My sweet baboo has a boat. He’s away so the dang thing is taking up much room in my driveway. He says that owning a boat is tossing money into a hole in the water. From what I’m learning, its a money pit in my driveway as well.
The sailing clothes are expensive, but they do make me look hawt…so I don’t mind that as much 
That’s really sweet. sniff
Swords. If I had the money, I’d have half a dozen Japanese swords right now. The problem is that the cheap ones start at around $3,000–5,000 for something decent, and one made to my specifications would probably run about $20,000. As it is, if I didn’t live overseas, I probably would have bought 5 of the blades on this page by now since $1,200 seems downright affordable in comparison. Hell, I’d probably get one each of these and these if I had the money to spend.
Most of the people I know, including some of the martial arts geeks, would think I was nuts for wanting so many of so many different styles.
As much SCA garb and gear I could cram into a trailer. I’m talking clothes, authentic weapons(swords, spears, and a yew English longbow) tents like this, a fire pit fit to cook a whole pig on, and of course a portable beer tap. And the trailer.
Also, guns. Lots and lots of guns. And some private land I can shoot them on as well. OK sure, lots of people collect guns, but if I won the lottery that’s what a big chunk o’ change would go to, and my family and friends would think it’s a weird thing to do. I currently have just one at the moment.
Kitchen toys. Most of them aren’t expensive for what they are (e.g., I have a $150 knife instead of a $1500 knife, which are certainly available), but I make up for it in volume. A sausage-stuffer here, a stand mixer there, a smoker or two… it adds up.
Oh, and I spent a little over a hundred on a pair of dance shoes the other day, which boggled MY mind, even if no one else would notice. God damn, but that suede lining is comfortable, though.
Travel, for sure. I have all the things I need, but there are places I’ve yet to see - beckoning me!
Ho’s-a good hooker is worth the money!
Comparing a $1000/night ho with a $25.00 streetwalker is insane!
As a fellow pianist (although not a teacher), I now have some dust in my eye. sniff
For me, it’s computer stuff. I have an iMac, a Macbook and an iPad. My husband has an iMac, a Macbook Air and an iPad. I have bought many different gaming mice over the years, and have settled with my Deathadder for now, although I’m still looking.
Also restaurants, in that my husband and I are prepared to spend more than our friends are. We’ll happily spend £100 per person on food. To us, an evening at the restaurant is almost like being in a play and we’re playing the roles of diners. It’s fun and we really enjoy the whole theatre of it.
What I’ve been doing lately is replacing horribly old, worn out stuff with the snazzy new versions. For instance, last November I replaced my 15 year old saggy twin mattress with a queen size tempur-pedic deluxe. Then when I totalled my 1996 Toyota Camry with a busted bumper, bird crap-stained hood, and things malfunctioning every other week with a car equipped with leather, a sunroof, voice sync technology, heated mirrors, and six-disc changer. Not brand new and not a luxury car, but still worth about three times as much as my last car.
ETA: This behavior is probably due to my age/station in life. I can afford much more as a working woman than I could as a college student.
That’s funny. A relative of mine once had a boat named Sweet Baboo.
Normally, food. I eat like a sultan. Fine cheeses, specialty honey, the best produce I can find, premium teas and fair trade coffees? Sign me up, please! (Although the coffee is more my husband’s thing, we both enjoy it.) I buy what I want, when I want, and I think food expenses would be the hardest thing to trim from our budget. Plus, it’s a lot easier for me to maintain healthy eating habits this way. I’m good at keeping track of nutrition and cost, but not at the same time.
Currently, aquariums. I’m getting back into fish keeping after a years-long hiatus, and I feel like I’ve gone insane. I started up the first aquarium in January and have four running right now, with careful stocking plans for biotope aquariums (and some fish that I had to special order), along with high tech lighting systems for plants that I will also have to order, and much more high-end filters, hoods, substrate, and tanks than I’ve ever used before. The thing about aquariums is that they’re deceptive; each individual thing isn’t that expensive, but you end up with so many different parts that they add up.
That is the coolest thing I’ve seen all week. snif
Cool - very cool. I recommend two books - both non-fiction, about relationships between people and their pianos:
A Grand Obsession - this woman gets a high-end piano, then spends a while trying to figure out how to make it sound the same at home as it did in the store. It has a lot of descriptions of how she approached the issue and resources she used - seems like piano nuts would really dig it.
The Little Piano Shop on the Left Bank - American ends up in Paris and wants to scratch his piano itch - ends up getting on the inside gang of a small, charming piano shop - lots of cool piano stories and finding your voice…
My parents (mostly my mom) wring their hands about the things my wife and I spend money on. I don’t hear it directly; Mom expresses her anguish to my sister, and then my sister and I talk and :rolleyes: about it.
My wife and I just spent a weekend in Chicago. Two nights in nice hotels (one right on Michigan Ave.), and two very nice dinners, each about $80 per person. Enjoyed a couple of drinks before/with dinner each time. Mom would have a glass of box-wine at home before going out, but she won’t buy alcohol at a restaurant, and their idea of an upscale restaurant is the Macaroni Grill (which I like too, but “upscale” for us is more like Shaw’s Crab House).
My parents have bought used cars all their lives. Dad’s been pretty smart about it, picking cars that are just a couple of years old with high mileage (all easy highway miles, relatively few cold starts, but the mileage cuts the price a lot), and they’ve certainly saved a lot of money by doing so. Me? Since finishing grad school 12 years ago, I’ve bought two brand-new BMW motorcycles and a brand-new car; also expecting to buy my wife a new car this year, and myself a new car next year. No doubt we could save big bucks by buying used, but having vehicles that are completely ours - every ding, scratch, and cookie-crumb, and knowing the engine break-in and maintenance history - is a luxury that we appreciate, can afford, and are willing to pay for.
Fishing equipment. $400 reel they only sell in Japan? Sure! $300 rods? Why not? Then there are $30 lures I need in various colors and duplicates of each of those colors.
Fat Duck?
If anybody found out how much I spend on CDs, I’d be very embarrassed. If you add on the money I’ve spent on iTunes (for tracks I can’t get on CD)… oh dear.
You, sir, are my Internet hero of the week. 
That is beyond awesome!
My own spending madness comes in the form of stuff for my medieval hobby. I’ve spent over $600 on a tent (13’ round pavillion, with all the hardware and ropes), over $500 on 14th century articulated finger gauntlets (hand armour), and at least $2000 a year on event fees, gas, and the like to support my hobby. My helmet and breastplate would have cost about $3000 together, but thankfully were gifted to me by a master armourer who I have become close friends with.
Granted, I could have spent a LOT more than that, but I do try to make most of my gear, which makes it a lot cheaper. Some things, though (like the gauntlets) are beyond my skill level.
If I had unlimited funds (and unlimited closet space) – boots. I have a real weakness for boots for some reason. I love wearing them. I think they’re hot. Not just any boots, though – a lot of what passes for fashionable these days, I think is pretty dumb-looking (wedge heels, the super-pointy toes, etc.). These are adorable and have been on my wish list for literally years, though.
If I had the money, I’d probably dress steampunk most of the time, actually.
My other major expenditure in this vein was a fully-custom-made corset. It’s a gorgeous corset: emerald green brocade, steel-boned, made to my measurements, hand-beaded all across the front. That ran me about $575 or $600. I paid for it from that “stimulus money” that W sent to the citizenry some years ago, so I got an extra charge out of using that money to support a fetish-wear company. 
Oh, I forgot to add: dogs. I have three - two are purebred (and English Springer spaniel and a Cocker Spaniel) and one is a rescue mutt that is a mix between a Sharpei and a yellow lab. This year alone, my wife and I have spent at least $2000 on dogs and dog stuff, and it’s going to be really expensive later this year, because the rescue mutt needs eye surgery that is going to run at least $1500 per eye.
Most of my friends and coworkers think I’m insane to spend $3000 on a dog that we literally rescued from a dumpster, but he is seriously worth it to me - he’s a great dog, awesome with the kids, incredibly lovable, and damnit, family.
