Money Matters
dragonstarjk
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
GTKY: Splurges
What are your biggest non-MM friendly splurges/confessions?
I have two.
1) Whenever I am under budget for groceries for the week, I like to grab a lottery ticket on the way out of the grocery store. I have had two $5 winners but that's it. I still like to buy them though 
2) I just signed up for Stitch Fix (style box subscription). I live far away from any shopping opportunities, so I am really excited to try out this service. It might end up being too spendy but we'll see.
Re: GTKY: Splurges
Love: March 2010 Marriage: July 2013 Debt Free: October 2014 TTC: May 2015
I do stitch fix as well! It is fun. I don't do much shopping beyond that and it's basically my blow money for the month I get it (I do every other month). The prices can be a little high so I am selective in what I keep, but I do love the pieces I've kept and it's caused me to expand my style a little bit, because I try things on that I never would have picked out in the store.
I recently signed up for Audible. I have a long commute each way and I also feel like I don't read enough, so I thought this would be a good way to help pass the time besides listening to the radio and podcasts. So far so good! I listened to Girl on the Train earlier this month, and just downloaded Big Little Lies for next week.
Other than that, every time I buy lunch at work feels like a splurge!
Gardening stuff...this year was/is a big year for us. We've planted apple trees. Raspberries. Blueberries and purchased over $200 worth of heirloom seeds for a garden I want to start next spring/summer. We're also doing all cedar, above ground beds, so we have that cost too and then there's the soil, liners, tools, and of course all of the books I've bought to learn about this (various gardening methods, composting, companion planting, etc.). When it's all done, we will have had up front costs of well over $1,500. But, the goal is to:
1. Learn a valuable life skill and pass it on to the kids.
2. Have a healthy way to grow our own foods.
3. Enjoy the outdoors/family time.
4. Eventually, we will save money on fresh foods since we've purchased heirloom seeds, we want to learn to propagate our own seeds for replanting.
I have a few....
1. Craft beer (I just can't do miller lite anymore...)
2. Always buy wine/beer if we go out to dinner (usually at least two glasses a piece)
3. Always splurge for the nice hotel/B&B on vacation.
4. Organic food (not everything, but a lot of things)
5. Our house -- actually the mortgage is kind of killer. Looking forward to youngest son starting K to free up some cash!
6. I just watched a freaky documentary called The Human Experiment, so now I'm thinking I need to get rid of all beauty products with parabens in them (which means $$$). We'll see how strong the urge is tomorrow though!
That being said, I couldn't care less about the cars we drive, I get my hair cut like once a year at Great Clips, I never get mani/pedis/spa stuff, etc.
I just got back from a girlfriends weekend and had my first ever facial. It was great!
While getting the facial I was doing calculations in my head about how much a newly formed "facial habit" might cost me
Travel for sure, we do it cheap but went years without it and even my cheap DH is on board with the idea of having an experience instead of just money in the bank.
Food - I love little boutique foodie shops and good wine. Shoes - I spend more, but still only buy sale. But my 10 dollar Walmart jeans look better with good shoes. I will spend more for my daughters shoes too.
1. Craft beer, though we're good at working sales for it!
2. We also spent a lot upfront on gardening this year. We won't make it back this year, but yields are decent so I think we can in a couple of more years.
3. Travel. Seeing the world is important to us. We can't reasonably do an international trip every year, but every other is very worth it to me.
4. H splurged on a good sound system last year. To him it is very worth it, and he saved for it.
5. We don't skimp on food. We're in CSAs for meat and veggies, and also buy organic when possible. On the flip side, though, we are very good at cooking at home.
6. Occasionally we'll get out and grab a couple of drinks at our local bar as a date night.
7. Diving. Though I now make most of my money back teaching, this is still a very spendy hobby that goes firmly in the splurge category.
8. @bparkhur we're working on the paraben thing too, but slowly replacing things as they run out. I'm finding it hasn't upped the budget too bad yet. We shop the sales in the health and beauty section at WF.
I watch a lot of tv. No apologies!
We also pay $1000 a year to store a sailboat that a relative gave us, which seems like a lot to me but we like having it. Also I don't think the trailer is road safe so we're not moving it any time soon.
Otherwise our most common splurge is alcohol. We like craft beer and good liquor. I don't like the cost of it, but I figure that right now, we're young and childless, so we have the budgetary room to account for it. Once we start TTC and have children, this splurge will decrease (at least in theory).
Regarding the paraben free stuff--I actually have to buy expensive, natural, chemical free beauty products because I have extremely sensitive skin and allergies. (It's kind of dreadfull, actually). Obviously since it is a need, I don't consider it a splurge, but for those of you who are looking, I end up ordering a lot of my stuff through Amazon. They have a lot of options and you can even search paraben-free, sulfate-free, etc.
The only thing we really splurge on is travel/food related. For our 5 year dating anniversary/us both getting new jobs, we splurged on a $300 date night at a super expensive steak house....best $300 ever spent.
I'd much rather have a nice meal or date with DH than spend money on a designer bag or something like that.