What do you/would you spend 'spare' money on?

[Laura Corin]

I know that things are really tight for a lot of people on the boards, but the cruise thread got me thinking: what do you/would you (if available) spend any spare (however you define 'spare') money on?  Cruises, cats, gadgets, tractors?

 

For me it's probably plants.  I always have my eye on something that I'd like to buy for the garden/yard.  Husband likes to eat out (eating out regularly is not nearly as common here as it seems to be in the US).  As a family, we like renting a country cottage and exploring an area.

 

Please, let's try not to attack each other about relative levels of wealth or priorities.  Let's keep it fun.  Perhaps if we talk about what we like to do/would like to do but not how much we spend or how often we do it?

 

ETA: I changed the poll to allow multiple choices.

[SemiSweet]

I voted for vacations, I hate flying with a passion but I love seeing new places and have my next 4-5 vacations kind of planned out. I really enjoy seeing other cultures and eating their food. On the other hand, we are moving soon and considering buying a 100+ year old house, so I may be changing my answer to household improvements in the near future. :)

[Penguin]

Travel is my priority for spending fun money. I have only been on one cruise, and it was OK. But not my preferred means of travel.

 

We also enjoy events, and have bought some expensive tickets over the years. Usually we attend free or modestly priced events, though.

Good food is nice, whether at home or out. I didn't see entertaining on your list, but I have been known to throw some fun money into putting together a party.

 

I find it particularly fun to try to seek out frugal ways to do all of the above.

 

Overall, I prefer to spend on experiences rather than stuff. I have no interest in cars, clothes, or decorating. And I keep my hobbies minimalist. Except that I own too many books.

 

DH likes boating. We don't have a boat right now, but want to get one again someday.

[Laura Corin]

I voted for vacations, I hate flying with a passion but I love seeing new places and have my next 4-5 vacations kind of planned out. I really enjoy seeing other cultures and eating their food. On the other hand, we are moving soon and considering buying a 100+ year old house, so I may be changing my answer to household improvements in the near future. :)

 

I changed the poll to allow multiple choices.

[TeacherZee]

Travel, books, clothes, scrap booking supplies, eating out. In that order :)

[SKL]

For me, travel (vacations) and charity are about equal.  I also chose self care, because I would like to do more of that, though I don't generally do much.

 

For most things I'd like to do, it's more time than money that is holding me back.  For example, I'd really love to do a long road trip with my kids over a summer vacation.  But getting away from my job for more than a few days is very difficult.

[fraidycat]

Travel. Books. Massage.... Everything on the poll list except alcohol, really.

 

If I had a whole lot to spare - live in chef. I'll clean happily if I never have to deal with food. :)

[abba12]

Puzzles, logic games, good quality toys are always high on the list for me. I am NOT a minimalist, though I do choose to buy one great quality item over three generic ones. 

 

Hobby items are next, we love our hobbies and I think any skill or passion should be given opportunity to develop

 

Books are great. We have poor libraries here, I want to build up a great home library.

 

Travel is nice but with three little ones, all the money in the world wouldnt make it less stressful at this stage of our lives lol. 

[Joyofsixreboot]

I voted eating out because any spare money we have tends to be in the $50/range. If I won the lottery I'd tour the world.

[Tap]

For me it is eating out.  Not fancy meals, just the freedom to pick up Chipotle whenever I want, or a coffee.  The ability to eat quickly, without planning and without making a mess is wonderful to me. It is like a little one-hour vacation whenever we eat out.

 

For dh it is vacations.  He will pinch every penny and go hungry to take trips.  I have a bad back and travel is very hard on me.  I don't enjoy travel as much as he does, so I often stay home while he travels to see his friends in different states.

 

 

When he travels, I rarely cook.  LOL  DH and dd16 have been sailing for the past week and it is just DS20 and I at home. DD8 is at the grandparents. The only things I have cooked at home in 7 days...... are coffee in the morning, a take-and- bake pizza for ds20's friends and grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

If he is on vacation, so am I. LOL :0)

 

 

[creekland]

Travel easily wins!  If money were no object we'd be traveling 24/7 I suspect.  Both hubby and I absolutely love exploring our planet - with emphasis on nature over cities.  We'd love to visit every single country, though those currently at war would be at the bottom of our list.

 

Eating out and charitable donations would run neck and neck for second.  I can cook, but I don't like doing it most of the time.  A personal chef who is willing to use my recipes half the time would also be handy!  Definitely out of the budget though.

 

We only fix up our house or get furniture, etc, when it's a need.  It might be a want, but it's so far down on the list compared to the other three that it just never happens unless it must.

 

We super rarely do alcohol and never do massages or similar.

[Camelfeet]

All of the above, except maybe self care, alcohol, and physical presents.  

 

Travel is my priority.  

 

I would like a new kitchen since my cabinet doors keep falling off.  However, I rent and I'm not going to do improvements on my landlord's property when all he will do is turn around and raise the rent.  I don't know if maybe that means my house isn't actually a priority to me.   :confused1:

 

 

[wendyroo]

Time is our most precious commodity right now, so spare money normally goes toward outsourcing necessary jobs that we could do on our own, but enjoy not having to.  The last couple years we have splurged and hired seasonal snow plowing for the driveway.  I am getting estimates right now to have someone come and paint the basement...I am fully capable of doing the job, but juggling the kids and working in little stolen moments would make it take f.o.r.e.v.e.r compared to someone else coming in and getting it done in a couple days.

 

Wendy

[marbel]

I had to split between travel and home improvements.

 

Yesterday we got back from a short but fabulous vacation.  We took money out of savings to pay for it.  It wasn't luxurious but it did cost some money:  lodging, which was not super nice but good enough, and we had two rooms instead of cramming into one.  Theater tickets.  Nice lunches and dinners out instead of trying to eat out of the cooler.  Tickets to a local historical site. 

 

It was so wonderful and though I feel a pinch of conscience for taking money out of savings, it was so necessary.  Our kids are quickly reaching college/moving out age.  We need time together.  We need to build some good memories.  The last few years haven't been great for us:  we moved cross-country, our son was mysteriously sick for three years.  The future is uncertain for various reasons (of course it is for everyone, but we have a few precarious areas).

 

However, our house also needs a lot of work and my husband and I are not getting any younger.  So, that is the second thing.  Our house hasn't recovered it's value after the 2007/2008 trouble.  (We bought in 2007 right before the crash.)   We're not planning to sell any time soon but we want to be ready.  Things like a new front door, carpet, updated light fixtures can wait but they can't wait forever.

[Carrie12345]

Without any hinted at dollar amount, I chose home improvements, travel, and "events".  In my mind, day trips fall under "events".

 

I've never had any big travel dreams, but I wouldn't mind the opportunity to lounge on a tropical beach for a week, guilt free.

If my counter tops and floor still need replacing, I won't be able to veg guilt free, lol.

[abba12]

Time is our most precious commodity right now, so spare money normally goes toward outsourcing necessary jobs that we could do on our own, but enjoy not having to.  The last couple years we have splurged and hired seasonal snow plowing for the driveway.  I am getting estimates right now to have someone come and paint the basement...I am fully capable of doing the job, but juggling the kids and working in little stolen moments would make it take f.o.r.e.v.e.r compared to someone else coming in and getting it done in a couple days.

 

Wendy

 

I had to come back to this thread to add an expenditure I forgot about, and I see you beat me to it!

 

We recently paid someone to come and sort out our crazy yard for us. He had the right tools and the experience to get it done quicker than us. It would have been a full long weekend project for us, and we wanted that time more than we wanted the money we paid him.

 

I also hire a house cleaner once a week when I am pregnant (I have long lasting hyperemesis with each). In pregnancy, for our family, we consider it a necessity for the first few months because it's too much for my husband to take over my role completely when I am bedbound on top of his work. Unfortunately, it is only a luxury once I am on my feet lol. If we had the spare money I'd hire one permanently. It was SO nice. But, we don't. 

[Kathryn]

I had three votes: what extra money does get spent on (eating out), what it should get spent on (household improvements), and what I would want to spend it on if it were up to me (vacations).

[HelenNotOfTroy]

Disney World, which would be travel for other people, books (but we usually buy those used, so it takes a lot less spare money), eating out. Usually, I end up spending spare money on necessities that aren't in the budget, like clothes for me.

[The Girls' Mom]

Food is probably first.  We like expensive food..lol.  When we have extra we often go out to eat somewhere nice.

 

Then hobby stuff.  Dh loves to have old tractors around to tinker with.  I have an art supply fetish.  We both like computers, tablets and such.  

 

Third would fall under household improvements I guess, but it is more like property improvements.  We buy stuff for the garden, trees, gravel, etc.  

[Amira]

We have spare money now for the first time in 18 years of marriage. Seeing the place we're currently living is the biggest thing we spend it on. It has been nice to have some money to buy some Mexican things we love and be able to take them with us. We were never able to to much of that in Kyrgyzstan or Palestine, either time we lived in both places.

 

We eat out a lot more now, but that's more about being in Mexico where it costs a lot less to do that. We won't choose to spend much money on eating out in the US. I will spend more on groceries there though and it will be nice to have more ingredients to choose from.

 

We've never had home improvements, ever, because we haven't owned a home in over ten years and that was just for a couple of years in a new house we had designed. We don't own much furniture and I don't really want to get more.

 

We've gotten some things framed recently that we've been carting around the world for 20 years. We donate more to charity now.

 

Mostly, though, the spare money means that I don't have to worry about unexpected expenses keeping us from eating or paying rent. And I can hire someone else to do the cleaning when I move and to pack up the kitchen. It is simply quite heavenly.

[bettyandbob]

when my kids were little all my "spare" money was spent on medical stuff, because I refused to believe my dc were stuck and had to live "that way" forever. It was an expensive endeavor. It forever changed the trajectory of lifestyle one would have expected. It was worth it. In one of my dc diagnosis was completely changed, treatment is rather simple and she no longer needed drugs that needed careful monitoring. For the other two new things did help. We don't have a lot of cool family vacation memories, but for now my dc are as healthy as they could be given where they were at the beginning of this road. 

 

Now, that we aren't spending so much that we qualify for medical deductions, vacations and fitness. Fitness for me because I'm still rebuilding what I let go when I was dealing with the dc so intently. Vacations money for us usually isn't big (2 nights camping here and there at the beach). This year we are going big for us--Universal Studios (carefully budgeted fixed costs, leaving a little wiggle room to spend while there). 

 

The other reason we didn't do so many vacations is because one of my dc has hidden disabilities that made some trips horrible disasters--no good memories made and money gone. 

[Chess Dad]

Cool topic!

 

I would have to list eating out first.  We tend to do that more than we should.  We also like the Beach!  We are traveling to Oak Island, NC in two weeks and it's always a good trip.  We live in Kentucky, so a beach trip is a big treat.  I also take a couple of the kids camping in Michigan during the month of May.  It's funny, the kids would rather camp in the middle of the woods for 5 days than go to the beach...lol.  kids..

 

But, if I hit the lottery (I don't play so I won't) I would love to travel and see the world.  That would be exciting.

 

Thanks for the topic.   :patriot:

[madteaparty]

Events and vacations. I'm about to spend money I should really be an adult and save to sail the seven seas with my two kids, for an undetermined amount of time.

[Meriwether]

Sports/exercise is our big one, because we have kids in so many activities. Extra money means more classes, tournaments, equipment, etc. We would give some money away. If it was a small amount, I'd buy myself a book.

[MomtoCandJ]

Right now home improvements is top priority (and there's a lot to improve at my house). After that it's a tie between eating out and vacations but we tend to connect the two :)

[AmandaVT]

DH and I were daydreaming the other day about buying a used RV and spending a few weeks at a time traveling the US and Canada in it. It would be amazing to be able to just really take time to explore and have the means to do so!

 

 

[Serenade]

I guess if I had a lot of spare money, I'd travel. (Didn't vote that in the poll, though.)   With smaller amounts,  I voted for good food at home.  That's one of my mini-fantasies -- to be able to shop at places like Whole Foods and fill my cart without a care for the price.   Second would be home improvements -- we have a lot of them needed.  DH can do most of the work, but we still have to buy the supplies.  I'd love to be able to spend $1000+ on tiles of my choice for our kitchen backsplash, which we were supposed to put in when we moved, but never did.   I'd like beautiful Italian hand-painted tiles as accents, but the rest can be something plain.  Still, those things are pricey, which is probably why we haven't done the project yet.  Maybe I should stick with a Home Depot special just to get it done.  Lastly, I'd like to be able to take my kids to concerts and shows.  Oh, and have a driver to take me there.  For me, just as big an obstacle as the price of the events, is driving and parking at crowded venues.  Yikes!  

[swimmermom3]

I voted for vacations, but I think of it more in terms of "travel." We love experiencing new places whether we are using Airbnb or are camping. Even day trips around our beautiful state rank high on our list.

 

After that, it would probably be on home improvements both large and small. In the next few months we need to do a new roof and exterior paint. We have been in our home for 20 years and updates are needed.

 

If I have "extra" money, I dislike dropping it on things like eating out. I never feel like I get a good return in terms of satisfaction for my money.

[Eagle]

Books!

 

We're planning to get a new bookshelf soon. We already have the books to fill it. :)

[AimeeM]

DH and I both take out a certain amount of "blow money" or "play money" every couple of weeks. 

 

I generally spend on mine on:

 

*Starbucks

*Barnes and Nobles

*Charitable (I guess you could call it charitable contributions - I like to set aside some 5's and 10's to give to a few local homeless that I see consistently)

*I set some aside for gifts for DH (Father's Day, birthdays, Christmas)

*Fast food for the kids when we're out and about and busy, lol

 

ETA: I'm sorry. Did you mean personal money or "spare" money within the family as a whole? "Spare" money in the family usually goes towards outings, visits to DH's family (which doubles as a vacation, because we make it one - it's Philadelphia, so there's plenty to do, when the weather is nice), date nights (and the sitter for date nights), etc.

 

[Night Elf]

Small amounts of spending money: eating out, Starbucks, books. We always seem to have big expenses that come up. Otherwise, we put the money into savings. We only take one vacation a year to visit family in another state.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I had three votes: what extra money does get spent on (eating out), what it should get spent on (household improvements), and what I would want to spend it on if it were up to me (vacations).

Ditto.

[bolt.]

Vacations (mostly camping, some beach resorts); food at home (good tea, chocolate, cheese, organic or health-food options, more steak more often); lots of charitable giving; home 'improvement' (mostly furniture and decor, but not extravagant options).

 

Thank you for not including "savings" as an option for "extra" money... To me, that's part of living a solid financial life, not an extra. (I am sorry for those in a saving-not-possible situation. I'm not trying to be rude of imply that it's irresponsible to have that happening in your life. It's just as a matter of vocabulary/semantics I consider that 'not having enough for the basics' situation, not a 'lacking money for extras' situation.)

[Sahamamama]

#1 -- An electrical generator. When the power goes out, no part of the house operates -- not the well pump (we have our own well, but the pump is run on electricity), not the electric stove/oven, not the heater (it's oil, but the starter is electric), nothing. Not even the garage doors will open without electricity. My #1 goal for "extra" money would be to resolve some of that vulnerability. We are saving for a generator, but it's slow going.

 

#2 -- Some food storage. It's amazing how quickly the grocery store shelves empty out during a snowstorm or hurricane (we live in NJ, so the most densely populated state in the US). I'd like to have our pantry well-stocked for such emergencies, not exactly in a prepper sort of way (as in, years' worth of food). Just enough for a few weeks, I think. We do not now have this, and it, too, feels like a major vulnerability to me. But we're working on shoring up that weakness.

 

Actually, I think it's pathetic that I'm dreaming of generators and pantries, instead of vacations and fine dining.  :blushing: That's the way it is.

[bibiche]

I answered "vacation," but I meant travel. I consider the two very different, the former being (for me) more frivolous and the latter being essential. eg it is unlikely that I would be able to justify spending money to go to a fancy beach resort or on a cruise so if that were the vacation choice my answer would change.

[Guest]

 

Thank you for not including "savings" as an option for "extra" money... To me, that's part of living a solid financial life, not an extra. (I am sorry for those in a saving-not-possible situation. I'm not trying to be rude of imply that it's irresponsible to have that happening in your life. It's just as a matter of vocabulary/semantics I consider that 'not having enough for the basics' situation, not a 'lacking money for extras' situation.)

 

 

Well put, Bolt.

 

Assuming that, and the "spare money" was in addition to being able to pay off debt, replace things like mattresses that have springs poking out of them, not getting blindsided when 20 year old appliances konk out at the worst possible moment, and that (since this is the Hive after all) we can all agree that books are a necessity and not a frivolous expense or an addiction then....

 

 

...asgodismywitnessi'llneverbehungryagainnonotmenoranyofmyfolks....

 

But forget the lie, steal, cheat, and kill part. That's never appealed to me and is why I sometimes forget how amazing it feels not to be hungry.

 

In my fantasy world, I would spend my spare money at the farmer's market to pay my local organic farmers a fair price for their hard work and hard earned knowledge.

 

A vacation just sounds like a lot of unnecessary work to my 50 year old self. I already hitchhiked around North America and several other countries while it was still a fun, exciting adventure and can't honestly say that I've ever regretted it.

 

Minifree X200 yes:

 

http://minifree.org/product/libreboot-x200/

 

Latest and greatest iThings no, but my existing electronics work fine so that's just what I want to replace them with when they break and wear out instead of making do with whatever somebody else is throwing away and thinks I'm supposed to want.

[Laura Corin]

Thank you for not including "savings" as an option for "extra" money... To me, that's part of living a solid financial life, not an extra. (I am sorry for those in a saving-not-possible situation. I'm not trying to be rude of imply that it's irresponsible to have that happening in your life. It's just as a matter of vocabulary/semantics I consider that 'not having enough for the basics' situation, not a 'lacking money for extras' situation.)

 

I wanted to keep it light, so sought to exclude anything that might lead to an argument about what was a responsible use of money.  When I put 'household improvements' I wasn't thinking of fixing the roof, but more fun stuff.

[Meriwether]

Sahamamama, I believe there is something you can use to run temporarily run part of the house off the car battery. It uses less gas than a generator and is probably cheaper. I don't know what it is called. Someone just mentioned doing it once.

[SparklyUnicorn]

hobbies, books...books...did I mention books?

 

 

[Guest]

Tattoos, travel and books...depending how much spare money I have :)

[SKL]

I might have said home improvements if I wasn't having a bunch done right now.  Though, isn't really an extra when you have so much damage that you'd never be able to sell your house like that.  Or have company over for that matter.

[Critterfixer]

Hobby stuff. I'd love to buy a couple varieties of honeybee to see which variety I like best. I'd like to try some top-bar hives to compare with my standard ten-frame hives. And I'd love to take some bee-keeping workshops. 

I'd also love to purchase some trees for my front yard. Bee-forage trees. Naturally. :laugh:

[regentrude]

Travel.

Events (concerts+theatre)

[Ali in OR]

I have a list of home improvements that I've been working on for the last year and a half or so. We've lived in this house for about 13 years and we've been homeowners for 22 years--stuff around here is just old. We replaced kitchen appliances over the course of a year ending last summer. This summer we all got new mattresses and duvet covers. We're painting the girls' room this weekend. I am enjoying every little improvement to our home--I'm a homebody and it just makes me happy.

 

I do think travel is good for us and builds good memories, but it is hard and stressful on me. The mom has to do twice the normal work just getting ready to leave, and travel with a severely disabled child is hard. We just returned home and I had about 5 hours of sleep per night from before we left until the night we got home. I do not like sharing a hotel room with my family; disabled dd was growling in the middle of the night (many in our family sleep through it but not me) and she wakes before 6:00. It feels really good to be home and sleeping in my own bed. So home wins over travel here.

 

I also spent more than usual on experiences for the kids this summer--both went to drama camp and science camp which we'd never done before. 

[TrixieB]

If we had spare money, it would go toward a new roof and replacing some carpeting that is limping along at the end of its lifespan.

 

If we had more spare money than that, I would like to go on a real vacation... one that is more than 3 days long, and one where I don't have to cook all the meals.

[kitten18]

I split between hobby and sport and exercise.

 

Most of our extra goes to

 

Ballet - Dd

Gymnastics - DS

Indoor rock climbing - whole family

[MeghansMom]

Traveling. When things get better I want to do more of it.

 

Things are okay enough that I am back at the gym, but I would love to start hiking, cycling and camping.

 

Things are okay enough that I get my hair regularly cut and a pedicure, however to be able to get facials and massages regularly would be heavenly!

 

 

[waa510]

I would build or live in a tiny home, travel everywhere I could, buy an astounding number of books for my kids. I would pay someone a ton of money for Japanese learning classes/tutoring multiple times a week, go out to eat a lot more, and travel on the bullet train constantly. I'd visit Kyoto, all the shrines, get baby-sitters for my kids so Dh and I could go out more. Pay a caregiver to care for older family members so I can stop worrying about them all alone.  OOHH, pay a translator to follow me around everywhere so I can shop and enjoy life again! :tongue_smilie:  I'd get some new clothes and lots of jewelry too.

 

 

It's probably good I'm not wealthy!! 

[flyingiguana]

Musical instruments.  And lessons.

 

My husband has also been buying a lot of sound recording equipment.  Now we just need to get him to learn how to use it.  (Course, then we'll hear how we sound....)

 

I wish we spent money on vacations -- but I wish someone other than ME would plan them. We have enough money for modest vacations. But I loathe planning them.  So we don't go.  Even though I've pointed out time and again that a really good birthday present for me would be to have someone ELSE plan a vacation.

 

As a result, the only "vacation" we ever have is visiting relatives, because I feel obligated to plan and go on those trips.  If I didn't plan those, we wouldn't do that either, even though half are to my husband's family.  He often wonders why we don't visit them more.  Well.....

[Crimson Wife]

I like doing stuff. I miss the days when our budget allowed for a subscription to the symphony and tickets to the opera and the ballet. The local opera is putting on The Magic Flute, which is one of my favorites. Unfortunately even the balcony seats aren't in our budget right now. I checked Goldstar and they don't have any discount tickets yet. Hopefully closer to the performance they will get some that are cheap enough for us to go.

 

We do maintain a membership to the local art museum and a science museum near my IL's house that has reciprocal admission to several of the museums here. I also get passes through the library that cover some portion of the cost to visit museums that aren't included in the ASTC passport.

 

I also like clothes, shoes, makeup, trips to the salon, etc. but those REALLY aren't in the budget for me.