Fine dining - I see this has been mentioned. Sometimes, going out (on a date with my wife) is an ‘experience’ because we are going to a fancy restaurant renowned for its menu or its chef. At the point where we make that decision, we also decide that we are okay with splurging. Once decided, it doesn’t matter what the menu lists as a price (or if it’s so fancy that the price isn’t even listed) - we are here to dine; we’ll reflect on the cost later.
Clothing - time and time again, I find that well made clothing is not just more durable but also more comfortable and better fitting. Better to buy high quality materials than have to regularly replace cheaper knock-offs.
Watches - If you decide to buy a watch, you don’t really go wrong if you splurge. Watches get stupidly expensive, but the best ones last a lifetime.
(My mom is one who insists that you should splurge on buying a mattress, but I do think that there are some good deals on good mattresses out there)
Sometimes I splurge in order to save time researching my options. I recently bought some scuba gear, and one of the things I bought was a Halcyon backplate and wing (it holds your tank and keeps you floating where you want to be.) It was $900. There were alternatives that some say are just as good for between half and two thirds the price. But there’s no consensus on which ones are as good or whether they’re really as good or just close. Nobody doesn’t like the Halcyon; people just complain about the price. So I made things easy on myself. A lot of what I spend my money on is about saving time.
Kitchen stuff, from the chopping, cutting and cooking items to the items you chop, cut and cook.
To me there is a difference between “splurging” (which I understand as “buying decent quality whether it happens to be cheap or not”) and “buying expensive stuff” (more expensive equals better, right? Uh, no).
You could tell which of the furniture in my maternal grandparents’ house had been bought by Grandma and which by her MiL. GG bought solid furniture, things which were comfortable to use and which survived four generations of mistreatment in good health (and I do mean mistreatment); Grandma bought the flimsiest, cheapest of anything, stuff which was uncomfortable and bad from day one (such as that desk whose drawers never opened or closed easily).
My mother recently decided to change her bed to one of those articulated ones, partly on the advice of her doctor, who’d pointed out that it would be a lot more comfortable than the fort of pillows she was building every night. She wanted to buy one she’d seen advertised on TV and which came with a bunch of magical gadgets; good thing she told me, because it took me five minutes to find several equivalent models in local stores, with prices between 1/4 and 1/2 of what the TV people asked for and no magical crap. I advised her to go to the store closest to her house, which is a bit more expensive than the big supermarkets but it’s a specialty shop: you ask that guy for “the hardest pillow you have” and he brings you your choice of three different soft rocks, all of them hypoallergenic. Bros agreed with my advice, Littlebro helped set up the deliveries and so forth. End result, a high-end bed (splurgey) for a price that thanks to the TV people even seemed cheap.
I do not know which are Kobal2’s recipes, but my options for a shoulder of lamb include:
getting individual portions “marked” by the butcher, roasting au jus.
same, but over a bed of potato slices.
getting it sliced, frying the outside and then cooking it slowly with a sauce involving mainly tomatoes and several varieties of sweet peppers (which the French call Basquaise and Spanish Basque call al chilindrón).
And, while it has been months since the last time I had some nice roast lamb shoulder, my mouth is making it clear that it does remember said lamb fondly.
Another vote for “first/business class” in airfare.
I haven’t done any overseas travel in years, but I have done a great deal of flying around North America, and the older I get, the less I like coach class on domestic and transborder routes. Especially now that the airlines nickel-and-dime coach passengers for nearly everything.
Flying first/business means that I get priority check-in, I can check a bag or two at no charge, I can take advantage of the airline’s private lounge with complimentary everything, I board first and debark first, I get complimentary alcohol and meals on board, and my luggage tends to come out first at the other end. There are other benefits, of course; but in the end, I’m in my fifties, and no longer willing to put up with what I did when I was in my twenties. Flying first/business makes air travel easier and my travel experience smoother.
I may buy inexpensive store brands at the supermarket, fill my car with the cheapest gas I can find, and take advantage of the local sports bar’s Happy Hour (“Pint of Draft Beer $2 Off”), but I’m willing to splurge on airfare.
Another vote for first class airfare. It is a six hour flight and I love the services. I am not rich by any means. But have been spending my daughter’s inheritance. After many years of providing for her education, etc., she is very successful and does not need the little I have saved.
Also, single malt scotch. And a hand-crafted stout beer.
Probably because mine had questions directed toward him personally. Yours was certainly a more pleasant and equally informative post, but mine called him to task with (admittedly snarky) counter questions. Yours was just an answer.
Cheaper smart phones can do most of the same things, just not as well. It’s like trying to run a laptop with the bare minimum specs for Windows 10–your’re going to sacrifice a lot of quality. You’re going to be spending a frustratingly large amount of time staring at hour glasses waiting for programs to open. Once open, they will be slower and less responsive. Yea, they might be able to take a picture, but probably not with the same clarity, contrast and resolution. And probably not at all in very low light conditions. For heavy users who switch between a ton of apps all day, it becomes very noticeable. I used to think having a top-of-the-line phone was more of a luxury until I spent a month using a cheap Samsung from Wal-Mart. Never again!
TVs are getting there too. I never thought the processor speed was something to care about in a SmartTV. After I upgraded a tv, I really started to notice the delay in my older ones when using NetFlix, Hulu, etc. So it’s a combination of “not knowing what you’re missing out on” and “not utilizing a thing to enough of an extent for it to matter”. Come to think of it, I think a lot of “splurge” items are like that. It’s hard to understand why a person would want luxury towels or more expensive TP, when the ones you’ve always used do a seemingly fine job of drying you off and cleaning your ass respectively. But once you experience (and especially once you grow accustomed to) the nicer things, you’ll wonder how you ever tolerated the others.
I use Dove brand soap, which is not super luxurious, but is nicer and more expensive than a basic store brand. And it’s well worth the extra money. I just feel cleaner when I use it. It’s one of the few products I splurge on.
Remote start for sure, especially with heated seats! steering wheel is nice… but I’m looking at heated/cooled cupholders on my next vehicle.
I’d add buying good durable tires… All-season and winter sets.
Yep, the amount of time, money, and frustration you’ll save yourself is more than worth it.
I’d add:
When visiting Disney, Universal, etc… staying right in the resort. You’ll save a ton of time and money for food, parking, transportation, etc…
Museum/Zoo passes! Well worth the money for just a couple of visits. Almost all of them have reciprocal agreements with other sites all over North America.
Home renovations. Spend the money, do it right, use pros, when necessary.
Since our train trip from Virginia Beach to Portland was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict, we have decided to follow the advice given in this thread and fly back first class for the first time in our lives(United on the way out and American on the way back). I even went through SeatGuru to find the best seats. Also, I will not skimp on beer.
This is more or less what I was going to say. I don’t go to theme parks like you mentioned, but I find it generally worth paying more for a hotel in a good, central location close to the things you actually plan to visit. In someplace like New York, a hotel way out in Brooklyn might be cheaper, but then you’re probably going to spend an hour every day of your vacation riding the subway to and from Manhattan.
For me it’s good coffee, good yarn (I started knitting recently…what?), good vacations.
I disagree with the author of the article about sheets; I read somewhere (and anecdotally founad to be true) that higher thread-count sheets tend to be “sweatier” than lower thread-count sheets, which are also typically cheaper. Which makes logical sense since there would be fewer threads per square inch, so the resulting fabric is more breathable.
Edited to add something else splurge-worthy about which my husband & I frequently disagree: Instacart or some other grocery delivery service. He calls it “cheating,” I call it spending up front to avoid splurge shopping at the grocery while saving time. Your mileage may vary. They also have free pickup service at most major chains, so strongly recommend that as well (but that’s not exactly a splurge).
Go ahead and splurge on the fast pass, or whatever they call the upgrade on your park tickets that lets you get through the lines quicker, too. The extra money it costs is well worth the time saved waiting to get on the rides.
I could make a good case for a premium lawn mower based on my experience with my Honda self propelled push mower. I got the top of the line except without electric start. It (after 5+ years) starts on the first or second pull (unless it’s really cold), mulches just about anything that fits under the deck, and has the feature where you can leave the mower running but the blade engages separately. It comes in handy this time of year, I use the riding mower to blow all the leaves to the center of the yard and then use the mulching push mower to reduce everything to powder.
I find this a difficult question because there’s certain things you can spend as much as you want on that thing because someone will sell it to you. Cars Knives Boats Jewelry
I mean, seriously: socks!! cite
You get the idea. What is “splurging” when idiots buy these things?
I’m a restless sleeper and having a comfortable king sized mattress is probably our marriage has lasted fifty years. A good night’s sleep makes everything go so much better.
Likewise, I spend a lot of time on my feet and good comfortable shoes are a must.
OTOH I can’t justify spending the extra money on first class airfare. I would rather take the extra money and stay at a nicer venue at my destination.
As I get older, I am more picky about where we dine out. Atmosphere, service along food quality (rather than quantity.)
Then there are certain products where paying more is a waste for me. Wine, for instance. I can tell the difference between a very cheap wine and an average wine, but paying more than $20 for a bottle not money well spent. My brother, OTOH, can explain the nuances and subtleties in various wines (and do so without sounding like a snob).
Sir, kindly refrain from asking me questions regarding matters that are deeply personal and private. This is strictly between me, that lamb shoulder, and as much garlic as will fit in the bloody pot.
The question is not, “What can you spend stupid amounts of money on?” but more like “When is it worth it to pay more for something that is really good?”
