Blow That Dough 2025

[sengsational]

Dropped $2,500 on new appliances. But they go with the house, have a life span probably longer than mine, and the house is (typically) an appreciating asset, so is, at least in part, an investment rather than a current year, pure expense. Certainly blown from a cash flow perspective.

The reason I consider it BTD is the way I treated it. I let DW research and buy. She picked what she wanted, and has more expensive tastes than I. But she did use Consumer Reports ratings. But all I did was make sure it would fit. Never looked at the price.

 

[Ronstar]

Ordered another 3d Printer. Don't really need it, but I wanted it. But at least I ordered it in kit form saving $270.

 

[DrRoy]

We were shopping for a table with 14(!) chairs at an Amish furniture seller. They had panels of 8 kinds of wood choose from. I liked the Cherry the best while my wife liked Maple.

The sales women leaned over to me and whispered "The Cherry costs 30% more". After a 6 month wait we know have a beautiful Amish Maple table set.

We often pay the premium for cherry, but I don't think it was ever 30%.

 

[GoBears]

Landscaping the back and side yards for our soon to be new construction retirement home in Reno is coming in at the $50,000 range, plus $4,500 for front yard steps from the sidewalk to the front door, and $9,500 for the small outdoor kitchen that I wanted. I’ll have a barbecue without having to haul pellets or propane tanks and the kitchen shouldn’t blow away, so I’m happy.

 

[Koolau]

My new Mac Air was over a Grand but I did get $150 off.

 

[robnplunder]

We've realized we need to spend even more. So we're going to spend more on

• Dining Out even though we already spend more than most, and

This! DW and I have been trying out new restaurants more often.

 

[deserat]

Hehe-been blowing dough on travel and adding on:

Australia-Feb, US east-west-east coast road trip-May-Jun, UK-Scotland hiking-crochet retreat holiday, August-Whidbey Island, October-Patagonia....also a fence for my yard....and VPW says I can spend more...can't bring myself to spend as much as VPW says...so maybe not really blow the dough.

Loving retirement!

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Dropped $2,500 on new appliances. But they go with the house, have a life span probably longer than mine, and the house is (typically) an appreciating asset, so is, at least in part, an investment rather than a current year, pure expense. Certainly blown from a cash flow perspective.

The reason I consider it BTD is the way I treated it. I let DW research and buy. She picked what she wanted, and has more expensive tastes than I. But she did use Consumer Reports ratings. But all I did was make sure it would fit. Never looked at the price.

We here at ER.org sure hope you're around longer than another 6-8 years. Seems like most people I know say you're lucky if the new stuff makes it 10 years. And now that they're trying to make everything "smart", who knows if stuff will make it that long?
But hey, I look forward to another BTD post for appliance replacement in another 7 years. At least we'll know you're still alive and kickin'.

 

[jcfradio]

Same with Europe hotels - we look for great walkable locations and opt for one of the nicer more spacious rooms. I really enjoy the nicer hotels in Europe because they aren’t so cookie cutter, they can be very unique plus the hotel service tends to be definitely a notch higher than the US. The Art Deco Imperial Hotel in Prague and the Taschenberg Palais hotel in Dresden were absolutely fabulous. We also usually have breakfast included at the European hotels. That’s one of our two main meals for the day (breakfast and late lunch or early dinner).

I know where the Taschenberg Palais Hotel is located in Dresden! In fact, I was just in Dresden during this past December for about the 10th time and it was great. I stayed at the Hilton Hotel on the Frauenkirche Square during the Christmas market. It is definitely one of my favorite cities!

 

[Retired Expat]

How true!

Two of my wealthy ROMEO friends (both mid 70's in age), 10X my NW, easily, eat out in "nice" places, have fun Euro and other vacations, belong to the very expensive CC (Carlton Woods), and have diabetes, heart issues and are obese. Seems like it goes with the wealth disbursement and lifestyle if you are not concerned with your overall health.

I blew a bunch of dough on Ozempic and lost 40 pounds and 8 inches of my waist. Worth every penny. Still take it for diabetes and it controls hunger so we hen we go out to eat I always wind up bringing food home

 

[pjigar]

Just bought a new $2,000 snowblower. Not so much a BTD as my 56 (yes 56) year old Ariens (aka The Beast) finally gave up the ghost and repairs cost almost the same as new.

We bought an Ariens zero-turn 4 years ago. Your experience is encouraging!

Speaking of BTD, we just came back from a 30 day family trip to India. All in total was $20K. I told DW to buy as many things as she wanted and she really did awesome job following my advice.

 

[HI Bill]

Bought my wife some jewelry, a purse, another purse, paid for some plane tickets, and bought some high-end Atmos speakers. Off to a rockin' start!

 

[Lazyfish]

Viking cruise on the Nile with an extension to Petra!

 

[Koolau]

Bought Eliquis for 3 months - $725+

 

[DrRoy]

Viking cruise on the Nile with an extension to Petra!

We're doing that this year too.

 

[lem1955]

First BTD of 2025.

I'm planning to go on a tour that includes Patagonia in March of 2026. We're restricted to one bag (for the internal flights) but of course will need plenty of warm clothing. Somewhere in my wanderings n the Internet I saw an ad for Oliver Charles- yak wool sweaters, knitted by machine in NJ. They guarantee you can wear them for a week and they won't smell bad. May as well order now and enjoy them early since they claim they last for decades (and I'm almost 72). I just ordered two and saved 10%- $630 total, free shipping.

Also booked plane flights for my sister and BIL's 50th anniversary celebration in SC in July. I had credits from an earlier cancelled flight so the net was only $49.

Check out Quince for Yak sweaters.

 

[Lstansbury]

We signed a contract to replace our very large, aging 40 year old redwood deck with pavers. BTD cost will wind being about $68k.

We have spent a lot of time going over the design. Trying to keep the area around the house nice looking and somewhat fire resistant. Those LA fires reminds us of the 2 evacuations we went through in 2017 and 2019. Maintenance will be a lot easier then the wood deck.

Wow!!! That's a lot of dough!

 

[Lstansbury]

Trying to pry my still live warm hands off my Honda insight 2011 base model with over 150,000 miles to buy .... Something else that is a bit more comfy. Or fun. Maybe a Mini Cooper 2019s? My brain is just not able to shift yet. That Honda was one reason I could retire a little early. Not ONE problem in 12 years! She's been amazing. But she doesn't feel safe or comfortable for long car rides anymore. How can I be so disloyal?ack! Help me BTD!

 

[Breedlove]

We go to Galveston for lots of holidays and Mardi Gras. We have been poking around at condos for two years . We finally bought one. The same complex 18 months ago a same size condo was 40k more . Our realtor said offer cash and they accepted . Fully furnished . This is something the family and friends can use. Our planner said it was not a waste it is just another investment.

 

[joejetski]

We signed a contract to replace our very large, aging 40 year old redwood deck with pavers. BTD cost will wind being about $68k.

We have spent a lot of time going over the design. Trying to keep the area around the house nice looking and somewhat fire resistant. Those LA fires reminds us of the 2 evacuations we went through in 2017 and 2019. Maintenance will be a lot easier then the wood deck.

Put in grey water tank underground and plumb in a line and buy a generator and pump so you have your own fire suppression system on site.

 

[joejetski]

Trying to pry my still live warm hands off my Honda insight 2011 base model with over 150,000 miles to buy .... Something else that is a bit more comfy. Or fun. Maybe a Mini Cooper 2019s? My brain is just not able to shift yet. That Honda was one reason I could retire a little early. Not ONE problem in 12 years! She's been amazing. But she doesn't feel safe or comfortable for long car rides anymore. How can I be so disloyal?ack! Help me BTD!

You could rent a vehicle for long rides. We have rented loaded mini vans (Chrysler Pacifica) for several trips for ~ $750 for 8-10 days

 

[joejetski]

You could rent a vehicle for long rides. We have rented loaded mini vans (Chrysler Pacifica) for several trips for ~ $750 for 8-10 days

We still have 2 2011 Pilots, one with 260K, and one with 112k miles

 

[joejetski]

How true!

Two of my wealthy ROMEO friends (both mid 70's in age), 10X my NW, easily, eat out in "nice" places, have fun Euro and other vacations, belong to the very expensive CC (Carlton Woods), and have diabetes, heart issues and are obese. Seems like it goes with the wealth disbursement and lifestyle if you are not concerned with your overall health.

Shame cause money can’t buy health, even with the means….

 

[Koolau]

Niece just doubled our mainland rent!! We're now paying $1000/mo to have a place to land when ever we return to our "old lives" on the frozen tundra of the heartland. That's actually still a bargain for what we get (all utilities paid except cable.) But we look at it as if our travel budget just went up $6000 and we haven't moved an inch yet!

We think it's a good BTD and don't mind paying it.

 

[Lee94joyce]

Our favorite BTD is travel and dining... combined we budget around $40k. Usually one trip to Europe, cruises, all inclusive resorts and beach trips.