What will you/won't you spend a lot of money on?

Deborah · What will you/won't you spend a lot of money on?

I don't like to spend a lot of money on clothes. About 15 years ago I bought a pair of boots for $75, which I thought was outrageous, but my friends assured me it wasn't. Besides, that was the last pair of boots I ever bought. I own very little footwear these days, and I haven't worn boots for at least 10 years.

I don't own a car and don't expect to, as long as I live in a city with good public tranportation, but if I did, I'd probably try to find the cheapest one that still drivable.

I am willing to pay for high quality food, though, and I've been splurging on taxis a bit too often recently. I've been known to spend close to $100 to see visiting Russian dance companies that don't come here often. Fortunately, my local world-class ballet company sells standing room tickets for only $10, which is one of the best deals I know of.

The most money I've paid for a tangible item is what I spent on my computer, although I'm sure it was nothing compared to what many people spend. The only other large expenditures I've made have been on travel. A few years ago I took the train from San Francisco to Seattle. Several of my friends thought I was being terribly extravagant because traveling by plane was so much cheaper, not to mention faster. But they didn't seem to grasp the idea that my reason for taking the slow, expensive train was to have nothing to do for a day (and night) but enjoy the scenery.

Loic

Maybe a Vertu mobile phone. It costs over 10K and I think I'd only blow my moolah on something as extravagant as that if I'd won the lottery.

I don't mind spending more than 1 million for a car if it is within my means. My dream car is a Lamborghini Diablo and in Singapore, it costs in the region of 1 million dollars. Cars are dreadfully expensive here; the cheapest goes for at least 50 grand.

Since I have never earned a penny in my life, I don't think I've ever personally spent on anything that costs over a hundred dollars.

Oh yes, I actually spent over 200 dollars on my birthday treating my friends to beer. That is actually the most I've spent in my life.

Deborah

I completely forgot about how much I spent on bellydancing costumes, that I haven't performed for more than 6 years. I mostly made my own costumes, but I didn't skimp on buying the best fabrics, and beads in quantity can be pretty expensive. I only bought one costume (usually that just means the bra & belt part) for $250, and I did it because it was so different from the typical costume. It used a type of "fabric" that was like the metal purses they used to make in the '20s and '30s:

Click to see full size image

It was, however, made of a metallic-looking plastic, and was iridescent, with colors of silver, turquoise, blue and purple.

Uriel

Well, my biggest purchases have been a house and a car ($87,000 and $12,000) -- which makes them big personal expenditures, but certainly modest in comparison with the average market for those things. And it wasn't like I plunked down cash for either -- I just committed myself to being in debt.

I don't mind spending up to about $150 or so in a single store, but that would never be on a single item! I will indulge in expensive food on occasion (especially imported candy or a pricey restaurant meal) as a treat. I seem to drop a good deal of money at the vet, which makes pet-owning an expensive hobby (damn, I miss my employee discount!). I tend to be generous with men as well (they can be an expensive pastime as well!)

Deborah

Your house -- your nice house -- only cost $87,000?! I don't think you you could find any kind of house in San Francisco for so little money -- not one you'd want to live in, that is. (I'm probably dead wrong; I'll have to research the matter.)

Today I unloaded an outrageous amount of money on glasses, subscription sunglasses and the next 2 years' worth of contact lenses, all because I didn't manage to spend all the money in my flexible spending account.

I don't know whether many other countries do something like this -- employers who offer this benefit will gradually deduct the amount you choose (up to $5000 at my firm) to cover medical expenses that aren't covered by health insurance. The money is deducted before taxes are taken out, so the income you eventually have to pay taxes on is less. You can then be reimbursed for your expenses, from the amount that's been put into your flexible spending account.

The problem is, if you've decided to have $3000 deducted and then you don't spend it, you don't get reimbursed for the unspent funds, so you lose it. (Either way, you've lost the money, but if you've spent it and can get reimbursed, you at least have something to show for the money you've lost.) I was going to lose big-time this year, so I bought a new pair of glasses for close-up to mid-range, a pair of "progressive" glasses (3 different distant ranges smoothly combined into one lens), prescription sunglasses to wear over my contact lenses so that I can see to drive, prescription sunglasses for distance when I'm not wearing contacts, and enough disposable contact lenses to last me 2 years. I really did need all of these, but I only bought designer frames to use up all the money I'd lose otherwise.

Benjamin [inactive]

I have a tendency to raid the savings account which my parents set up for me ages ago. This is usually for my numerous trips abroad (like now -- I'm in Poland at the moment), but I also spent about $1,000 USD on a laptop (my iBook G4) and about $3,500 on two clarinets.

Because of the current exchange rate, my money goes a long way in Poland. Basically, although the exchange rate is about 5zl (Polish money) to about 1 GBP, the reality is that what would cost 1 GBP in England costs about 1zl here. So I'm going to go on a spending spree tomorrow and Saturday in order to exploit the very low (from my perspective) prices here -- and probably feel rather guilty about it.

Uriel

Well, I can see spending money on something that will always be a great memory and an experience that enriches your life, like travel, and on something that is your passion, like dance or music, better than I can see spending lots of money on meaningless consumer items -- expensive clothes, flashy cars -- things that I think of as mainly empty conspicuous consumption.

On the other hand, I suppose there are those people for whom fashion really is a passion, and they take the art and skill of designing a well-made piece of apparel seriously, as loic does. My mother is a costume designer for a local theater group in her town, and she takes immense pride and pleasure in researching period styles, choosing beautiful fabrics, and the whole experience of crafting the outfit from a pattern on paper to putting the final embellishments on the finished piece. And she never even gets to wear most of them! (and you should see some of her medieval creations -- my god!)

Likewise, there are people who are in love with the lines of certain cars, and take great pleasure in restoring an old model or customizing them -- often because working on cars is something they did with their father, or an interest that bonds them with other like-minded people. I can be derisive because it's not my passion and it would never have that effect on me, but that doesn't mean that it isn't meaningful to them.

So, you know -- to each their own!

Deborah

I took 3 trips to Russia in 1988, 1990 and 1991 -- that was a large expenditure.

Elaine

I spend too much money on a number of things-- clothes, shoes, handbags, makeup, jewelry, accessories, indo/sativa...

Oh, and toys and cute little clothes for my nieces and nephews.

Stuff that I don't spend a lot of money on are techno-gadgets-- all that terminology and acronyms make my head spin!

Joanne

I've been spending way too much money (in my opinion) on lawyers, these days. So if any of you have been wondering why I've been "off" lately, that's why.

Oh well. What else will I refuse to spend gobs of money on? Probably that newfangled iPhone. The cheapest model is like $500, and for what?

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Loic

Litigation is always expensive. I hope the legal fees aren't burning a hole in your pocket, Joanne.

I was wondering: would anyone here spend more than a grand for a Titleist driver with an extra-large sweet spot that'd guarantee a more efficient as well as a powerful swing?

I would not mind as long as it's legal. It is frustrating to hit at around only 150 metres with a driver.

Uriel

Dude, you're waaaayyyy too young to be playing golf!

And now I have to picture you in knickers....

No, not those:

These!

Loic

Haha. Well, those knickers look pretty cute. Your favourites, Uriel?

I started playing golf since I was 17. So if anything, I think I started out when I was too old.

PS: Who wears golfing knickers nowadays? I sometimes wear berms to play golf if it's on a municipal course.

Uriel

Patrix

I spend plenty of money on books. but I'm the can't-shit-without-

flipping-through-a-few-pages-and-never-read-except-when-shitting type.

I bought at least 600 books over the years, and finished reading 5%, I

guess, of them. But I have a rule for myself: I do read the first 30

pages of each book.

I suppose I have a lot of comrades who

share this habit with me, worldwide! Hey, do you folks of Langcafé,

have anything to confess on this?

Also, since I love cheese and yoghurt, each time I go to the Carrefour

nearby, I buy a lot--sometimes too much--of them. Only a few types of

cheese are seen here in this northeastern Chinese city, mostly brie,

edam and cheddar, some are domestic made, most imported (from

France, Germany, and New Zealand), but they all taste so terrific!

That's one thing I love about westerners--they make fabulous cheese. By

the way, my favorite is a German brand.

When it comes to my largest expenditure, I think it's my IBM R51e

notepad. It cost me 900 US dollars--and its price dropped by 200

dollars only a few months later! I chose the type with the lowest

configuration, and of course, the least expensive one, because I didn't

want to play large games, that computing capability was enough. But I

do need it to work for a long time, 5 years maybe, so gesundheit,

paddie!

I'll never spend money on luxuries.

Uriel

I have a whole bookshelf in my crapper! I'll read on the pot until my legs are numb -- or play Tetris!

Almost every spring I blow a couple hundred (or more) on plants. Not all at once, but over a couple of months. At first I pretty much killed most of the things I bought, because they couldn't tolerate the heat and dryness, but I've learned through trial and error what survives and what doesn't. And luckily, sage comes in lots of different colors....

I have half an acre surrounded by chainlink fence, and I have vowed to cover that thing up with bushes and vines or die trying....

Porthos

I would love to have a tv on the wall directly across from the toilet in my bathroom. I waste away about half my life reading or text messaging on the crapper. I hate missing my favorite programs or an important part of a basketball game because I'm on the pot.

I have an idea for an invention, that would most likely appeal to the men here only.

But how about this? A talking toilet, fully equipped with aritifical intelligence. It could have sensory perception which quantifies the weight of each load you drop, and then make a comment about it.

So if you take a good dump, it would say something like this:
"Uh, yeah! That was a good shit! Bring on some more of that!"

Or if you drop just a little weak marble terd, it would say:
"That's all you got pansy??? That ain't a shit! Why don't you shit or get off the pot!"

........LMAO!! That would be so effing hilarious! I would pay big bucks for that kind of thing.

Back to the original discussion. I'm very frugle. I hate spending money going out to eat, because the way I figure, you consume it, and then you shit the food out within 30 minutes or so, so it's literally the equivalent of shitting out green paper into the toilet. What a waste! I save-invest most of my money, and the remainder goes to CDs, colognes, and clothes, and haircuts etc. I will spend money for a concert, or a trip to an amusement park.

Deborah

I've sunk a lot of money into my deck garden; the major expense is the planters. I'm still using a fair amount of the plastic ones my mother used (they don't work well except for the hardiest plants, such as geraniums), and plain terra cotta pots don't cost much, but I also bought 5 wooden tubs of various sizes, and a couple of nice, large Mexican terra cotta pots with designs carved into them. For all that, you'd think the garden would look better than it does.

Now I'm about to shell out a lot of money for my cat, who has been losing a lot of weight. When I took him in for his annual exam, he'd been throwing up about 3-4 times a week, but the vet didn't find anything wrong with his kidneys or liver. After I got him home, he started throwing up everything he ate, then just gave up on eating and drinking. So now he's hospitalised and has to get an ultrasound. He also has to have a fang extracted, assuming he's well enough to be anaesthetized. The cost estimate is from about $1100 on the low end to almost $1800 on the high end. Maybe I should get pet health insurance, but I think I'd end up paying just about as much.

Joanne

Uriel

Every time I spend a little too much "quality time" on my twa-lette, my ex likes to walk by and call out, "Bust that masa!" through the door. Of course, this is the same guy who warns his toilet when he's about to unload/explode/drop a bomb, "Watch out, shitter!"

Walker

Pauline

I received 25 euros from Saint Nicholas in december, and I didn't quickly spend them, then I bought some things e.g. a clock with a picture of a hen on it.

I would like to spend money on: nice bags (I like bags!!!), beautiful pictures, cuddly toys, books, flowers, some rabbits, donkeys and horses and a house at the seaside.

My mother bought for me some make-up this week, and it's very nice (Chanel) but I would prefer to spend this money on other things - it's her money so I can't tell her get some animals instead and put them in the garden

Loic

Like Porthos, I am inclined to believe that spending too much money on food is excessive comsumption at its very worst.

However, food and drink is a way to build bonds and friendship. If there is a need, I do not mind eating in style with friends and raking up an astronomical bill in the process.

I once had lunch at a restaurant with a dress code and in casual dressed-down Singapore, it is a very big thing when the head waitor refuses to permit you entry unless you are wearing at least a sport coat. I enjoyed myself thoroughly although I nearly had a heart attack when the bill came.

Harrenys Targaryen

Most of the items that I'd select have already been mentioned, but nonetheless:

I'd fork over a fortune to obtain videogames and the corresponding consoles, educational materials (especially language learning), quality food(s) both at the grocery and in restaurants, and bus passes - don't get me started on why I dislike cars in general.

I wouldn't purchase fashionable clothes, sports equipment, and cologne on my own under any circumstances.

Wanderin · Re: What will you/won't you spend a lot of money on?

Uriel

Well, let me qualify that, Wanderin -- a house in New Mexico costs $87,000. Anywhere else it would probably be a lot higher, but our real estate is not that much in demand, for some reason....

And actually, I think the median cost of a house in Las Cruces is about $250,000 -- I got very, very lucky!

Lazar

I just did some Googling, and as of August 2006, the median house price here in Central Massachusetts is $290,000, and the median price statewide is $360,000. (And it says that in Boston, it's $500,000.)

Deborah

One reliable-looking site I came across said that the median value of a house in San Francisco is $783,250.

Loic

Housing prices are usually seen as bellwether for the general state of economy.

But prices aren't surely as expensive as those tiny crammed cubbyholes you see in Tokyo or HK where the psf (price per square foot) is in the high thousands.

Uriel

I remember when I lived in Japan the joke was that if you laid a 1000 yen note on the pavement, that was about the size of the real estate it would buy. (1000 yen was about 7 or 8 dollars back then).

They were probably being generous.

The housing market in NM is apparently still going strong -- better than the national average. I bought my house right after September 11th, when the interest rates were plummeting into freefall -- I figured that was the best time to lock in a rate for a 30 year mortgage -- I was never going to beat 6.12% or whatever it is. I was wrong though -- I think they actually dropped into the 4's before rising back up. Still, I'm pretty happy about my rate -- and shocked at how easy it was to get approved -- I never even put any money down! And I think I was only making about $7/hour at the time, and my boyfriend was making $9 or $10 (it took both of us to qualify). Combined incomes were probably still under $40k a year, though.

Wanderin

Porthos

Wanderin, what country are you from?

Uriel

Wanderin

Benjamin [inactive]

I'd actually say that at least the northern half of the contingent United States has far colder winters than most of Northwest Europe.

Porthos

Deborah

Uriel

NM is much warmer than the places I put pictures of -- but we still get down below freezing, because of our altitude.

I talked to a friend of mine yesterday who said he would rather spend all of his money on internal combustion -- Harleys, Camaros, etc. -- before getting into debt with a house. I.e., buy all the cars and bikes he wants, and then get involved in a mortgage once they're paid off. Interesting theory.

Wanderin

Uriel

Porthos

Wanderin

What will you/won't you spend a lot of money on?

Re: What will you/won't you spend a lot of money on?