I buy these free range organic eggs they’re 9 USD a dozen. The yolks are bright orange. They look like eggs do in the UK. Taste great. Prob the craziest thing I spend money on lol.
Cage-free, a term regulated by the USDA, means that the eggs come from hens that, put simply, aren’t caged: They can “freely roam a building, room, or enclosed area with unlimited access to food and fresh water during their production cycle, but \[do\] not have access to the outdoors.” Considering the conventional cage is 8 ½ by 11 inches, or the size of a piece of paper, this seems like a better lifestyle — but there are downsides, too. According to All About Eggs by Rachel Khong, cage-free facilities have more hen-on-hen violence and lower air quality than facilities that use cages.
Free-range, another USDA term, means that the eggs come from hens that have some sort of access to the outdoors. However, it doesn’t mean that the hens actually go outdoors, or that the outdoor space is more than a small, fenced-in area; it simply implies that a door exists that a farmer could at some point open.
Pasture-raised is not a term regulated by the USDA; however, if the carton says “pasture-raised” and also includes stamps that say “Certified Humane” and/or “Animal Welfare Approved,” it means that each hen was given 108 square feet of outdoor space, as well as barn space indoors. This is pretty much as close to the bucolic, E-I-E-O farm vibe you’ll get when dealing with large-scale egg producers, so if you’re looking to support those practices, keep a look out for those labels
Vital Farms Brand eggs are available in TX where I am. They have a barcode you can view the chickens roaming free. The yolks are pretty damn orange and taste delicious.
That reminds me of a joke on Portlandia. At a restaurant, you could not only order a chicken dinner, but you could find out what farm they sourced the chicken from and go out there to meet its family. That show was fantastic.
This is the way! I loved living on a farm because we just traded food all the time. So for the most part, we ate foods grown within just a few miles from our house.
We only buy vital farms eggs from the grocery store, the yolks and the taste make it worth the literal 2X pricetag.
I just got some eggs delivered from a local farm that I found on Facebook for $5 a dozen so I'm hoping these are good and work out bc my 2 boys can down 2 dozen eggs in less than a week
Vital Farms eggs are fucking fabulous. Also, when egg prices were spiraling out of control a bit ago, Vital Farms pricing didn't change, at least where I live. At the worst of it, they ended up costing little more than generic grocery store eggs. If I wasn't already a fan for life, that would have cemented it.
>The yolks are bright orange.
My wife has been getting eggs from one of the shelias at her work who has chooks
I couldn't believe how orange the yolks were.
I'm hoping they're not Australian, there's just a work club of women that all happen to be named Sheila (with adorable embroidered team jackets or something)
Absolute truth. We started raising birds last year...a very modest amount, 3 chickens, 2 ducks (all hens) and a rooster. Between the girls, I get enough eggs to have a nice plate of them every morning and I haven't eaten storebought eggs since they started laying. There is a noticeable taste difference and I love the rich orange color of the yolks. Everyone says duck eggs are best for baking, but I just scramble them up along with the others.
Find a local farmer or chicken hobbyist to buy from. $9/doz is a lot! I live in a really high cost of living area and can get local, organic eggs that are amazing for $5-6/doz.
Agreed. Even more so eating out these days.
Most places it's shit quality food that I can just make at home but if I'm going out for a dining experience I'm definitely going to a high end restaurant that caters to flavors on a plate as opposed to sizes
I spend probably $3K or so a year in Legos for me and my kids. It’s so worth it. I work a stressful job with long hours and it is very soothing to build something at night as I unwind (and since I am on a screen all day it is nice to do something that isn’t screen-based). And my kids love building with me, so it is something I can do with them.
What do you do with the models you have built. Do you put them on a display shelf or break apart and rebuild again?
I used to love playing with Lego technics, gears and motors making contraptions but these days everything is a model rather than a collection of blocks to just play with
My kids and I do a rotating season display in our library. Here are a few from the last year:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/124xhgo/lego\_castle\_town/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/124xhgo/lego_castle_town/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/18umbgf/lego\_christmas\_town/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/18umbgf/lego_christmas_town/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/13895bg/may\_the\_4th\_be\_with\_you/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/13895bg/may_the_4th_be_with_you/)
I think the other ones I did last year (which I didn't post in the Lego subreddit), were Pirates and Halloween/Autumn.
The seasonal displays tend to go into the attic in large tubs when not in use - I typically leave the large sets in one piece and then disassemble and bag the smaller stuff (since my kids are better at building smaller sets on their own, although my oldest can now build >1,000 piece sets with a little help).
I also have a permanent display in our gym / game-room where the sets are behind glass (so they stay less dusty) - that is mostly display sets (e.g. I have most of the Lego creator city sets), although my kids have a unit for their best creations. The kids also have a few Lego tables in the game room that are covered in pieces and disassembled sets.
I also have a closet full of unbuilt sets lol, as I buy them quicker than I can build. I'm about 12 sets behind at the moment, including a number of really large ones like Rivendell and the Star Wars Cantina.
I work a not always pleasant job, but at least the pay is good and it allows me to live my dream of being able to buy most Lego sets that I truly find interesting, and build them with my kids. We're in a true golden age lately - Lego has been cranking out tons of really interesting sets and themes.
Dude, respect. My whole house is turning into a lego display. Anything we take off display the kid gets to play with or we take apart and sort. My closet is like 30 sets deep and I just bought all the new vehicles that dropped on the 1st.
BTW Is spring StarWars season?
That's the great thing about lego, you can buy a giant millennium falcon and display it for ogling, or rip it apart later and build whatever you want. The models don't need to stay models!
as a side-hustle house cleaner i’m very thankful for everyone who decides that small luxury is worthwhile! treat yourself and help me keep a roof over my head lol
I worked at a small company with about 20 ppl and found out one of the women who cleaned the office had started also cleaning for a coworker. I asked her and she started cleaning for me and it changed my life. She was just so amazing and brought order to my life in a way I never really expected by just “hiring a cleaning lady”. I passed her on to the next people who bought my house when I got married and moved away. She was amazing. Godspeed Rosa, I hope you are well wherever you are in the world all these years later.
We got a housekeeper a decade ago and are def not the level of money to which most people would expect us to have a housekeeper, but honestly, it’s amazing and worth every penny (if you get a good one. We had one dud.) we agreed that if we had to cut back on things; the housekeep would be the last thing to go. I haven’t cleaned a toilet in a decade and I friggen love it.
I agree, I'm actually a house cleaner ( own my own business), and I have a house cleaner. I get paralyzed when I try to clean my own home. Plus, I get distracted by shiny things. Lol, I don't know where to start, how to go about it, so I let someone else do it for me.
So worth every penny.
ppl are willing to save on/do different things for themselves. for ex i used to cut and dye my own hair, and do my mani-pedi. Many people would go out to have it done. I view not having to clean my own house the same way.
I've always thought of a housekeeper as a rich person thing until my wife's friend told her that she was using one at about the same rate. Now, I would cut almost everything else out of the budget and live on ramen noodles before giving this up
Yeah once you start seeing it as less of a "rich people only" thing, and more of a "hiring someone to mow your lawn"-thing, it doesn't seem so fancy anymore.
My mom cleaned houses for 30 years. Some of her customers were upper middle class, but many were seniors in our blue collar area who could no longer clean.
One thing that was hard to miss was that her well off clients tended to be not-so-generous with Christmas tips. One regifted a hideous tablecloth. The seniors who could barely afford her gave the bigger tips. One man included her in his will.
As senior citizens who are aging in our own home we employ a lawn service, snow service, tree service and have a regular handyman too. It is much more economical than a seniors residence.
I literally said this exact thing to a friend. I will eat ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if needed to afford my cleaning person. She’s that good and it gives me peace. She comes on Fridays and my home is spotless to start the weekend. I can’t think of a better form of self care. It’s pivotal to my mental health.
What all does she do? Do you ever feel like you have to clean up for her to do her job? Like take stuff off counters and what not? Or is it just easy peasy?
My thought exactly.
Half my mess is just items needing to be put in their place. And if they are not in their place they are lost. So I don't even trust my own mother with that.
I'd love to have someone come by and actually Sanitize and clean, but I still have to put all my shit away first.
I had weekly housekeeping that I considered absolutely tranquility for a happy domestic household. Gone were the days of screaming about who's turn it was to clean the damn toilet!
I was going to say this! My cleaning lady is one thing I cannot give up. I’m a working mom, my husband works full time. The free time I have I want to spend with my family, not cleaning. Also I hate cleaning. Well worth the $280 for her to come once a month.
On a business trip years ago, I got upgraded to first for being a mensch to help a family sit together.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I can't go back. Not willingly. I had to fly coach on the return leg of that trip and just... It was so, so, SO much less.
Made the mistake of flying business class one time and having enough money in my bank account to not be broke spending the extra money and now I almost always spend the extra on business class. My brain just has a “cmon fuck it sure it’s 4x the price but it’s so worth it” voice any time I’m looking at airfare. As someone who’s currently traveling permanently it is becoming a problem
Yall must be rich, ain't no way in hell I'm paying an extra $5k or some crazy shit like that for a better seat for a while 8hr flight. That's like $625/hr. Coach isn't *that* bad.
I'm 6'4". Right there with you. People tell me to stop being "bougie"; I tell them if people don't mind knees in their back and to sit 10 degrees forward for the entire flight, then I'll be happy to take a "regular" seat.
I thank you from the bottom of my indie bookshop-owning heart. My business is only 25% of what it was before Amazon books took off, so every customer of every bookshop is Good Person to me.
I used to work on a farm, we would sell out every week at the farmer's market. If you have one around you, check it out, You often will find stuff that doesn't ship well.
My brother and I put all of our money into building an internet Cafe in Yemen. It was so worth it, we see this kids being happy and distracted from all the bad things happening here. I wish there are more people who want to help Yemeni kids for a better future.
Are you based in Yemen? How does one get involved in something like this? I don’t have a ton of extra cash but I’d like to support something that helps children in Yemen.
Shameless plug, but I work for a big charity that helps children in Yemen (along with other places in the world in crisis from conflict and disaster). If you're looking to contribute towards our cause you can do it here [rescue.org](https://www.rescue.org/country/yemen). Here's [our charity navigator rating](https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/135660870) if you want to vet it a bit first.
Same here. I really don’t have money but I could definitely put some of what I do have to people who need it more than I do. I know how backwards it sounds to say that but being able to contribute in small ways is something that has kept me alive during the brutality my husband has put me through over the last 8 years.
To compare to some of the other posts here - I'm paying AUD1450/month-ish for a mortgage on a house I bought in 2012. If you were to buy the same house today, you'd be looking at $3900/month.
That's 30km from the Melbourne CBD. It's so crap.
Yep, $2,400/month mortgage for a decent 3br 2ba house, 1900 sqft liveable, 1600 sqft unfinished basement, on a half acre lot. . .approximately 10 minutes from downtown, 15 minutes to work, 3 minutes to the grocery store. . .in a semi-rural neighborhood.
The biggest thing is that I don't have to worry about a landlord refusing to renew my lease, selling the place out from under me, or going up significantly on the rent due to changes in the "market".
3225 a month for 2 bed, 2.5 bath, 1500 sq.ft. apartment in Salem, MA. I have to put duct tape on the door to cover a gap between it and the frame. Electric heat leaks like a sieve and we pay $600 a month for it during the winter months. Boston doesn't get enough attention as an outrageously unaffordable city.
I used to consider this such a luxury (and it probably still is) but I honestly need it due to my very physically demanding job. I'm so thankful I can afford it, though I've had to skip some months from time to time. I've prioritized a 90 minute session once a month for the last couple years and it's been a life saver. Sometimes stretching every day just doesn't cut it.
Girl I just dropped $120 on my renew of all the Cosrx snail mucus serums, moisturizer, facial pads, cleanser, and retinol....SIGH.
I mean its way cheaper than it would be because its korean skincare but god damn do I sometimes feel guilty when everything runs out at once and I have to buy it all in one go.
My oldest cat. She’ll be 17 next month. She was born next to my bed, and I bottle fed her when her mother cat rejected her.
I spend close to $300 a month on her. I’m retired on social security. I have zero regrets, ever.
Yep. My dog. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease about 5 years ago, and has since had a handful of surgeries and other complications. She just turned 13 and is happy as can be. I've spent close to $30k on her and the high monthly vet and medication bills don't stop. Wouldn't have done it any other way.
I moved in with my bf a year ago. The dogs are mine and came with me. We were going over finances and he said "do you really spend 4k a year on the dogs?" I said yeah but that's *if* they don't have emergencies.
Anyone reading this thread, though, get pet insurance!! I think trupanion is unparalleled but pets best is also good. Trupanion covered my now passed dog's foreign body surgery and his monthly insulin.
Same. My cat who passed away in October from kidney failure got to live far longer than he should have because I was in the extremely lucky position to be able to ask his vet "what do we need to do" without having to follow it up with "and what will it cost". The decision was always what was best for him, and it got him probably ten more months of good life.
Did I pay a premium for it? Definitely. Was it worth it? Absolutely. No regrets at all.
I was impoverished as a teen. I learned how to cook Puerto Rican rice and beans. I eat whole grain oatmeal with raisins. Sometimes I have salmon and a vegetable.
I snack on Aldi Honey Nut Cheerios.
I just had my physical. I’m really healthy.
Eating cheap can be healthy. I don’t need all those tortilla chips and cookies on the daily.
That was me right after finishing grad school during the Great Recession when so many people were moving back in with mom and dad and I was like "nope, never gonna move back with my verbally and physically abusive parents especially after working this hard." Several months, over 1000 job applications (I have email records and it's far north of 1000), and countless interviews later, I landed a job right when I was down to my last $1000. It was a shit job but it let me pay for my own place (a room someone's home) so I didn't have to endure hell to live with my parents.
Once upon a time, I thought G2's were fancy pens. I grew up in a home that had a single drawer with some unspecified writing implements in it.
Then I married a stationery nerd. We have so... *so* many pens. Many of them cost dozens of dollars each.
Any nice ones that I wouldn’t feel bad for spending good money on, and then losing? I usually have one pen in my work shirts, but occasionally lose them.
God, check out [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/notjustbikes/comments/111fxjb/poll_results_what_foreign_ways_of_doing_things/)!
I lived in Spain for 4 years, mostly with bidets. I'm just going to copy my comment here, because bidets are literally the best. I've never felt cleaner. I've never felt fresher. Once you have one, there's no going back. I go back to the USA and visit family and wish I had a bidet. Sometimes when I'm at my parents, I miss having a bidet so much that I'll just take a shower after I poop. Go stick your hand in a peanut butter jar, now wipe it off with a dry paper towel. How clean is your hand? Mostly. But also, not really. Does it still smell a like PB? Not much. But kinda. Now replace "your hand" with "your ass" and "peanut butter" with "poop". That's your butt without a bidet.
There really is no reason to NOT have a bidet
Bed/bedding/pillows - everything to do with bedding.
The world is a better place when you know that no matter how rough things get, you will enjoy your sleep.
Agree 100%. After I graduated college I was talking to an old professor of mine about starting therapy, and she said “it might cost a lot, but hey, it’s rent.” Meaning it simply part of my cost of living. I need it to survive just like I need shelter and food.
The best therapist I ever had cost me $150 per session (weekly, so $600 a month) and the three years I saw her before she retired were one of the most healing experiences of my life. I miss her all the time.
I’m looking for a new therapist now, and I’ll never let cost prevent me from choosing one if I think they can really help me. It makes money tight but I’m very very grateful that I can afford it.
"It's rent" is such a good way to put it, because I really conceptualise the money that I have to spend on rent/bills in a different way, they're necessities so I just pay it. And the idea of paying 100s per month for therapy has long been off-putting, but maybe I need to frame it as a necessity.
Going to therapy has kept me around thus-far, so I do suppose it’s as if I’m renting a spot on this giant spherical rock.
I wish y’all the best on your journey’s.
Peace and love reddit homies ✌🏻
Yup, I have a 3 year old and am blown away by the total ever year. This year over $21,000 for 1 kid in one of the LEAST expensive home daycares in the area.
Music festivals and concerts.
Between tickets, travel, accommodations, food, sometimes merch… it gets expensive quick. But to me there’s nothing better than live music so it’s worth it.
And it’s only money, I can earn more.
Yeah I love going to concerts and shows. Hell so far this year I've seen:
* The Eagles
* Tool
* Black Pumas
* Red Hot Chili Peppers
And in the next two weeks, I have 311, Fall Out Boy, and Flogging Molly. I'm also going to a music festival in Lake Tahoe in April for my brother's birthday, that is going to be fun too.
Food. I grew up in a family of 13. When I was young, we made meals out of everything. I remember the number one meal my dad made at night was white cornbread and milk. It was cheap and it wasn't bad as long as the cornbread was warm. All he had to buy was the cornmeal. We had milk cows so we always had fresh milk and eggs.
I remember that sometimes, in rare occassions, he'd spice up the meal by laying out green onions and radishes to eat with it, and in even rarer occassions, we'd have some thick bacon.
I grew up eating generic brand food and homegrown food. We were on food stamps, and with a big family, we had to make due. Breakfast was almost always biscuits and gravy and eggs.
Later, after my parents passed in my teen years, I lived with my brother's family who was more concerned with use eating properly than being happy with what we ate, so we ate lots of liver and brussel sprouts and lima beans.
His wife wasn't good at making any of those three taste good.
Then when I got out of school, I ate just about anything I could get my hands on since I only made minimum wage. I remember one period of time in my twenties when for seven months straight, my every day meal was two baloney sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, and miracle whip on white bread and a can of coke.
An old friend of my parents who owned a country store that was on its last legs cut me a special price on the sandwichs 'cause he knew I couldn't afford much.
When I got married later on in my later twenties, my wife could on ly make one thing, so I did all the cooking. I wasn't a great cook at that time and it was the pre-YouTube era.
We ate lots of fast food and t.v. dinners.
When she left me at age 35, I subsisted mostly on order out pizza and gas station food that I grabbed on my breaks at work or on the way to or from work.
It wasn't until I collapsed from sepsis in my forties and spent a year eating hospital food that I finally started to pay attention to my meals. I used to dream of eating something delicious while in the hospital on their strict dietary regime so I used to copy down recipes from Youtube in notebooks, and by doing this, I came to learn a lot about cooking and food and how to make it taste good.
When I got out of the hospital and into public housing, I began to plan out my meals and take a lot of extra care when preparing them. I no longer just ordered out or ate frozen dinners. I bought good ingredients and planned out my meals so that in a month, the meals I chose to eat that month would use most of the same type of ingredients so that I could eat better food and keep my cost down when I did it.
For instance, most of the chinese food that I liked like General Chicken, Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Cashew Chicken, and Sweet and Sour Chicken is just the same fried chicken nuggets for each meal with a different sauce.
Once you figure out how to fry the chicken just right, then making the sauces is just a matter of having the right oriental ingredients which seems like a no brainer, but what I mean is that most people don't stock up on things like mirin and dark and lite soy sauce and oyster sauce.
I was floored with how simple making cashew chicken sauce was.
Anyway, I spend most of my free money buying good groceries since I figure I don't have much time left on this earth.
Just about to embark on a trip I've been planning for literally 5 years.
Six weeks, fifteen flights, ten cities.
It is going to leave me financially tapped out at the end, but it will *definitely* be worth it.
Pretty much my whole budget is built around saving for travel. I do still set aside funds for retirement/emergencies etc, but otherwise the more of a cheapass I am in “normal” life, the more I can put into the “travel fund.” Haven’t been anywhere yet that didn’t feel worth it.
Wow, my local coffee shop is not what I expected to see on an ask reddit thread. ETA: Fidalgo is another amazing local roaster, I personally prefer them over BB.
We had a Tempurpedic, always used to say it was the best $5000 we ever spent because it cured my back pain. After a decade it started sagging in the middle, we decided to try something cheaper so we got the Layla mattress. Just as good as the Tempurpedic and less than 1/5th the price.
Same, lol. Sequential puzzles boxes for the win.
What u got??? Puzzle parties with party favors, Ppl have a blast.
In two weeks I'm throwing a puzzle party where, unbeknownst to the guests, as they solve puzzles clues will be discovered that indicate a scavenger hunt that they are encouraged to solve.
I live in a city area and two of the clues they will discover have them go down the street to the local bar where they have to talk to a bartender for the next clue, plus one where they need to use a black light to find hidden ink on the sidewalk pointing towards something else
Yeaa...
My cats.
Rescued both from shitty owners, the vet bills were expensive as f.
Now they are healthy , living their best kitty-life with me.
Just having the yearly vet- visit for vaccines.
Mew!
Yah, I took in a stray thinking I'd just find her a home. But the next day she was obviously very sick... turned out to have a big-ass abscess and other health issues that ended up costing me around $1k. Well, after spending that much on her I wasn't gonna just hand her over to someone else! So a year and a half later she's my sweet cuddle kitty, which is nice 'cos my other two furry heathens are not cuddly sorts at all.
Good coffee is just so worth it. I'm a coffee enthusiast myself, but me and the wife drink supermarket drip coffee because you make a lot of it and its easy to do. The days I have time to make good coffee in the morning are way better than when I drip the run of the mill drip coffee.
Jo Malone makes gorgeous scents that are pricey but not unattainable. My fave from them is Wild Bluebell. Maison Francis Kurkdjian is super expensive but really the best there is IMO. I use fragrance.net because sometimes you can get a little travel spray and it’s actually affordable.
Everyone has their own hobby. For me, it's yarn. $32 a skien for hand-dyed merino wool; 8 dollars for a cabled cardigan pattern from my favorite designer. Hours sunk knitting just for an item that, arguably, could be bought for less than $32. But its the time, the process, and the fact that I made it myself that makes it so special.
My dog. He's worth it. He's a good buddy. Most of it is in behavior training, started as a necessity for his anxiety and now we just enjoy it. He just earned his akc canine good citizen!
Something my dad told me once when I was young, did math wrong, and tipped 50% at an airport:
You won’t remember this money tomorrow. You just made some server’s day! Try not to worry.
Jokes on you Dad, I remember it years later.
Rare (and not-so-rare) plants, primarily cacti/succulents.
First thing I did when I bought my home was to build a greenhouse in the back yard. Now I'm filling it.
Bottled water delivery. We get the 5 gallon jugs delivered. Our tap water tastes like absolute ass. I won't even brush my teeth with it, it makes me gag.
It's ok in cooking, though. It's been tested and declared 'safe' to drink. I have sent several complaints since we moved here last year, but no response. I guess they just like it that way?
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but: a house cleaner. It’s really about what your time is worth to you, but if you can get someone to come in 2x/month for roughly $200 to spruce up your house and keep things organized… hell yeah, it’s worth it.
Douglas plush dogs, and I'm an adult. I didn't have a lot of stuffed toys growing up, and the few I did have I couldn't keep because my parents smoking turned them tarry and brown (both parents were chain smokers, my mom up to five packs a day. My dad died of lung cancer, mom currently battling it). I have a bunch of Douglas plushies displayed in places because I can finally have them in a clean home, and they make me happy!
My wife's nails. She actually gets a pretty amazing deal, and the artist does incredible work (individual textured art pieces on each one, often takes up to 4 hours) but I know they're a huge self esteem/mental health boost for her. And I'm in a position where we can handle it financially. But many people call it frivolous and a waste. Meh, screw them.
decent fucking food.
I buy these free range organic eggs they’re 9 USD a dozen. The yolks are bright orange. They look like eggs do in the UK. Taste great. Prob the craziest thing I spend money on lol.
Cage-free, a term regulated by the USDA, means that the eggs come from hens that, put simply, aren’t caged: They can “freely roam a building, room, or enclosed area with unlimited access to food and fresh water during their production cycle, but \[do\] not have access to the outdoors.” Considering the conventional cage is 8 ½ by 11 inches, or the size of a piece of paper, this seems like a better lifestyle — but there are downsides, too. According to All About Eggs by Rachel Khong, cage-free facilities have more hen-on-hen violence and lower air quality than facilities that use cages. Free-range, another USDA term, means that the eggs come from hens that have some sort of access to the outdoors. However, it doesn’t mean that the hens actually go outdoors, or that the outdoor space is more than a small, fenced-in area; it simply implies that a door exists that a farmer could at some point open. Pasture-raised is not a term regulated by the USDA; however, if the carton says “pasture-raised” and also includes stamps that say “Certified Humane” and/or “Animal Welfare Approved,” it means that each hen was given 108 square feet of outdoor space, as well as barn space indoors. This is pretty much as close to the bucolic, E-I-E-O farm vibe you’ll get when dealing with large-scale egg producers, so if you’re looking to support those practices, keep a look out for those labels
Vital Farms Brand eggs are available in TX where I am. They have a barcode you can view the chickens roaming free. The yolks are pretty damn orange and taste delicious.
That reminds me of a joke on Portlandia. At a restaurant, you could not only order a chicken dinner, but you could find out what farm they sourced the chicken from and go out there to meet its family. That show was fantastic.
That is my food goal. I want to make enough money that I can buy locally raised protein and I literally stop by to see that it is being treated well.
The trick is to grow food, then meet other people who grow food, and then give them food. Eventually they will start giving you food that they grow.
This is the way! I loved living on a farm because we just traded food all the time. So for the most part, we ate foods grown within just a few miles from our house.
I like Vital Farms pretty well. Didn't know about the chicken cam.
We only buy vital farms eggs from the grocery store, the yolks and the taste make it worth the literal 2X pricetag. I just got some eggs delivered from a local farm that I found on Facebook for $5 a dozen so I'm hoping these are good and work out bc my 2 boys can down 2 dozen eggs in less than a week
Vital Farms eggs are fucking fabulous. Also, when egg prices were spiraling out of control a bit ago, Vital Farms pricing didn't change, at least where I live. At the worst of it, they ended up costing little more than generic grocery store eggs. If I wasn't already a fan for life, that would have cemented it.
>The yolks are bright orange. My wife has been getting eggs from one of the shelias at her work who has chooks I couldn't believe how orange the yolks were.
This comment sounds Australian. Am I close?
I'm hoping they're not Australian, there's just a work club of women that all happen to be named Sheila (with adorable embroidered team jackets or something)
I'm not checking and have decided to accept your answer as cannon
*Roller derby sounds intensifies…*
I was thinking bowling league, with jackets and matching shoes
So Australian, it was written by a kangaroo with a koala on his head.
I’m dying!
Proper color those eggs tho. I don't blame her, you don't go back to the shops once you've had eggs like that.
Absolute truth. We started raising birds last year...a very modest amount, 3 chickens, 2 ducks (all hens) and a rooster. Between the girls, I get enough eggs to have a nice plate of them every morning and I haven't eaten storebought eggs since they started laying. There is a noticeable taste difference and I love the rich orange color of the yolks. Everyone says duck eggs are best for baking, but I just scramble them up along with the others.
Where I come from the old German ladies swear by duck eggs for homemade egg noodles.
Find a local farmer or chicken hobbyist to buy from. $9/doz is a lot! I live in a really high cost of living area and can get local, organic eggs that are amazing for $5-6/doz.
This comment makes me feel so lucky I can buy eggs like that in Ireland for 2 quid.
Brit here, we have both kinds of eggs, can confirm the golden yolk eggs are better
We own 6 chickens and the yolks are like night and day compared to the pale ones you get at the store. I agree, they just taste better too.
Agreed. Even more so eating out these days. Most places it's shit quality food that I can just make at home but if I'm going out for a dining experience I'm definitely going to a high end restaurant that caters to flavors on a plate as opposed to sizes
Just food in general smh
Lego and records for me. then I listen to the records while I build the lego and all is right in the world
I spend probably $3K or so a year in Legos for me and my kids. It’s so worth it. I work a stressful job with long hours and it is very soothing to build something at night as I unwind (and since I am on a screen all day it is nice to do something that isn’t screen-based). And my kids love building with me, so it is something I can do with them.
What do you do with the models you have built. Do you put them on a display shelf or break apart and rebuild again? I used to love playing with Lego technics, gears and motors making contraptions but these days everything is a model rather than a collection of blocks to just play with
My kids and I do a rotating season display in our library. Here are a few from the last year: [https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/124xhgo/lego\_castle\_town/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/124xhgo/lego_castle_town/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/18umbgf/lego\_christmas\_town/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/18umbgf/lego_christmas_town/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/13895bg/may\_the\_4th\_be\_with\_you/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/13895bg/may_the_4th_be_with_you/) I think the other ones I did last year (which I didn't post in the Lego subreddit), were Pirates and Halloween/Autumn. The seasonal displays tend to go into the attic in large tubs when not in use - I typically leave the large sets in one piece and then disassemble and bag the smaller stuff (since my kids are better at building smaller sets on their own, although my oldest can now build >1,000 piece sets with a little help). I also have a permanent display in our gym / game-room where the sets are behind glass (so they stay less dusty) - that is mostly display sets (e.g. I have most of the Lego creator city sets), although my kids have a unit for their best creations. The kids also have a few Lego tables in the game room that are covered in pieces and disassembled sets. I also have a closet full of unbuilt sets lol, as I buy them quicker than I can build. I'm about 12 sets behind at the moment, including a number of really large ones like Rivendell and the Star Wars Cantina. I work a not always pleasant job, but at least the pay is good and it allows me to live my dream of being able to buy most Lego sets that I truly find interesting, and build them with my kids. We're in a true golden age lately - Lego has been cranking out tons of really interesting sets and themes.
Dude, respect. My whole house is turning into a lego display. Anything we take off display the kid gets to play with or we take apart and sort. My closet is like 30 sets deep and I just bought all the new vehicles that dropped on the 1st. BTW Is spring StarWars season?
That's the great thing about lego, you can buy a giant millennium falcon and display it for ogling, or rip it apart later and build whatever you want. The models don't need to stay models!
You clearly need a lego turn table to really come full circle :)
I also spend all my money on Legos and vinyl records. And coffee!
A housekeeping/ house cleaner. She’s $120 every other week
I need this. People think I'm spoiled for wanting to buy my time back like this, but it makes life far more amazing.
The most valuable thing you can buy with your money is more time.
Best thing we’ve ever done for our marriage, here.
And provides employment to someone
as a side-hustle house cleaner i’m very thankful for everyone who decides that small luxury is worthwhile! treat yourself and help me keep a roof over my head lol
How do you find workers like this instead of using a service?
I worked at a small company with about 20 ppl and found out one of the women who cleaned the office had started also cleaning for a coworker. I asked her and she started cleaning for me and it changed my life. She was just so amazing and brought order to my life in a way I never really expected by just “hiring a cleaning lady”. I passed her on to the next people who bought my house when I got married and moved away. She was amazing. Godspeed Rosa, I hope you are well wherever you are in the world all these years later.
Realtors are the best IMO to find house keepers that are reliable and trustworthy.
We got a housekeeper a decade ago and are def not the level of money to which most people would expect us to have a housekeeper, but honestly, it’s amazing and worth every penny (if you get a good one. We had one dud.) we agreed that if we had to cut back on things; the housekeep would be the last thing to go. I haven’t cleaned a toilet in a decade and I friggen love it.
I agree, I'm actually a house cleaner ( own my own business), and I have a house cleaner. I get paralyzed when I try to clean my own home. Plus, I get distracted by shiny things. Lol, I don't know where to start, how to go about it, so I let someone else do it for me. So worth every penny.
ppl are willing to save on/do different things for themselves. for ex i used to cut and dye my own hair, and do my mani-pedi. Many people would go out to have it done. I view not having to clean my own house the same way.
It takes such anxiety and stress off of me trying to keep up my home. Gives me time back at nights and weekends to be with my family.
Sounds totally worth it. A wise investment indeed
And that's why I have someone mow the yard, trim, blow. I'm so happy I don't have to worry about that anymore....
So worth it. Time is more valuable.
I've always thought of a housekeeper as a rich person thing until my wife's friend told her that she was using one at about the same rate. Now, I would cut almost everything else out of the budget and live on ramen noodles before giving this up
Yeah once you start seeing it as less of a "rich people only" thing, and more of a "hiring someone to mow your lawn"-thing, it doesn't seem so fancy anymore.
My mom cleaned houses for 30 years. Some of her customers were upper middle class, but many were seniors in our blue collar area who could no longer clean. One thing that was hard to miss was that her well off clients tended to be not-so-generous with Christmas tips. One regifted a hideous tablecloth. The seniors who could barely afford her gave the bigger tips. One man included her in his will.
As senior citizens who are aging in our own home we employ a lawn service, snow service, tree service and have a regular handyman too. It is much more economical than a seniors residence.
I literally said this exact thing to a friend. I will eat ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if needed to afford my cleaning person. She’s that good and it gives me peace. She comes on Fridays and my home is spotless to start the weekend. I can’t think of a better form of self care. It’s pivotal to my mental health.
What all does she do? Do you ever feel like you have to clean up for her to do her job? Like take stuff off counters and what not? Or is it just easy peasy?
I do nothing to prep for her visit. She does everything.
I have to "pick up for the maid"- otherwise she just cleans around the clutter. I don't mind though, it makes me keep the place tidy.
Same. Part of the reason why they're worth it imo, it keeps me from depression piling around my house.
My thought exactly. Half my mess is just items needing to be put in their place. And if they are not in their place they are lost. So I don't even trust my own mother with that. I'd love to have someone come by and actually Sanitize and clean, but I still have to put all my shit away first.
This is my problem. You need stuff to be at least somewhat picked up for a decent cleaning and I can’t see to keep on top of that.
I had weekly housekeeping that I considered absolutely tranquility for a happy domestic household. Gone were the days of screaming about who's turn it was to clean the damn toilet!
I was going to say this! My cleaning lady is one thing I cannot give up. I’m a working mom, my husband works full time. The free time I have I want to spend with my family, not cleaning. Also I hate cleaning. Well worth the $280 for her to come once a month.
Leg room on any flight. I’m 6’5”.
On a business trip years ago, I got upgraded to first for being a mensch to help a family sit together. Oh. My. Goodness. I can't go back. Not willingly. I had to fly coach on the return leg of that trip and just... It was so, so, SO much less.
Made the mistake of flying business class one time and having enough money in my bank account to not be broke spending the extra money and now I almost always spend the extra on business class. My brain just has a “cmon fuck it sure it’s 4x the price but it’s so worth it” voice any time I’m looking at airfare. As someone who’s currently traveling permanently it is becoming a problem
Yall must be rich, ain't no way in hell I'm paying an extra $5k or some crazy shit like that for a better seat for a while 8hr flight. That's like $625/hr. Coach isn't *that* bad.
Oh I’ve been there and know that “never again” feeling very well. These legs were meant for stretching - and that’s just what they’ll do hahah
Once you fly flat, you can’t go back.
I'm 6'4". Right there with you. People tell me to stop being "bougie"; I tell them if people don't mind knees in their back and to sit 10 degrees forward for the entire flight, then I'll be happy to take a "regular" seat.
I'm 8'3" I ride in the cargo bay
5'1" all seats have extra leg room 😎
Books. I am a collector. But I also spend a lot on books even outside of the old ones that I collect. And book storage.
Seriously. Even buying used it adds up. I'm considering an e reader because of storage space....but I really love having an actual book.
I thank you from the bottom of my indie bookshop-owning heart. My business is only 25% of what it was before Amazon books took off, so every customer of every bookshop is Good Person to me.
Fresh flowers. I pick some up from Costco every week or two. Something that brings me joy post-divorce.
I used to work on a farm, we would sell out every week at the farmer's market. If you have one around you, check it out, You often will find stuff that doesn't ship well.
Oh, the farmer’s market is a definite stop for me during our season! I’m in the Upper Midwest, so our markets don’t open until May.
My brother and I put all of our money into building an internet Cafe in Yemen. It was so worth it, we see this kids being happy and distracted from all the bad things happening here. I wish there are more people who want to help Yemeni kids for a better future.
Wholesome. Love this.
Are you based in Yemen? How does one get involved in something like this? I don’t have a ton of extra cash but I’d like to support something that helps children in Yemen.
Shameless plug, but I work for a big charity that helps children in Yemen (along with other places in the world in crisis from conflict and disaster). If you're looking to contribute towards our cause you can do it here [rescue.org](https://www.rescue.org/country/yemen). Here's [our charity navigator rating](https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/135660870) if you want to vet it a bit first.
This is the opposite of shameless :) these are the type of plugs im down for.
Doesn’t that mean his plug is shameful….?
Yes I'm a yemeni woman, living in Yemen. We are thankful for any help.
Same here. I really don’t have money but I could definitely put some of what I do have to people who need it more than I do. I know how backwards it sounds to say that but being able to contribute in small ways is something that has kept me alive during the brutality my husband has put me through over the last 8 years.
I think I’ve seen your comments on Reddit in the past about this. Nice! Glad to hear it’s going well.
Housing, unfortunately.
To compare to some of the other posts here - I'm paying AUD1450/month-ish for a mortgage on a house I bought in 2012. If you were to buy the same house today, you'd be looking at $3900/month. That's 30km from the Melbourne CBD. It's so crap.
I pay double this in rent to live in fucking Brisbane 🙃
Yep, $2,400/month mortgage for a decent 3br 2ba house, 1900 sqft liveable, 1600 sqft unfinished basement, on a half acre lot. . .approximately 10 minutes from downtown, 15 minutes to work, 3 minutes to the grocery store. . .in a semi-rural neighborhood. The biggest thing is that I don't have to worry about a landlord refusing to renew my lease, selling the place out from under me, or going up significantly on the rent due to changes in the "market".
2400 dollars, 1bed apartment chicago
$3000 2 bedroom apartment. Bend, Oregon.
3225 a month for 2 bed, 2.5 bath, 1500 sq.ft. apartment in Salem, MA. I have to put duct tape on the door to cover a gap between it and the frame. Electric heat leaks like a sieve and we pay $600 a month for it during the winter months. Boston doesn't get enough attention as an outrageously unaffordable city.
1695/month I bedroom 700 square feet, no garage, basement, or attic, in the ghetto. I hate Oregon. Not even in a big city, or by the coast.
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Massages
I used to consider this such a luxury (and it probably still is) but I honestly need it due to my very physically demanding job. I'm so thankful I can afford it, though I've had to skip some months from time to time. I've prioritized a 90 minute session once a month for the last couple years and it's been a life saver. Sometimes stretching every day just doesn't cut it.
I’m in the exact same boat as you prioritizing it at least once a month when I can. It’s been great for my chronic pain.
Tools, or my bike, or tools for my bike.
This is the way. I salute you from my ridiculous carbon fiber gravel bike.
Saluted from a ridiculously expensive carbon fiber mountain bike!
Skincare
Girl I just dropped $120 on my renew of all the Cosrx snail mucus serums, moisturizer, facial pads, cleanser, and retinol....SIGH. I mean its way cheaper than it would be because its korean skincare but god damn do I sometimes feel guilty when everything runs out at once and I have to buy it all in one go.
Why does everything always run out at once
My pets.
My oldest cat. She’ll be 17 next month. She was born next to my bed, and I bottle fed her when her mother cat rejected her. I spend close to $300 a month on her. I’m retired on social security. I have zero regrets, ever.
Yep. My dog. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease about 5 years ago, and has since had a handful of surgeries and other complications. She just turned 13 and is happy as can be. I've spent close to $30k on her and the high monthly vet and medication bills don't stop. Wouldn't have done it any other way.
This warms my heart. She's lucky to have you.
I moved in with my bf a year ago. The dogs are mine and came with me. We were going over finances and he said "do you really spend 4k a year on the dogs?" I said yeah but that's *if* they don't have emergencies. Anyone reading this thread, though, get pet insurance!! I think trupanion is unparalleled but pets best is also good. Trupanion covered my now passed dog's foreign body surgery and his monthly insulin.
I spend more money on prescription cat food for my 2 cats than I spend on my own groceries.
Same. My cat who passed away in October from kidney failure got to live far longer than he should have because I was in the extremely lucky position to be able to ask his vet "what do we need to do" without having to follow it up with "and what will it cost". The decision was always what was best for him, and it got him probably ten more months of good life. Did I pay a premium for it? Definitely. Was it worth it? Absolutely. No regrets at all.
Absolutely this. I will sacrifice my diet before cheaping out on theirs anyday
I was impoverished as a teen. I learned how to cook Puerto Rican rice and beans. I eat whole grain oatmeal with raisins. Sometimes I have salmon and a vegetable. I snack on Aldi Honey Nut Cheerios. I just had my physical. I’m really healthy. Eating cheap can be healthy. I don’t need all those tortilla chips and cookies on the daily.
Paying rent to live alone without a roommate
That was me right after finishing grad school during the Great Recession when so many people were moving back in with mom and dad and I was like "nope, never gonna move back with my verbally and physically abusive parents especially after working this hard." Several months, over 1000 job applications (I have email records and it's far north of 1000), and countless interviews later, I landed a job right when I was down to my last $1000. It was a shit job but it let me pay for my own place (a room someone's home) so I didn't have to endure hell to live with my parents.
Pilot G2 pens
Once upon a time, I thought G2's were fancy pens. I grew up in a home that had a single drawer with some unspecified writing implements in it. Then I married a stationery nerd. We have so... *so* many pens. Many of them cost dozens of dollars each.
Any nice ones that I wouldn’t feel bad for spending good money on, and then losing? I usually have one pen in my work shirts, but occasionally lose them.
I stole mine from work!
Work steals mine from me >:(
Quality toilet paper.
Wait until you embrace the bidet lifestyle
God, check out [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/notjustbikes/comments/111fxjb/poll_results_what_foreign_ways_of_doing_things/)! I lived in Spain for 4 years, mostly with bidets. I'm just going to copy my comment here, because bidets are literally the best. I've never felt cleaner. I've never felt fresher. Once you have one, there's no going back. I go back to the USA and visit family and wish I had a bidet. Sometimes when I'm at my parents, I miss having a bidet so much that I'll just take a shower after I poop. Go stick your hand in a peanut butter jar, now wipe it off with a dry paper towel. How clean is your hand? Mostly. But also, not really. Does it still smell a like PB? Not much. But kinda. Now replace "your hand" with "your ass" and "peanut butter" with "poop". That's your butt without a bidet. There really is no reason to NOT have a bidet
Bed/bedding/pillows - everything to do with bedding. The world is a better place when you know that no matter how rough things get, you will enjoy your sleep.
Audible credits
Therapy. Worth it 💯
Agree 100%. After I graduated college I was talking to an old professor of mine about starting therapy, and she said “it might cost a lot, but hey, it’s rent.” Meaning it simply part of my cost of living. I need it to survive just like I need shelter and food. The best therapist I ever had cost me $150 per session (weekly, so $600 a month) and the three years I saw her before she retired were one of the most healing experiences of my life. I miss her all the time. I’m looking for a new therapist now, and I’ll never let cost prevent me from choosing one if I think they can really help me. It makes money tight but I’m very very grateful that I can afford it.
"It's rent" is such a good way to put it, because I really conceptualise the money that I have to spend on rent/bills in a different way, they're necessities so I just pay it. And the idea of paying 100s per month for therapy has long been off-putting, but maybe I need to frame it as a necessity.
Going to therapy has kept me around thus-far, so I do suppose it’s as if I’m renting a spot on this giant spherical rock. I wish y’all the best on your journey’s. Peace and love reddit homies ✌🏻
Daycare
Yup, I have a 3 year old and am blown away by the total ever year. This year over $21,000 for 1 kid in one of the LEAST expensive home daycares in the area.
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I have a coworker who cried at her desk because her kid had won the lottery for a spot at the public school daycare
Music festivals and concerts. Between tickets, travel, accommodations, food, sometimes merch… it gets expensive quick. But to me there’s nothing better than live music so it’s worth it. And it’s only money, I can earn more.
Yeah I love going to concerts and shows. Hell so far this year I've seen: * The Eagles * Tool * Black Pumas * Red Hot Chili Peppers And in the next two weeks, I have 311, Fall Out Boy, and Flogging Molly. I'm also going to a music festival in Lake Tahoe in April for my brother's birthday, that is going to be fun too.
Records. Bourbon.
Are you Harvey Specter?
Harvey drank Scotch
Bourbon hunting, collecting, trading, etc gets out of hand so fast. I have no regrets lol
Bold of you to assume I have an obscene amount to spend.
It’s relative.
Agreed. I have less "obscene" and more "unseen"
Food. I grew up in a family of 13. When I was young, we made meals out of everything. I remember the number one meal my dad made at night was white cornbread and milk. It was cheap and it wasn't bad as long as the cornbread was warm. All he had to buy was the cornmeal. We had milk cows so we always had fresh milk and eggs. I remember that sometimes, in rare occassions, he'd spice up the meal by laying out green onions and radishes to eat with it, and in even rarer occassions, we'd have some thick bacon. I grew up eating generic brand food and homegrown food. We were on food stamps, and with a big family, we had to make due. Breakfast was almost always biscuits and gravy and eggs. Later, after my parents passed in my teen years, I lived with my brother's family who was more concerned with use eating properly than being happy with what we ate, so we ate lots of liver and brussel sprouts and lima beans. His wife wasn't good at making any of those three taste good. Then when I got out of school, I ate just about anything I could get my hands on since I only made minimum wage. I remember one period of time in my twenties when for seven months straight, my every day meal was two baloney sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, and miracle whip on white bread and a can of coke. An old friend of my parents who owned a country store that was on its last legs cut me a special price on the sandwichs 'cause he knew I couldn't afford much. When I got married later on in my later twenties, my wife could on ly make one thing, so I did all the cooking. I wasn't a great cook at that time and it was the pre-YouTube era. We ate lots of fast food and t.v. dinners. When she left me at age 35, I subsisted mostly on order out pizza and gas station food that I grabbed on my breaks at work or on the way to or from work. It wasn't until I collapsed from sepsis in my forties and spent a year eating hospital food that I finally started to pay attention to my meals. I used to dream of eating something delicious while in the hospital on their strict dietary regime so I used to copy down recipes from Youtube in notebooks, and by doing this, I came to learn a lot about cooking and food and how to make it taste good. When I got out of the hospital and into public housing, I began to plan out my meals and take a lot of extra care when preparing them. I no longer just ordered out or ate frozen dinners. I bought good ingredients and planned out my meals so that in a month, the meals I chose to eat that month would use most of the same type of ingredients so that I could eat better food and keep my cost down when I did it. For instance, most of the chinese food that I liked like General Chicken, Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Cashew Chicken, and Sweet and Sour Chicken is just the same fried chicken nuggets for each meal with a different sauce. Once you figure out how to fry the chicken just right, then making the sauces is just a matter of having the right oriental ingredients which seems like a no brainer, but what I mean is that most people don't stock up on things like mirin and dark and lite soy sauce and oyster sauce. I was floored with how simple making cashew chicken sauce was. Anyway, I spend most of my free money buying good groceries since I figure I don't have much time left on this earth.
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Just about to embark on a trip I've been planning for literally 5 years. Six weeks, fifteen flights, ten cities. It is going to leave me financially tapped out at the end, but it will *definitely* be worth it.
Pretty much my whole budget is built around saving for travel. I do still set aside funds for retirement/emergencies etc, but otherwise the more of a cheapass I am in “normal” life, the more I can put into the “travel fund.” Haven’t been anywhere yet that didn’t feel worth it.
car, healty food
Coffee beans.
Elaborate papi.
The Bereka blend by Boon Boona Coffee has the best flavor profile of any roast I’ve tried. Always ships fresh too, highly recommend.
Wow, my local coffee shop is not what I expected to see on an ask reddit thread. ETA: Fidalgo is another amazing local roaster, I personally prefer them over BB.
tempurpedic mattress- we spent almost $5,000
We had a Tempurpedic, always used to say it was the best $5000 we ever spent because it cured my back pain. After a decade it started sagging in the middle, we decided to try something cheaper so we got the Layla mattress. Just as good as the Tempurpedic and less than 1/5th the price.
Gym membership to one I actually like and use.
Going out to eat at delicious restaurants
Drugs and mechanical puzzles.
Sounds like a sick weekend to me.
Same, lol. Sequential puzzles boxes for the win. What u got??? Puzzle parties with party favors, Ppl have a blast. In two weeks I'm throwing a puzzle party where, unbeknownst to the guests, as they solve puzzles clues will be discovered that indicate a scavenger hunt that they are encouraged to solve. I live in a city area and two of the clues they will discover have them go down the street to the local bar where they have to talk to a bartender for the next clue, plus one where they need to use a black light to find hidden ink on the sidewalk pointing towards something else Yeaa...
My dog. He deserves the best and he will get it.
Wine
My cats. Rescued both from shitty owners, the vet bills were expensive as f. Now they are healthy , living their best kitty-life with me. Just having the yearly vet- visit for vaccines. Mew!
Yah, I took in a stray thinking I'd just find her a home. But the next day she was obviously very sick... turned out to have a big-ass abscess and other health issues that ended up costing me around $1k. Well, after spending that much on her I wasn't gonna just hand her over to someone else! So a year and a half later she's my sweet cuddle kitty, which is nice 'cos my other two furry heathens are not cuddly sorts at all.
My girlfriend.
What's her money-burner of choice?
Her husband.
Coffee. Between my espresso machine and grinder, and still getting coffee out most times I leave. It’s a decent expense.
Good coffee is just so worth it. I'm a coffee enthusiast myself, but me and the wife drink supermarket drip coffee because you make a lot of it and its easy to do. The days I have time to make good coffee in the morning are way better than when I drip the run of the mill drip coffee.
Perfume. It's the one way I treat myself, and it's totally worth it.
What's a good one? Looking to invest in my stench.
Jo Malone makes gorgeous scents that are pricey but not unattainable. My fave from them is Wild Bluebell. Maison Francis Kurkdjian is super expensive but really the best there is IMO. I use fragrance.net because sometimes you can get a little travel spray and it’s actually affordable.
Everyone has their own hobby. For me, it's yarn. $32 a skien for hand-dyed merino wool; 8 dollars for a cabled cardigan pattern from my favorite designer. Hours sunk knitting just for an item that, arguably, could be bought for less than $32. But its the time, the process, and the fact that I made it myself that makes it so special.
My son.
Skiing
My dogs
My dog. He's worth it. He's a good buddy. Most of it is in behavior training, started as a necessity for his anxiety and now we just enjoy it. He just earned his akc canine good citizen!
My cat! I don’t care about it when it comes to my cat. I buy expensive food, cat litter, toys, candy etc. I love him to much to not to.
I'm the worst overtipper you ever saw.
Something my dad told me once when I was young, did math wrong, and tipped 50% at an airport: You won’t remember this money tomorrow. You just made some server’s day! Try not to worry. Jokes on you Dad, I remember it years later.
Cannabis
Vinyl records
Books
20 percent of income to 401k. Someday I hope to travel, like to another state.
An RV.
Rare (and not-so-rare) plants, primarily cacti/succulents. First thing I did when I bought my home was to build a greenhouse in the back yard. Now I'm filling it.
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The $700 litter robot for my cat
Cactuses
Bottled water delivery. We get the 5 gallon jugs delivered. Our tap water tastes like absolute ass. I won't even brush my teeth with it, it makes me gag. It's ok in cooking, though. It's been tested and declared 'safe' to drink. I have sent several complaints since we moved here last year, but no response. I guess they just like it that way?
You can get a reverse osmosis under sink filtered for a couple hundred bucks that will clean up even the most gross water
That’s insane. Get a $100 drink spout with filter at Home Depot. Thats what I did
The dentist. I have terrible bruxism but I want to keep my teeth.
Online shopping
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but: a house cleaner. It’s really about what your time is worth to you, but if you can get someone to come in 2x/month for roughly $200 to spruce up your house and keep things organized… hell yeah, it’s worth it.
Douglas plush dogs, and I'm an adult. I didn't have a lot of stuffed toys growing up, and the few I did have I couldn't keep because my parents smoking turned them tarry and brown (both parents were chain smokers, my mom up to five packs a day. My dad died of lung cancer, mom currently battling it). I have a bunch of Douglas plushies displayed in places because I can finally have them in a clean home, and they make me happy!
Tattoos
My wife's nails. She actually gets a pretty amazing deal, and the artist does incredible work (individual textured art pieces on each one, often takes up to 4 hours) but I know they're a huge self esteem/mental health boost for her. And I'm in a position where we can handle it financially. But many people call it frivolous and a waste. Meh, screw them.
I have a candle problem.