It’s funny, I went through this thread and thought how few luxuries I spend money on, except the one big luxury that consumes a mountain of my disposable income. A vacation home.
We have a second home up in the mountains, not terribly far away, a 90 minute drive, and it’s where we go when we want time away. It’s away from the hustle and bustle, we have games and stuff we can do on the property, an archery range, fire pit, hot tub, gardens and such. It’s peaceful, and quiet, and worth every penny we don’t spend on other luxuries.
We were going to buy a vacation home, but after thinking about it a lot, looking at properties, the amount of time we’d spend driving and total time we could spend at one, we changed out minds and decided to buy a “luxury” full-time home that we would enjoy every day we are home. So, we found a perfect house, large lot with orchard, ton of privacy, a beautiful outdoor space, plenty of room for family and entertaining, and we love it! We turned our former house, which we also liked into a rental.
We certainly didn’t need our new house, but are so glad we bought it. And, since it was a luxury purchase for us, we didn’t take on debt to buy. I wouldn’t like to go into debt for luxury items.
I started getting regular pedicures a few years ago when I realized how much trouble I was having trying to keep my toenails clipped. the place I go to has a massage chair and in addition to a foot soak and nail trim they buff the rough patches on my feet and massage my feet and calves. Once I even treated myself to a manicure.
First class flying
Hotel suites instead of rooms
5-star restaurants
Every salon/spa service known to human kind
UHD video and audio in my home entertainment
A large, quality wardrobe
Fortunately, I’m quite happy with those luxuries that are relatively inexpensive compared to many others. I couldn’t afford a lamborghini or a yacht on Lake Michigan or a mansion, etc.
To pick back up the merino underwear discussion, I came here to say that my luxury is wool blend clothing. Undies, dresses, shirts, leggings … I’m a complete convert. I buy from an online company called Wool&. Their male-clothing counterpart is Wool&Prince - I have two t-shirts from there as well. They sell some 100% wool shirts but otherwise the wool is blended with nylon to make non-scratchy yet still breathable and long-wearing items. I do very little laundry now since I can wear the non-underwear items on repeat. For the underwear, at first I had three pairs and would wash out a pair every night in the sink. Now I own 10 and just do a wash once a week. (It took me a couple of years to build up that stash …)
Life changing. I’ve tried some items from other wool-blend companies like WoolX and Woolly and I vastly prefer Wool&. They better not go out of business!
This probably isn’t considered a true luxury, but to me, it is. We have 5 acres, and a majority of it is woods. I have trails that the deer and I have made where I walk the dogs. Everyone on our road has pretty much the same acreage, but no one else goes back there. So my trails extend behind 5 or 6 other homes. While I’m walking, I always think that not many other people are fortunate to have this in their backyards. It’s so beautiful during every season. I’ve identified hundreds of plants, trees, and rocks. Halfway through our walk, I always find a log or big rock to sit on. The dogs roam around close by, and I take in the scenery and the sounds. It’s my happy place, my calming place.