see if that situation improves before we venture off shore.
Edit to add: I did some retiree wardrobe shopping as well. T-shirts and shorts were on sale at Academy, and my local Wally World finally got some of these in (much to my wife's distress):