Do you have "luxuries" you treat yourself to?

[NW-Bound]

Seriously, I do not know if we spend differently than we did 10 or 20 years ago.

Going back to 30 or 40 years ago, yes, there would be a big difference.

PS. One thing we spend a lot more on now is gifts and donations.

 

[Nemo2]

I have only recently (30 days or so) convinced myself that it's OK to spend 50c on a cup of coffee....

You just reminded me that we did indulge ourselves while in Spain, and finally purchased something we had intended to get for eons:

https://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/MokaEspressoPot.htm

 

[Gumby]

Good food and wine. Travel without any particular budgetary constraint.

 

[savory]

My little luxury is changing my clothes several times during the day, just because I CAN.

Every day I have nightclothes, comfy/sloppy at-home "retiree clothes", nicer retiree clothes to wear out of the house, fresh comfy/sloppy at-home "retiree clothes" when I get home, and if I go to the gym I also have gym clothes. The reason I don't wear my nightclothes until I go out, is what if somebody rang the doorbell? I need to at least be decent. OK, this adds up to a lot of clothes. My laundry is probably as much as most people would have for a family of four.

When I was working, I just wore the same clothes all day long.

You know the Woody Allen joke, you need to start wearing your underpants on the outside, so we can check that they have been changed.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Event tickets and dining out.

 

[RockyMtn]

I was talking to a friend about sometimes I feel unnecessarily frugal. Being a "millionaire" but still adding water to the shampoo bottle once it's "empty" because I know I still get a couple more shampoos out of it, for example.

He said he does the "Jerry Lewis" thing, of always wearing new socks. Heck, I've got socks and tee shirts from the Reagan administration.

But I've gone through a lifetime of frugality. Don't I deserve a break? So, I resolved to get rid of a lot but of the really old, discolored stuff. But I'm not going so far as to wear only new.

I decided my indulgence will be to replace my toothbrush every week (they were 20% off at Costco this month). Ok, maybe every month, rather than using it until it is so frayed it looks like Brillo.

Do you have any small luxuries you treat yourself to?

you might want to read this article! It is about how to not let spendaphobia ruin your retirement.

Real Deal Retirement » Blog Archive » Don’t Let “Spendaphobia” Spoil Your Retirement

 

[daylatedollarshort]

you might want to read this article! It is about how to not let spendaphobia ruin your retirement.

Real Deal Retirement » Blog Archive » Don’t Let “Spendaphobia” Spoil Your Retirement

This may be true for some but at some point for many here I think it is as simple as spending more money does not necessarily equal more happiness. Some people are interested in minimalism and anti-consumerism so buying a lot of stuff would not make them more happy at all.

 

[athena53]

I nearly always brought lunch from home when I was employed. Now, when I'm in the town where we used to live (about 45 minutes away, so I plan to do multiple things on the same day when I visit), I actually buy myself lunch between errands/appointments or have a Starbucks break.

 

[Sunset]

Sprung for a pair of shoelaces once.

Reminds me, I should get a pair of shoes

 

[Sunset]

I'm allowing myself to buy nicer cuts of meat, even if I'm just making a stew with it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Nice cuts of meat may not taste as good in a stew. Connective tissues dissolve in a stew, and the collagen makes a good stew.

See: Stew Science: How to Choose the Best Cuts for Beef Stew | Serious Eats

 

[Music Lover]

Lindor white truffle chocolates.

 

[Ronstar]

Woodworking tools and camera stuff.

 

[NW-Bound]

To elaborate on my earlier post, we do not indulge in anything more than we did in the last 20 years. The difference is that it used to be that when I spent $150-200 for a dinner, I often felt the remorse later. "Man, that was expensive and it was really not that good". Now, it does not matter that much.

We still do not eat out that often, so there's no change in our habit. And recently, I discovered the fun of finding less well-known Cognac and brandies that taste just as good.

There's more travel, but that's because we now have more time. More quantity, but higher quality? Not sure. Well, maybe we will upgrade it a bit.

 

[grasshopper]

For us it's buying better quality, often organic, ingredients for the food we cook.

Organic foods, and business class, I did rotate a new bag of skives and socks into the dresser drawers.

 

[Calico]

Once or twice a month I buy my lunch, instead of bringing it to w$rk.

Once a month(ish) I order a jigsaw puzzle on Amazon without looking at the price.

Heat is at 73-74 when awake, and only drop it down to 71 when sleeping. At my age, I am done wearing layers of clothes in order to save a few bucks.

(Roasty-Toasty) Calico

 

[Bestwifeever]

I buy the occasional app for $2.99 or so rather than the free limited version.

 

[l8_apex]

Just this month I finally got my garage heater fixed. So now it's always 54 degrees in there, even if it's below zero outside (Montana gets cold...) That combined with a vehicle with remote start and heated seats seems like quite the luxury to me!

 

[robnplunder]

For me ... top restaurant once in awhile, SF Symphony season tickets, and high end golf club annual membership.

 

[brewer12345]

For me this is still a game of trying to live high on the hog at the lowest possible price. So I drink better coffee than you can find in almost any store, but I only pay $6 or $7 a pound for it (I buy green and roast it myself). I realized my everyday coat was in deplorable shape after 6 years of beat-down wear and did not like the prices I saw for high end natural fabric coats, so I found a beautiful, vintage wool Woolrich on Ebay for $65. I am too cheap to keep the thermostat over 65 and DW has a sensitivity to the cold, so I generally manage to scrounge enough free firewood every year to mostly heat the house with it at whatever temp we like. Are these luxuries? They sure feel like it, but what they require that is previous is not cash, it is my time.

 

[skipro33]

For me, I deny myself nothing. I can't think of a single thing that I would really want to have that I don't just go get. Not to say I'm loaded and have a ton of stuff, I don't. Just that if I want it, I just get it.
Some examples;
Decided to forego putting up the Christmas lights around the house, so I bought a few of those laser light things that project lights on the house.
Got chewed out by my dental hygienist last week during my teeth cleaning, so I bought a water pic thingy. It's kinda fun actually.
Wanted to see Disneyland just once all decorated for Christmas, so took DW for a few days. We decided to forego restaurants and only at at Disneyland. That restaurant at the Pirates Of The Caribbean was the best.
I don't have expensive tastes and I don't really want a lot of 'things'. I wouldn't have retired if I couldn't have afforded to enjoy my retirement and resented no being able to do stuff because of a lack of money.

 

[6miths]

Thorlo socks!

 

[robnplunder]

Treat yourself. Knock yourself out. The money is there for you.

 

[whatnot]

Massages on a 4-6 week schedule. I used to get a massage 1-2x a year. But I have found a really good massage therapist and it is my little luxury!

 

[Bigdawg]

New car every 10 years whether I need it or not. Fly instead of taking the Greyhound bus. Crank the heat all the way up to 68° F in the winter.

Wholly Smokes Travelover! With all of that high end spending are you even qualified to be a member here? Lol