Splurge Guilt?

lifeonthehill · February 2014

Ever splurged on something and felt guilty after? What was it? I have a hard time with buying and then returning clothes.

H decided he needed a vacation. Later that day we got an email saying we could get a 5 day cruise to the Cayman Islands for less than $800 dollars. Unfortunately we have the cash for the cruise and extras but we don't have the airfare. We are pulling money from savings for it. I know how un-MM this is for us but I also know it is a better deal than if we plan ahead for next March and start paying for it today. I am torn but know the H really wants this and it saves us money in the long run. Ugh! Haha.

daisy662 · February 2014

What cruise line and ship is it? This will weigh on my answer, though i know it shouldn't LOL!

Xstatic3333 · February 2014

I'd say to have no guilt, unless it will cause a hardship (and from what you've shared, I don't think it will). Then again, we budget for travel even while working on other goals. It's important to me-there's a big awesome world out there!

I do get splurge guilt. My most recent one was the Pats playoff tickets we bought. In retrospect though, it was totally worth it. We paid cash, it just slowed our progress toward our big goals. But hey, we need to enjoy life (responsibly) once in a while.

Unrelated, but try diving or at least snorkeling on your cruise! The Caymans have some of the best in the world

Sisugal · February 2014

I have a hard time spending money on myself - and I have the money to spend! My childhood of poverty has left it's scars. Fortunately my DH helps to balance things out .

lifeonthehill · February 2014

daisy662 said:

What cruise line and ship is it? This will weigh on my answer, though i know it shouldn't LOL!

Carnival!

jessica490 · February 2014

Yea, I just over-spent on clothes as I noted in today accountability post. I shouldn't have bought the clothes but I did and feel really guilty about it. But I planned to make myself feel better by taking less spending money this week so that helps a little.

We usually don't splurge on things except for electronics. We randomly bought a $500 I-pad last year but love it! AnI also bought a new Nintendo Wii at Xmas time for $300, and H has his $150 I-phone but these are things that we use all the time so thats our thing. We don't eat out a lot, or normally shop a lot so it's ok with us.

One thing I think about a lot is expensive vacations. I LOVE going to the carribean, and would love to do a cruise and an AI every year, but there is no WAY we can afford it. These are things we always plan in advance so we have time to save.

My feeling is that since we don't plan on having kids at all, and as long as we are saving for retirement, and staying out of debt which we are, we can buy whatever the heck we want

:P

SmrBrd2012 · February 2014

We splurged on a Mexico trip 7 months after our honeymoon last year. Definitely felt guilty about it but we were able to pay for it and make the $ back within one month with one of our paychecks so it wasn't too bad. But it could be extra $ in our house down payment fund so it's hard not to feel guilty about it...Hell, even buying the occasional coffee in the morning makes me feel guilty...

lifeonthehill · February 2014

SmrBrd2012 said:
Hell, even buying the occasional coffee in the morning makes me feel guilty...

This is me.
We have to force ourselves to grocery shop. We feel so guilty buying food. haha.

JoanE2012 · February 2014

alyssa32713 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:
Hell, even buying the occasional coffee in the morning makes me feel guilty...
This is me.
We have to force ourselves to grocery shop. We feel so guilty buying food. haha.

Why??

It's a necessity, not a splurge.

vlagrl29 · February 2014

You have a tendency to feel guilty about things involving money

It's ok. You are supposed to have some fun in life. Enjoy it!

hoffse · February 2014

Travel doesn't make me feel guilty. It tends to be really expensive for Americans unless you live near one of the borders simply because the US is so massive, and we don't have low-fare carriers or trains that can get us to other countries. In Europe you can fly between Barcelona and Amsterdam for about 40-60 euros each way (on more than one carrier). We don't have anything like that here, so if we want to get out and experience a new country, it's going to cost us. I think it's really important to see new places and talk to people who didn't grow up like us. Americans tend to be really insular because it is so hard to leave, and I think it gives us a pretty skewed perspective of the world.

Honestly I would much rather drop several grand on a trip each year than buy new clothes or eat out. So I tend to feel guilty when do buy clothes or eat out because it's far less meaningful to me going to London or Cusco or Istanbul.

I bought our plane tickets and booked hotels for London last week. It was eye-wateringly expensive. But whatever. We're going to see where Henry VIII lived (and is buried). We're going to backpack to Stonehenge and be able to walk in the circle literally as the sun is rising. We're going to visit Canterbury cathedral. We will see the Rosetta stone and the Magna Carta. We're going to be in the Tower of London at night to watch them do the ceremony of the keys - a ceremony that's been done every night for 700 years. It's 100% worth the cost.

lifeonthehill · February 2014

JoanE2012 said:

alyssa32713 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:
Hell, even buying the occasional coffee in the morning makes me feel guilty...
This is me.
We have to force ourselves to grocery shop. We feel so guilty buying food. haha.

Why?? It's a necessity, not a splurge.

That is just us being pathetic about needing to stick to the plan and save every penny.

SmrBrd2012 · February 2014

alyssa32713 said:

JoanE2012 said:

alyssa32713 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:
Hell, even buying the occasional coffee in the morning makes me feel guilty...
This is me.
We have to force ourselves to grocery shop. We feel so guilty buying food. haha.

Why?? It's a necessity, not a splurge.

That is just us being pathetic about needing to stick to the plan and save every penny.

Agreed. I feel that too. Basically if we buy anything other than basics I feel guilty...Like..."do we really need juice? Maybe we should just drink water" or "I really probably didn't need cheez-its" :P

vlagrl29 · February 2014

we haven't bought airline tickets in almost 4 years and with us going to FL this summer it sure was an eyeopener. $1,000 for round trip for 3! Holy crap. When we went to Hawaii back in 2009 and it was just the 2 of us, I wanna say we got a round trip for $1500.

hoffse · February 2014

vlagrl29 said:

we haven't bought airline tickets in almost 4 years and with us going to FL this summer it sure was an eyeopener. $1,000 for round trip for 3! Holy crap. When we went to Hawaii back in 2009 and it was just the 2 of us, I wanna say we got a round trip for $1500.

Yep. Flights for us are the single most expensive purchase. We do pay a bit extra for direct flights out of ATL, but it's worth it to get there, land, and be done. Plus H's dad somehow has this parking pass for the Atlanta airport that lets us park for free at the gate of the international terminal. That thing is money and saves us a couple hundred bucks each trip. Not to mention, we don't have to park 3 miles away and haul our luggage in.

I really with the US had the low-cost carriers like Europe does. I think our next trip over will probably be Spain, and we plan to do some intra-country flying on Vueling to get us to Granada (still not well connected by trains). A 90 minute flight from Barcelona is going to cost 40 euros apiece. That's so cheap. The US is just so big that presumably it's not cost-effective to offer those kinds of options.

vlagrl29 · February 2014

hoffse said:

vlagrl29 said:

we haven't bought airline tickets in almost 4 years and with us going to FL this summer it sure was an eyeopener. $1,000 for round trip for 3! Holy crap. When we went to Hawaii back in 2009 and it was just the 2 of us, I wanna say we got a round trip for $1500.

Yep. Flights for us are the single most expensive purchase. We do pay a bit extra for direct flights out of ATL, but it's worth it to get there, land, and be done. Plus H's dad somehow has this parking pass for the Atlanta airport that lets us park for free at the gate of the international terminal. That thing is money and saves us a couple hundred bucks each trip. Not to mention, we don't have to park 3 miles away and haul our luggage in.

I really with the US had the low-cost carriers like Europe does. I think our next trip over will probably be Spain, and we plan to do some intra-country flying on Vueling to get us to Granada (still not well connected by trains). A 90 minute flight from Barcelona is going to cost 40 euros apiece. That's so cheap. The US is just so big that presumably it's not cost-effective to offer those kinds of options.

I can't stand Atl airport. I honestly will probably never go to that city again. we opted in on a direct flight straight to Ft. Myers. Luckily DH's friend is paying for our airline tickets to do their wedding. Before we just had to buy 2 tickets and now we have to buy 3 with DD.

hoffse · February 2014

vlagrl29 said:

hoffse said:

vlagrl29 said:

we haven't bought airline tickets in almost 4 years and with us going to FL this summer it sure was an eyeopener. $1,000 for round trip for 3! Holy crap. When we went to Hawaii back in 2009 and it was just the 2 of us, I wanna say we got a round trip for $1500.

Yep. Flights for us are the single most expensive purchase. We do pay a bit extra for direct flights out of ATL, but it's worth it to get there, land, and be done. Plus H's dad somehow has this parking pass for the Atlanta airport that lets us park for free at the gate of the international terminal. That thing is money and saves us a couple hundred bucks each trip. Not to mention, we don't have to park 3 miles away and haul our luggage in.

I really with the US had the low-cost carriers like Europe does. I think our next trip over will probably be Spain, and we plan to do some intra-country flying on Vueling to get us to Granada (still not well connected by trains). A 90 minute flight from Barcelona is going to cost 40 euros apiece. That's so cheap. The US is just so big that presumably it's not cost-effective to offer those kinds of options.

I can't stand Atl airport. I honestly will probably never go to that city again. we opted in on a direct flight straight to Ft. Myers. Luckily DH's friend is paying for our airline tickets to do their wedding. Before we just had to buy 2 tickets and now we have to buy 3 with DD.

**STUCK IN THE BOX***

My H is a weirdo who looooves the Atlanta airport. God knows why. I think it's a mess, but he would rather drive two hours to fly out of Atlanta than drive 15 minutes to fly out of Bham. Granted, he does know every square inch of that airport, but still. I would prefer a much smaller airport experience if we were able to get more direct flights (and the free parking) like we can get in ATL. In Bham you can still arrive 20 minutes before boarding and be through security and at the gate in plenty of time.

The international terminal at ATL is actually pretty nice because it's like an airport within an airport. It has its own interstate exit, parking lots, and everything. There's literally no need to go to the messy part of the airport at all if your flights depart and arrive from that terminal.

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