LBYMs what do you splurge on?

[FIREd]

Our splurge is housing at the moment. We pay a lot to live where we do. But we can easily afford it. So LBYM but not frugal.

 

[Calico]

Lawn care service.

I live in the southeast, and have no intention of ever mowing the lawn/trimming the hedges/etc in 90+ degree heat and high humidity. So I pay (a very reasonable price) to have all the outside work done, and I sit on the couch with my iced tea and Netflix shows while the yard work is done. I live waaaay below my means in every other area of my life, so I allow myself this one luxury. It's worth every penny!

 

[aja8888]

Tools, lots of them, and good ones (mainly for car repair, maintenance, restoring, etc)

My diesel Jetta

Granddaughter (she's a peach and a great kid (adult now))

NOT Travel - traveled for business for 35 years and hate the hassle these days. If we decide to do a vacation trip, we drive and take our sweet time.

 

[brett]

-Red wine
-Travel

 

[twolfy]

Bicycles, used to be motorcycles

 

[brewer12345]

NOT Travel - traveled for business for 35 years and hate the hassle these days. If we decide to do a vacation trip, we drive and take our sweet time.

I am having a real hard time thinking of a reason to get on a plane. I will eventually get backed into it, but at least this year I don't want to set foot on a plane if I can help it.

 

[Cassie]

Casino trips about 4x a year, that's my travel and entertainment.

 

[M Paquette]

Hmmm...

If your means are sufficiently large, living below them is not particularly hard.

 

[Alan]

Hmmm...

If your means are sufficiently large, living below them is not particularly hard.

Exactly. We haven't needed to be frugal since we entered our 30's but always lived below our means, never had any debt other than a mortgage.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I realized recently that we don't really look at what the things we want cost. Forever I counted pennies, clipped coupons, and shopped for the lowest prices on almost everything, not so much to put extra $$ away for the future but to enable us to raise two kids through college. Now that DH is 65 and I'm two years behind him, we are starting to exhale a little and enjoy ourselves in the time we have left.

So our splurge I guess is not looking at the price tag any more. Fortunately we don't have many high-end wants.

 

[johnnyfuego]

Horrifically frugal by nature, after LYBM'ing for so many years I have much pent up spending demand. So...just spent almost $4K on new bed, mattress (best sleeping experience of my life!), and bedding. Also just spent $2300 on a new sofa and chair. All should last 20 years or so because they're high quality. I've learned (the hard way) that quality lasts and is cheaper in the long run. Then just spent more than a few hundred on casual clothes because I have none.

Next spring I will buy a new MBZ to reward myself for making it to ER. I don't believe material things bring happiness, but they can bring satisfaction if bought wisely/optimally, which is something else entirely.

+1. I got tired of cranking on cheap weed eaters and chain saws and having to buy new ones. I'll pay extra for a Stihl any day and be done with it for quite a while. This pretty much applies to all of my household goods. Not necessarily top of the line, but the best bang for the buck. I enjoy doing my homework on that.

 

[robnplunder]

It's good to see/know that despite financial conservatism I see in this forum, most of you are making good use of your money to enjoy life.

Pura Vida.

 

[Alan]

+1. I got tired of cranking on cheap weed eaters and chain saws and having to buy new ones. I'll pay extra for a Stihl any day and be done with it for quite a while. This pretty much applies to all of my household goods. Not necessarily top of the line, but the best bang for the buck. I enjoy doing my homework on that.

+2

We got married at the end of our junior year in college and bought our first car a month after we graduated ready to start work (at the same company as it happened so only 1 car needed). It was a pretty old 850cc mini and I bought a hand-book, a very long screw-driver for getting at radiator clamps and a single wrench, 2-ended that I was told would fit most all the nuts I'd need to get at. Happy days, but it was nice to get through the first couple of years without needing to borrow money, other than the 95% mortgage on our first house, which we bought 3 months after starting work, the $800 down payment took every penny we had.

 

[Walt34]

It's good to see/know that despite financial conservatism I see in this forum, most of you are making good use of your money to enjoy life.

Well, that IS the point of the whole exercise.

 

[Willers]

Boats and Booze

+1 Same for me.

 

[Tom52]

Travel mostly, except for that recent trip to Rogers & Holland for 40th anniversary present for DW.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I look for coupons to eat at the most expensive restaurants.

 

[kcowan]

Travel - one trip to Europe or other bucket list destination each year

We also snowbird in Mexico but that has turned out to be an LBYM activity and the extravagance is living in Vancouver for 6 months to keep our health care current.

Alcohol - wine with every evening meal and vodka/brandy

Entertainment - our bill for Internet and TV is high but we enjoy movies and surfing in retirement. I don't count our computers and smartphones. They are essential, right? I run older XP laptops for movies and scanners/printers not supported by Mister Softie under Win7.

Dining out - yes not eating out. We eat in but when we go out, DW wants a fine dining experience. No Applebys or Mickey Ds for us. Except to treat the grandkids.

Housing - we rent out our Vancouver place while away. This is probably our main LBYM activity. But after home swaps and purging stuff, we have it down to a science.

Gifts and grandkids - Investing for their university education and gifts every year.

Our budget has declined by 25% since retiring 12 years ago. We shop seniors' days at local stores and look for bargains by habit. We consider managing loosely to a budget. We buy our liquor on Tuesday when it is on sale in Mexico. We are building an inheritance and a charitable windfall. It is not by design but by chance. It also serves as a buffer during downturns. Buy and hold here!

 

[NW-Bound]

My original goal was to do 2 foreign trips + 2 domestic trips a year, and we even did that for 3 or 4 years when I was still working part-time and my wife already retired. Back then, we had frequent mile deals as my wife traveled for business quite a bit. The domestic trips were the chances for us to exchange our timeshare, which was already a sunk cost. We traveled frugally. No fancy hotels or resorts unless my wife got special deals due to work travel again.

Then, we bought the 2nd home then the RV, so cut back on the foreign travel and fly-and-drive trips. Next came a serious health problem, which subsides for now, so I am looking to do more travel soon.

By the way, my sister and her husband have been doing even more than the 2+2 trips like I described above, and some trips were for a month or more. However, they do not have a 2nd home or an RV like I do.

I like to travel more now before I get older.

Dining out - yes not eating out. We eat in but when we go out, DW wants a fine dining experience. No Applebys or Mickey Ds for us...

Our budget has declined by 25% since retiring 12 years ago...

We eat at fast food and chain restaurants perhaps once or twice a year, and it was for convenience when traveling as we do not consider that as eating out. I am not a picky eater, but when eating out I like to go to places that do things differently or better than we can at home. We do not eat out just to eat out, and both of us like to cook.

And by the way, your spending is going down just like Bernicke's study showed. I think mine will too.

 

[unclemick]

LBYM depends on your age. For 70 or over I would use minimal IRA distribution calculator:

Required Minimum Distribution Calculator – FINRA

3.79% at 70,
5.65 at 80,
9.6 at 90.

You can't take to a grave.....

For someone below 50 2% withdrawal rate is LBYM IMO. But I am conservative ,other people may fell different....

With 71 on the horizon, 21 yrs of ER under my belt, I will loosen up and party. After the IRS takes their cut.

remodeling here and there, food, travel and maybe a new vehicle.

heh heh heh - still back check with ORP and FireCalc to stay in the ballpark. If I screw up and pass with too much on the table - perhaps a nice headstone so pigeons can sit and poop.

 

[mickeyd]

Prior to ER about 10 years ago we splurged on very few items. Since ER we splurge on whatever moves us to splurge on. A lifetime of self control and sane management pays dividends forever.

 

[MRG]

We splurged some back before RE seemed possible. After we could see the dream was real that changed. I guess the biggest yearly outlay was about 35k we spent in handguns, rifles, reloading equipment, and supplies. We really don't need 5 high end 1911s, but what the heck. Zombie repellant.

 

[BellBarbara]

Travel for us as well. 25% of our post retirement budget is travel.

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

Sometimes I keep the library books past the due date!

 

[kareninthecity]

Wine. We don't buy high-dollar wine but we do buy what we like. Maybe books but I only buy from thrift or second-hand book stores - I just tend to buy more than I can read