I just spent 80 bucks on a game I’ll play at most 3 times in my life.
I’ve been keeping a really tight leash on myself lately. I had drawn up this rather unrealistic budget and was going through these draconian measures to try to stick to it, though I failed every week. Finally I broke down. My daughter was going on a week-long trip and she needed a few things, so I took her to Target and basically bought her everything she pointed at. Ahhh, that felt good! (And it was still rather pathetic as splurges go…I think both of us are natural tightwads.)
I’m thinking I might get to the thrift store tomorrow.
tremorviolet, that skirt looks like a good investment!
A road bike. A 2008 Specialized Ruby Comp, to be exact.
I don’t NEED it, and I certainly wasn’t planning on spending so much money on a bike, but I really waaaannnnt it.
I go pick it up tonight.
Books - do I need them? I’ll say yes. Massage? Oh, hell yes.
I’ll say I didn’t need to order that referbished ipod shuffle. And I appologize to everyone. If the medium suddenly shifts, it’ll be because I finally bought one.
About five years ago, I came to the hard but nonetheless true realization that, in my lifetime, I will never be able to read all of the books I then owned. I’m a faster reader than most, and I devote a goodly amount of time to reading each day, but there was no way, I found, that I’d be able to read every single book I’ve purchased. That was even figuring that I’d be able to devote considerably more time to reading during my Happy Golden Years, should they ever come.
Since that realization, I’ve purchased hundreds more books.
I bought three yesterday. And another today. Odds are that I’ll probably buy at least one more in my lifetime.
I do patronize libraries, too – about a quarter of the books I read each year are owned by my fellow Denver taxpayers.
I like owning books that are mine only, and it matters not that I don’t really need them.
A Playstation3 and a several cheap games for it. Also a basic Rock Band set, game, mic, drums for about $50. Most thanks to eBay, I got the mic and second PS3 controller from Amazon.
Thanks, I really hope it is. I’ve been trying to shift from buying a lot of cheap clothing to getting very few but nice pieces and wearing them for 5 years.
Latest thing I don’t need: Since I bought the Hot Fuzz Collector’s Edition, I figured I needed to add the Shaun of the Dead DVD. Damn Simon Pegg for being so crushable…
I buy little things I don’t really need, stuff like $7 DVDs at the grocery store (I still haven’t watched Lord of the Rings since I bought DVDs to replace the worn out VHS of Fellowship of the Ring and the copy of Return of the King that got lost somewhere), graphic tees on sale at Old Navy, fast food and random shit at the dollar store like fun socks or picture frames. I never really buy big things that I don’t need, but I buy so many little things that it really adds up!
Well, over the last few weeks:
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About $200 worth of 1900’s-1920’s French and German fashion and embroidery magazines (eBay)
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About $50 worth of antique / vintage pendants and pins to go with the 1908 dress I’m gonna make any day now… (ditto)
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A “new” computer (a 2000 PowerMac G4 to replace my current 1997 PowerMac G3) at $130, plus $25 for the cab to get it home (Craigslist)
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$85 on fancywork books and stuff, mostly reprints of turn-of-the century embroidery and crochet manuals (Lacis.com)
All of the above are in the “unusual, one-off” category except #1, which is a continuing addiction. Basically, eBay is the nemesis of my bank account, but I have a rockin’ collection of 1900’s-1920’s French and German fashion and embroidery magazines 
(seriously, I have some great stuff; I plan to leave it all to some deserving library when I die).
JRB
A chunk of my spending money goes on nice knitting yarn. But I do knit it up not just stash it, as I’ve found that if I have too much idle stash sitting around it makes me antsy.
I don’t feel guilty about that because it has a creative use.
I do manage to feel guilty every time I go and get my hair cut and colored by an expensive hairdresser. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity, sayeth the preacher. But I love how it looks and I need to get over that one - she is a talented practitioner of her craft, too, and worthy of the money I spend.
Yesterday I spent $250 on the registration for an open track event that I’ll be attending (as in driving in) this July.
The day before I spent $14 (including S&H) on this t-shirt, and I can’t wait for it to arrive.
Another one here who spends more on books than he needs to. I have shelves and boxes of books I haven’t read and yet I keep buying more. What makes it even worse is that there are series and author collections I’m trying to complete, but until I finish unpacking some of the boxes I don’t know for sure which ones I’m missing, so there’s a good chance I’ll end up buying duplicate copies.
But the big thing I’ve spending money on now is DVDs. They keep coming out with series that I loved when they first aired, so I want to buy them so I can watch them again. When I’m ever going to have time to watch them is the question.
The first four seasons of Nip/Tuck on DVD–did I “need” them? Well, I suppose that depends on how you define “need.”
Can I impose a slight hijack and ask tha you e-mail me. I am looking for a wood fountain pen.
Bumped rather than start a duplicate thread.
What do I want but can’t say I really need? For starters, a decimal ruler, ruled in tenths and in some cases down to hundredths of an inch. Because when doing practical geometry constructions with paper and cardboard (purely a hobby with zero real-world impact), irrational ratios that start with inches are a heck of a lot easier to calculate in decimal parts of an inch.
I’m trying to be strong. I’m not sure how long it will last, though.
Right now, I have 98 items in my TikTok cart and 50 items in my Amazon cart. None of them are wildly expensive; most of them are items I really don’t need. I would never purchase all of them, but once in a while, peruse my lists and pick out an item or two and order them.
Right now, I have an item in my TikTok cart beckoning to me. It’s called an Electric Flip Griddle Maker. It’s a rectangular griddle only large enough for two regular bread sandwiches. You can make omelets, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, etc. How is it different from a frying pan? I guess the only difference is that you don’t have flip the item. There is a heated lid that closes on top of whatever you’re cooking. Do I need it? Nope! But I keep thinking about it.
Pretty much anything that isn’t food, clothing, shelter or transportation.
Once we actually bought this house, so we weren’t saving up for it, and once the booming house market allowed us to re-fi at beneficial terms so we weren’t house-poor any more, I felt no qualms spending discretionary income on things we wanted.
I have hobbies. First, collecting fountain pens, for which I spent an astounding (to me) amount of money. Now all I can think about is disposing of them before I die. Then bookbinding, which is a lot less expensive, just materials and a few tools. I’m grateful I don’t have room for a full-on bookbinding room, because if I did it would be full of big heavy equipment. As it is, I pay $20 to go to a place that has the tools for 3 hours and use theirs. Much cheaper, and nothing to dispose of after I’m dead.