Your Favorite 2023 Purchase?

DJRR said:
$400 for my first grandchild's first birthday with Chef Mickey. Yes, I know it was too much, he won't remember, and I am wrapped around his finger, etc.
but I loved it :D
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He is so cute! It is not hard to get wrapped around the grandkids' finger. He won't remember it, but you will and he will have warm memories of you when he is older and looking back at that photo.
 
I bought a like-new copy of David McCollough's "Truman", which clocks in at 1409 pages at a thrift store for 75 cents. My 91 yo dad has been reading it since Thanksgiving with great enjoyment. Makes me smile when he tells me something he just read and what he remembers about Truman.
 
5 mini vacation with the wife 2 including the kids. It's tougher and tougher to go anywhere with the kids.

Enuff
 
1) Third row tickets in Crowder and Mercy Me concert. Wanted front row seats, but wife said $1000+ was a no. Got inside isle seats, so was sort of like being in the front row.

2) $15 tickets to Stars Go Dim and Consumed By Fire. Ended up sitting in the center of the front row :angel:.

3) $65 used super heavy duty door from Buffalo Reuse (a two hour drive). Had to custom fit it into a collapsing basement entrance to my son's tax auction house. Even the Amish carpenter helping us out time to time said it was a good door. Sadly, maybe the best thing in the house so far :LOL:.
 
Koolau said:
Goats.


I purchased goats through a well-known charity to help change the lives of folks born into something worse than we here in the USA call "poverty." A single nanny goat can eat trash vegetation and produce a liter of milk per day. Her droppings can fertilize a vegetable garden. The symbiotic relationship between her, the vegetation, the land and the family can make a real difference.

I wish I could see where "my" goats are right now. I hope I would be encouraged and amazed. I'm thinking about a cow for next year. YMMV
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Money well spent :)
 
A new set of wedges for my golf bag to replace the nearly 10 yo set I had.
 
Easily my best spending was for the 2x weekly private training sessions in 2023. It accelerated my recovery after hip injury early 2022. Former HMO was so busy, PT couldn't see me but once a month.

At the start of the 2023 I could walk and stand, but barely able to sit comfortably or very long. Couldn't get up off the mat without rolling sideways then pushing myself up to stand.

Now I can easily get up using no hands, and sit long enough to watch a movie.

You really appreciate what you have after you regain what you'd lost!
 
Took my daughter and my 9 year-old granddaughter out to CA for a week. We stayed with my brother and his wife in Fallbrook. We went to the beach several times, Lego Land, the San Diego Botanical Gardens, explored the tide pools, watch the sea lions and had a great time.
 
Solar. For the cost of a modest new vehicle, our solar system fuels our EVs and powers our home. It's unlikely anyone living in our house will ever need to pay an electric bill again.
 

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Errollyn said:
Solar. For the cost of a modest new vehicle, our solar system fuels our EVs and powers our home. It's unlikely anyone living in our house will ever need to pay an electric bill again.
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I don't know where you live, but can you come back some time and tell us if this worked out the way you expected it to? Also do you think you will recoup the cost of it when you sell your home? I think one of the worlds big questions is how well does this kind of system really work money wise.
 
ivinsfan said:
I don't know where you live, but can you come back some time and tell us if this worked out the way you expected it to? Also do you think you will recoup the cost of it when you sell your home? I think one of the worlds big questions is how well does this kind of system really work money wise.
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My average electric bill used to be about $150 per month, it's now $0 (thanks to net metering). The solar cost me about $29,000 (after tax and utility rebates). So it's got a 16 year pay-back period (and a 30 year warranty). I was 48 when we installed it in the spring, so it should pay off when I'm 64 years old. Just from that basic math (and not accounting for utility rate increases), assuming I live to 75 I'll "profit" $20,000 in my lifetime. Plus, by driving EVs, we never have to buy gas. My wife will almost certainly outlive me, so the numbers for her should be even better than what I'm projecting.


I'm looking at installing a battery system, and I'm not sure how that will affect these numbers. I'm also not sure about reselling the home...the internet is all over the place. One site says you get an average boost of 4.1% in a home's value for solar, which is not enough to pay for the whole system, but a significant chunk of it. Another site says your house value goes up $20 for every $1 yearly reduction in utility expenses, which does pay for my whole installation. So who knows.


Overall, if you expect to be in your home for a long time, if you have a good spot for the panels, and if you can afford the upfront costs, solar seems like a winner to me. There's also the ecological benefits if that's part of your calculation. I think the people that get burned by solar are the ones leasing the system or taking out big loans to fund it.


EDIT: Oh yeah, I'm in Missouri.
 
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Two weeks in Alaska for my wife, adult daughter, and I. Our plan worked well, and it was great seeing friends who were spending a year there.
 
Lots of friends time in Cali and Mexico.

Trip to the Azores and Spain was nice too.

Then there's the air frier... Amazing cooking times and quality.
 
I bought a home treadmill. I used to use one at the local natatorium but having it here at home I’m using it every day instead of making the trip out a couple times a week.”New In Box” on Facebook Marketplace so it was a good deal.

A much bigger purchase was 4 intraocular lenses, that’s 2 for me and 2 for DH. We both had cataract surgery this year and we paid out of pocket for upgraded lenses. Definitely worth the cost.
 
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Errollyn said:
My average electric bill used to be about $150 per month, it's now $0 (thanks to net metering). The solar cost me about $29,000 (after tax and utility rebates). So it's got a 16 year pay-back period (and a 30 year warranty). I was 48 when we installed it in the spring, so it should pay off when I'm 64 years old. Just from that basic math (and not accounting for utility rate increases), assuming I live to 75 I'll "profit" $20,000 in my lifetime. Plus, by driving EVs, we never have to buy gas. My wife will almost certainly outlive me, so the numbers for her should be even better than what I'm projecting.


I'm looking at installing a battery system, and I'm not sure how that will affect these numbers. I'm also not sure about reselling the home...the internet is all over the place. One site says you get an average boost of 4.1% in a home's value for solar, which is not enough to pay for the whole system, but a significant chunk of it. Another site says your house value goes up $20 for every $1 yearly reduction in utility expenses, which does pay for my whole installation. So who knows.


Overall, if you expect to be in your home for a long time, if you have a good spot for the panels, and if you can afford the upfront costs, solar seems like a winner to me. There's also the ecological benefits if that's part of your calculation. I think the people that get burned by solar are the ones leasing the system or taking out big loans to fund it.


EDIT: Oh yeah, I'm in Missouri.
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Do they make the panels better now than they did 10 or 15 years ago? My friend was an early adopter. The efficiency of his panels degraded sharply after the first several years, and after that a few panels were dead and had to be replaced. By that time the original dealer was out of business so the warranty wasn't worth anything.
 
Errollyn said:
My average electric bill used to be about $150 per month, it's now $0 (thanks to net metering). The solar cost me about $29,000 (after tax and utility rebates). So it's got a 16 year pay-back period (and a 30 year warranty). ....
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I don't want to derail this thread, so I started a new one regarding these payback calculations. You appear to be ignoring opportunity costs and other factors, so by my figures, your payback is more like 31 years (and probably less value overall at that time).

You can see more here, and all, please keep any responses in that other thread, again, as to not derail this thread:

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...pportunity-other-cost-120462.html#post3033385

-ERD50
 
I replaced my iPad mini, my Iwatch and got an iPhone 15 this year. I think I'm good for awhile. My Mac is only about 1 1/2 or 2 years old, too soon to upgrade it.
 
2023 Buick Enclave AWD Premium, the 2011 Tahoe was getting old. Really like the Buick, quiet, comfortable, and has a roomy 3rd row for when we need it. It makes the 3 day trip to our cabin more comfortable. Massaging seats are great on a long day.
That should last us quite a few years.
 
New laptop for DW so I no longer have to hear complaining about how crappy her old one was :D
 
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