Let's spend $10K!

[web_diva]

i would have a person come to clean my house every 2 weeks
i would have a person come and batch cook gormet meals so i could eat well without slaving over the stove
i would put in a lovely in-ground pool with adjoining jacuzzi
i would treat myself to a REALLY nice dinner out once a month...Capital Grille, Ruth's Chris, etc

 

[teejayevans]

(sorry had a glitch)
if i were retired

Maybe buy a better keyboard
TJ

 

[rescueme]

i would have a person come and batch cook gormet meals so i could eat well without slaving over the stove

You could have somebody else prepare/deliver your meals for just over 7 months:

The Fresh Diet | Select Plan

 

[kz]

I'm also one who doesn't want more 'stuff'. Heck I'm tying to get DH to part with some of the stuff around here. (he's the shopper, collector in the family) But if I actually had to spend the money I'd put new tile floors in the upstairs bathrooms and buy an i-pad just for me. With the balance I would purchase supplies for the local homeless shelter.

 

[Purron]

I'm also one who doesn't want more 'stuff'. Heck I'm tying to get DH to part with some of the stuff around here. (he's the shopper, collector in the family) But if I actually had to spend the money I'd put new tile floors in the upstairs bathrooms and buy an i-pad just for me. With the balance I would purchase supplies for the local homeless shelter.

How wonderful of you to think of the homeless shelter

 

[NW-Bound]

I'm an ISTJ, but life is meant to be enjoyed, live a little

I think I've enjoyed life fine, but perhaps I need to be a bit more spontaneous.

 

[unclemick]

I think I've enjoyed life fine, but perhaps I need to be a bit more spontaneous.

I would add to the four 529's already sponsored/started - not enough for college but enough to dangle the carrot.

Is that an INTJ thing?

heh heh heh -

P.S. There is tax break up to 8k? in Missouri on this sort of thing.

 

[clifp]

Kitchen update for me.

 

[Dreamer]

2 Ipads, one for DH and 1 for me and new windows.

 

[Skyward1]

A Canon 800mm lens. I would need to go with a used one to get close to the $10k but I might chip in the rest to get it brand spankin.

 

[figner]

lots of woodworking tools. $2-4K
a new powerful desktop computer, or maybe a laptop. $2-3K
or, a nice violin bow. $10K

 

[Dog]

The "sensible me" would use the $10k to replace carpet, paint and change out some fixtures in our house (plan to make it a rental in 2016). Or, a small greenhouse and chicken coup for our retirement home.

The "fun me" would spend the $10k on charts and maps, a backpack, upgrade some kayak gear and change out my triple ring on my bike to a dual ring. Probably a gift card for REI would be best!

 

[ziggy29]

I'd use it to fix up the house to put it in a condition that's ready to sell. There's a chance we may need to be moving on short notice within the next few months, so...

 

[W2R]

I'd use it to fix up the house to put it in a condition that's ready to sell. There's a chance we may need to be moving on short notice within the next few months, so...

Wow, better ramp up the minimizing as much as you can, then. Moving on short notice sounds like hard work.

 

[REWahoo]

There's a chance we may need to be moving on short notice within the next few months, so...

Uh oh. You think the bill collectors got a lead on where you live?

 

[ziggy29]

Wow, better ramp up the minimizing as much as you can, then. Moving on short notice sounds like hard work.

Yeah, and because of the nature of my wife's new career, it's probably the last home we buy until we retire completely. Being a minister/pastor isn't quite as transient as being in the military, but still...

 

[teejayevans]

I would add to the four 529's already sponsored/started - not enough for college but enough to dangle the carrot.

Is that an INTJ thing?

Well, the OP kinda ruled out a lot of fun stuff which left a lot of people splurging on boring stuff (new floor, new windows, 529s, etc).
Live people, live!!!
TJ

 

[NW-Bound]

Yeah, tell that to the OP.

Because she does not enjoy travel, RVs, planes, boats, motorcycles, she ruled that out for us too. Well, the only thing she seems to enjoy is a new car, but she got that already. So, she forced us to spend money on boring stuff, or ridiculous things.

I say we have to start the movement to "Occupy the $10K splurge thread"!

 

[W2R]

Yeah, tell that to the OP.

Because she does not enjoy travel, RVs, planes, boats, motorcycles, she ruled that out for us too. Well, the only thing she seems to enjoy is a new car, but she got that already. So, she forced us to spend money on boring stuff, or ridiculous things.

I say we have to start the movement to "Occupy the $10K splurge thread"!

Oh, is THAT why I set it up this way? Thank you for your fabulous mind-reading expertise.

The reason that I set it up this way has to do with happiness. I think that many (or at least some) of us are motivated to travel when we cannot instantly think of anything else that would make us any happier where we are. In other words, we don't always travel because we actually want to GO someplace, but sometimes some people travel because they can't easily imagine any other way to spend our available funds that would make us happy. As a group, we can benefit from exercising our imaginations a little more.

So, I removed travel and vehicles used for travel, in order to make people THINK - - there are probably things/experiences/whatever that you could buy with $10K that would enhance your life and bring you closer to your personal nirvana, right where you are.

Also, I admit it. I get tired of people saying that I should spend more money. So there is also a more secret, secondary motivation for the thread. It is an exercise that I was hoping may help some realize that if one isn't an avid traveler, it is not hard to be content without infinite spending. And perhaps (dare I hope?) some might choose to contemplate their own motivations for traveling, whatever they might or might not be.

So who is the winner? Hopefully all of us. Some answers really stand out, though. Even on the first page we have a great answer from Nords:

Well, hell, there goes Bangkok.

I'm going to have to favor LauAnn's "landscaping" answer.

Here's some other candidates:
1. More boat-based SCUBA diving (instead of shore dives on the North Shore). But then we'd still have about $9K left.
2. A 3mm neoprene rash guard jacket with high neck, long sleeves, and a zipper. But that's probably less than $250.
3. A new treadmill/elliptical, although the incumbents are more than challenging enough.
4. A new photovoltaic array, because the old one is not very efficient. But I'd still have about $3K left over after buying it, and the old one still makes as much power as we use.
5. A new solar water heater... and they're only a few hundred bucks.

All five of those items would probably still fit within $10K.

Obviously he has had a lot of practice with this exercise, since he and his wife do it and that is what gave me the idea for the thread.

Also, I like BestWifeEver's answer, where she seconds the idea of plastic surgery and adds more:

I'm in! Although I know I wouldn't go through with it.

I'd use it for classes--Second City improv, the flying trapeze, maybe those ballet lessons I never got to take when I was little.

 

[NW-Bound]

I actually agree with you that once one has "enough", it is not that easy to use money to "buy happiness". For example, even though I love to travel, if I were rich and could afford to stay all the time in $500/night fancy hotel rooms, that would quickly become old hats and I might value the experience in RV boondocking in the Alaskan wilderness more. When I go to a new place, I want to explore on foot myself and not to take a guided tour sitting in a limousine.

Perhaps my imagination is not rich, or perhaps I am difficult to please, but I look at boats, planes, electronic toys with an indifferent eye. Though my wife and l love to travel, even that has to be rationed because we are not born perpetual travelers. We do miss home, unless we travel with the motor home where we have been away as long as 6 weeks.

We cannot travel as much as we want because my wife needs to keep an eye on her parents. But I have been thinking that it might be a good thing, because if I travel too much and getting tired of travel, I will be in trouble. There is little else that I like to do. Poor imagination indeed! There are periods when I enjoy cooking, but even that could cause problems with weight gains. What's a guy to do?

Note: I put "enough" in quotes because it is a very subjective term. I consider myself to have enough because, although I am not rich, I do have a lot more than many other people that I see. There is nothing that I crave.

 

[W2R]

We cannot travel as much as we want because my wife needs to keep an eye on her parents.

This gives you a great opportunity, though, to fine-tune your happiness at home. If your home is truly your nirvana, then travel may not be as enticing to you as it is now. (And imagine the money you would save! ) Imagination and self-knowledge are skills that we all need to work on IMO and I think that the "Let's spend $10K" exercise is a really good one for this.

I know that I found some internal barriers that are completely unnecessary. For example, I love art but have never bought art work over $150-$200 or so. Why not? I have the money, and this thread showed me that this is an internal cheapskate barrier that I need to explore and perhaps push back a little. Just imagining coming home to even one utterly mind-blowingly gorgeous sculpture in my home, takes my breath away. I really enjoy the ones I have now, but one can get more with more $$ I think. Also I started thinking about learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone. This is an extravagance that I hadn't previously considered, especially because I have no reason whatsoever to need/want to learn Spanish. I just think it would be fun.

 

[NW-Bound]

Even nirvana can become old hat and boring. I want some excitement, but find little that gives me that.

What I am afraid is that I may become a Scrooge, whose enjoyment in life is this.

PS. Oops, forgot that the periodic "Wh***" often gives me the excitement I need. Oh boy, what Monday will bring, I am anxious to see.

 

[W2R]

Even nirvana can become old hat and boring.

We are living, changing beings, and need to continually revisit and tweak our idea of nirvana. It does change, perhaps because we are changing ourselves.

I want some excitement, but find little that gives me that.

What I am afraid is that I may become a Scrooge, whose enjoyment in life is this.

Maybe you can have that, and other enjoyment as well. Thinking about what one might spend $10K for, might lead to some other ideas for lesser expenditures that would be enjoyable.

PS. Oops, forgot that the periodic "Wh***" often gives me the excitement I need. Oh boy, what Monday will bring, I am anxious to see.

I don't really know, obviously. I expect the market might fall briefly, and then continue to rise for a couple of months or so. Either way, I do not plan to do anything more this year unless I get far enough from my planned AA to have to rebalance.

 

[Danmar]

Make it $100k and I might be able to come up with something. On the other hand the restrictions take all the fun away.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I thought this was a great idea for a thread. I think most of us have all the money we need because we live within the money we have. Most of us are able to budget that so that we can spend some of it on what we want to spend it on (including travel, giving money to charities or the less fortunate, hobbies, etc.). The amount is not life-changing, so it was fun for me to think about what would I do if W2R sent me a check with those exclusions attached.

I could also see getting seasons tickets to the theaters here or the Bulls, or trying the top restaurants--all experiences, no stuff involved except maybe that giant sponge pointing finger glove for the Bulls.