Splurges:
- Good wine. No need for $40/bottle wine. The kind I love the most is $10 a bottle at Costco - Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc.
- A cleaning person for the house. This saved our marriage when we had two tiny babies (our kids are very close in age) & both working full-time. The husband would give up pretty much every indulgence before he let this one go. We're both tidy & clean, but he leans more toward the obsessive side than I do. ;-)
- Espresso. We purchased an expensive espresso machine for our house, but rarely buy coffee at Starbucks, or other coffee shops.
- Activities for the kids. They are expensive, but I love exposing my kids to new things, and teaching them healthy things (both for their brains & their body). My older son is currently in Chess Club (or, Chest Club, as he calls it), both kids play soccer, and take swimming lessons. In the winter, they'll spend weekends at the mountain with us skiing.
- Our vacation house. I get a little giddy inside when I think of the family memories we've created at our house, and the time we've spent with family. I LOVE this house, and we've made a lot of sacrifices as a family to make it happen. And, it's worth it.
- Shoes. I am very hard on shoes, and have just a couple of pair of basics for each season, so they have to fit well. I currently have a broken bone in my foot, so comfort and support is essential.
- Travel. Both trips with M (when we can make it work) & trips with the kids. We try to keep the spending in check and budget for these trips, but the occasional long weekend with just adults keeps us sane. :-)
- Cars. Well, not really, but we're both driving cars that are a bit older. M's car is 11 years old, and mine is 7 years old. We're looking to replace one in the next year or so, but if it were up to me, I would drive my existing car into the ground & also downgrade. M is admittedly a bit more of a "car person" than I am, so I don't see that happening. Not having car payments, however, is a wonderful feeling.
- Private school. Many, many, many of our neighbors send their kids to private schools, despite the top-notch public schools in our area. Not a priority. We value education very much, but the schools where we live our excellent, and sending our kids to public schools allows us to save more for their college education.
- Fancy electronics. We both have laptops & phones via work, but we own nary an iPod, iPad, iPhone, or anything of the like. We have one TV at our house (okay, confession, we have two, but the second one is listed on Craig's List & will be exiting the house soon). We're not big TV people. M got an MP3 player for me free at work, and I've used it for years. Not very glamorous, and it *only* plays music, but we live. :-)
- Designer clothes. I think I must be the only mom in my neighborhood who doesn't spend her free time at Nordstrom. And, honestly? I'm okay with that. I own plenty of classic clothes, a few splurges, and I feel like I looked pulled together most of the time. :-)
- Dining out. I'm not saying that it never happens, but our dining out budget is fairly limited & allows for a few meals out per month. (Save for a month like October, where we ate out several times on our anniversary trip.) It's not a regular part of our life. I don't enjoy taking our kids to restaurants at this stage of life, and find eating at home to be much more relaxing.
- Pets. I hope this isn't disrespectful to all of those loving pet owners out there, but owning pets is both expensive and time consuming, and we're not up for the challenge on either end at this stage of our lives.
- Frequent salon visits. While I do get pedicures about 6 times/year, I get my hair cut twice a year, and went back to my natural color to save money. I actually like it better now!
i think everyone has their priorities and what may be important to one person may not be as important to another. good for you for deciding what should definitely be a splurge, and what can definitely be a "live without" : )
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