Where do you save money and where do you splurge?

[jlewisinsyr]

We don't typically put our purchases into a save/splurge category, although we don't have cable, so I guess that is a save, but it's not really about the money more that we don't watch much TV.

We typically buy what we want, when we want, we drive a luxury car, we go to Disney and other vacations, etc. There are benefits to being D.I.N.K.s.

 

[dyna]

SAVE

I have not bought new in the store clothes in many yrs mine all come from Goodwill an Salvation Army etc.
NO cable TV netflix, cable house phone, trac phones, our house payment is much less than what we was approved for a load.
We are retired an can choose when we want to use gas.
If not on sale we do not buy it unless we have to have it right then this also applies to food. We very rarely eat out.
Energy saving light blubs, appliances etc.
Our furniture is 2nd hand at least.
No fancy jewelery usually my cheap jewlery is bought 2nd hand for next to nothing or I make it myself.
I myself have not bought a new book or magazine in prolly 10 yrs or more. NEVER ever go to movies etc

Splurge Premium disney passes but we do live local, croc flip flops, gettin my nails done every 2 weeks, harmony barber shop hair cuts.

 

[westjones]

Save:
-- Hair cuts (my DH actually uses a Flowbee and yes, it works fine...has used it for 15 years....the same one and it still works), my hair is long and I only cut it once a year.
--- Home repairs (DH fixes almost everything except major car issues....he even put the shingle on the roof himself a couple years ago).
--- cars we drive till they can't drive anymore.
--- clothes, DH and I don't really change our style and don't buy many new clothes during the year (our DDs on the other hand buy too many, but that is their money from their part time jobs).

Splurge:
-----We eat out WAY too much. TOO MUCH! And it is so hard to stop because we all like it (and I am a terrible cook). But I do hope to reduce this in 2014 by a little at least.
----Disney trips....went on 12 Disney Cruises and visited Disney more times than I can remember.....we really have spent way too much on our Disney addiction, but again we all like it and so it is hard to stop.

 

[mjantz]

Save: Groceries-I have a strict budget & we stick to it. They are simple meals but balanced & satisfying.
Clothing: mostly thrift stores & Target clearance. Even my clothes horse daughter loves Platos Closet. I'm actually getting ready to take a bunch of stuff there so we can get her some new jeans.

Splurge: Eating out-We love new restaurants. We try & use Groupons and coupons as much as possible but it's still an expense.
Entertainment/experiences: We love doing fun stuff with our kids. It may come from growing up in small towns where there wasn't much to do. Now we want to do it all!! Again, Groupons & coupons help a lot.

 

[AndreaDM]

Save:
-- Hair cuts (my DH actually uses a Flowbee and yes, it works fine...has used it for 15 years....the same one and it still works), my hair is long and I only cut it once a year.
--- Home repairs (DH fixes almost everything except major car issues....he even put the shingle on the roof himself a couple years ago).
--- cars we drive till they can't drive anymore.
--- clothes, DH and I don't really change our style and don't buy many new clothes during the year (our DDs on the other hand buy too many, but that is their money from their part time jobs).

Splurge:
-----We eat out WAY too much. TOO MUCH! And it is so hard to stop because we all like it (and I am a terrible cook). But I do hope to reduce this in 2014 by a little at least.
----Disney trips....went on 12 Disney Cruises and visited Disney more times than I can remember.....we really have spent way too much on our Disney addiction, but again we all like it and so it is hard to stop.

I like that you're giving yourself a year to stop eating out so much!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Save:
I bought my SUV certified preowned and its paid in full.

I live 5 minutes from work so that saves me a lot of $$ in vehicle maintenance and gas.

I take my lunch to work or eat at home, rarely ever buy lunch.

Housing cost for me is very reasonable. Yes, space is tight but we'll make do until we have money to burn.

Don't get mani/pedi on a constant basis.

I have an executive membership (2% cash back) at Costco where I shop every other week. Lots of deals to be had, gas prices are better also.

I don't need or buy fine jewelry.

Keep a pretty strict clothing budget and don't pay full price for anything.

I keep salon visits to a minimum.

I don't pay for health insurance, I have full coverage through my employer other than copays.

DVC has been paid in full.

Don't smoke, drink very little.

Splurge:
Vacations. When we go to WDW, we go big. We don't cook in our villa, we have dinner out every night, mostly signature dining. I splurged on DVC because my family likes deluxe accommodations.

Costco. It's both a savings and a splurge because I buy quality groceries (I love to cook) but at great prices for items such as whole vanilla beans, saffron, spices, maple syrup, ribeye steaks, organic produce, imported cheeses, wine, etc. Love, love, love Costco!

Since I love to cook I also like to make sure I have all of the proper, quality tools needed to make a great meal.

Electronics.

 

[westjones]

I like that you're giving yourself a year to stop eating out so much!

Sometimes typos make you honest

 

[Ppufi]

We don't eat out, buy junk food (it adds up), go on vacation (no time), or buy expensive electronics or new vehicles. Clothing is the one thing we buy a lot of, but only because we shop sales and clearance items.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

The only thing we splurge on is vacations. We don't much care about clothes or nice cars or anything, only travel is important to us. I've yet to have someone imply to me that we spend a lot of money to go to Disney frequently, but if I did, I'd say, "You think Disney is expensive? Clearly you don't arrange trips overseas often."

 

[avgeek81]

Save
I dont have cable. I buy used cars and pay in cash. I dont eat out alot and bring my luch to work. Even at disney I usaully bring food or get a kids meal. For groceries I usually just go to Publix and get whats BOGO. Im pretty good about conserving water/electricity. My utility bills are usually under $30 per month each. Except in the summer when I run AC. My house payment is pretty reasonable. I maybe go to the movies twice a year. Once in awhile, when I buy new clothes its probably a disney shirt usually from the outlet.

Splurge
Mostly disney. I dont even think of the pass as a big splurge. Its mostly the gas it takes me to drive there. With gas and tolls its about $50 round trip and I go about twice a month. The other thing I splurge on is dvds. I dont buy as many as I used to and they are always on sale but many people would find it a waste of money. One other thing is soda. I only buy coke and only cans. I get it on sale but it adds up. I guess it saves too because thats what I bring to disney so I dont have to pay $3 everytime I want a drink.

 

[Keli]

I can't say there's any area named that we don't care about at all and save tons of money but I always try to save money and do most things in moderation.
I guess we do probably value 'experiences' a little more than other things though.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Our house is paid for now we also bought below what we could afford. I'm not breaking my back for a huge mortgage payment. My DH did that in his first marriage and it was very hard.

We grocery shop with coupons and use the sale papers. We have an extra freezer to keep things that we buy on sale and cook later on.

We buy the girls the clothes they want and usually don't get them on sale, but DH and I get our clothes almost exclusively on sale. He doesn't really have all that many clothes.

We don't have that many restaurants to go to around here. We do order pizza about every two weeks. If we go out to shop (about an hour and a half away) we will go out to eat there.

DH and I and our youngest take our lunch with us to work/school. No ordering out for lunch every day.

The splurges?

DH likes to have nice cars. They are usually relatively new, he trades after a couple of years. We have a small truck that we bought years ago though. That is our utility vehicle, lol. We have an SUV that we bought a year ago. We bought a car for me to drive 3 years ago and my oldest will use that one when she starts to drive in Feb. I get a new one then.

Vacations. Our primary destination is WDW, but we take other trips too. We live in a very isolated area. I fell like I should let my girls get out and see things, experience things. They need to know what is out there. We are planning another trip to CA for this summer and will go back to DLR while we are there. I am also looking at another national parks trip, this time Yellowstone combined with others.

I have to say when we do go to WDW, I try and find the absolute best deals I can. We have been close to 30 times and paid rack rate once. I refuse to do it again. We sometimes have APs to save on tickets and room rates. If I don't get a rate at one of our favorite resorts we book at the Dolphin with a teacher rate. You can't beat it. I have figured that the dining plans are not for us. We have had too many disappointing meals onsite for me to commit to only eat there. We have several places offsite that we go to each trip, that is another savings over eating at WDW. There are some places we eat at onsite though. We always rent a car. That is a way to save to me. We eat some meals offsite and go to the grocery store to buy food and drinks for the room. I also like to go to the WDW outlets and have found some good deals there.

 

[jahber]

No mani/pedis or salon hair color, Hair Cuttery hair cuts twice a year or so, etc, etc. We are single-income family (I'm a SAHM), so it's just the way it is.

BUT (no pun intended), I refuse to use generic toilet paper. I will have Charmin or Cottonelle no matter how much I have to pay for it! And I will also only ever use a Mac, so I worked a second job (before I was a SAHM) to pay cash for my laptop and my iPhone.

Guilty confession--my dad pays the cell phone bill for me, my sister, and our spouses. He has way more money than we do and it makes him happy to splurge on us. So I guess that's HIS splurge!

 

[Stitchfans]

More or less subscribing to this to try to find other ways to save. Lately I haven't been able to stretch my money like I used to and can not save. Really trying. By the middle of the month my money is spent. If we need whatever, we have to do without as long as all the bills are paid.

Really wish I could find a part time job for extra income.

 

[Minnesota!]

we have a small, old house in a first ring suburb. Our mortgage payments are very low. We love our house, our neighbors, and our commute.

we have one vehicle that is paid off.

we buy only what is needed to survive.

our splurges are vacations and experiences. and as many of them as we can do. in town. out of town. out of state. whatever.

zoo memberships, aquarium memberships. museum memberships. we work to spend money on experiences vs. stuff.

I refuse to spend money on "stuff" unless it is 1000% needed. Our stove is on it's last legs. one burner works on the stove. The oven is hit or miss. but until that last burner is dead...it's what we use.

 

[mhsjax]

No mani/pedis or salon hair color, Hair Cuttery hair cuts twice a year or so, etc, etc. We are single-income family (I'm a SAHM), so it's just the way it is.

BUT (no pun intended), I refuse to use generic toilet paper. I will have Charmin or Cottonelle no matter how much I have to pay for it! And I will also only ever use a Mac, so I worked a second job (before I was a SAHM) to pay cash for my laptop and my iPhone.

Guilty confession--my dad pays the cell phone bill for me, my sister, and our spouses. He has way more money than we do and it makes him happy to splurge on us. So I guess that's HIS splurge!

I will save you some more money. If you don't want plumbing problems, stay away from the Charmin. I know quite a few plumbers and they say it is the worst for plumbing. But I do agree with you, no sand paper toilet paper either.

 

[MamaLema]

SAVE : The only time we eat in restaurants or get takeout is once a year when we are on vacation

SPLURGE : Because we never eat out, I can afford to buy prime rib, seafood, etc for my family but I cook it myself

SAVE: I cut DH and my 3 boys hair about every 2 months (savings of over $50)

SAVE : I am not into perfume, shoes, or jewelry

SAVE : Because I have 3 boys, I save money with hand-me-downs

I guess I'm a saver, maybe I should splurge more often

 

[Planogirl]

We live in a smaller house and we have put off repairs. That will hopefuly change this year though because those repair needs are piling up!

I rarely buy expensive meat but instead make it an occasional treat. I rarely buy clothes and then usually whatever is on sale. We rarely eat out but do get takeout occasionally. I find that takeout can be as inexpensive as cooking at home.

I also save money when traveling even at WDW. We don't stay onsite unless we get a good deal and never order the meal plan. We buy few souvenirs and snacks.

I do splurge on certain food items like tea and fruit. I also buy books at regular price if I want them. We also have an almost full package from DirecTv.

 

[dizluvah]

we splurge on the football package for our satelitte tv, super fast internet packaqe (DH is IT professional) and expensive coffee runs

we save on cheapo cel phone, very inexpensive and we share, we have only 1 car (we share - while this can be inconvenient it is doable) we keep our 1 cel phone with the car - so whoever has the car, has the phone. grocery shop on a budget and meal plan based on sale ads, our 2 yr old dd gets hand me down/2nd hand treasures - clothes and toys. DH takes his lunch daily to work -

we went through the painful process of downsizing our budget in a major way a few years ago when we went from two incomes to one and I became a SAHM.

 

[wdwmom2]

Save - Rarely do I ever buy meat that is not on sale. When I can get it for a great price, I buy it up and freeze it. I also buy reduced/quick sale meat. Never had any that was bad. Same way with frozen veggies. If they are on sale for a great price, I stock up.

Save - DH drives an older SUV. He only drives about 2 miles to work, so the fact that it is gas guzzler is not an issue. Up until 2009, I drove a car that was over 20 years old. Yes, I bought a new car, but I will drive it until the wheels fall off!!!

Save - Clothing. If we don't need it and it isn't on sale, we probably are not even at the store!!! I rarely go the the mall. If I get there a couple times a year, I'm doing good.

Save - DH packs his lunch every day. I usually pack my lunch. Once in a while I go out for lunch. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month at the most.

Save - We don't eat out often. It can vary, but maybe 2 or 3 times a month. And then we usually go to our local diner. We can have dinner for $10-$15, which includes the tip. Good food cheap!

Save - Christmas. We don't go all out buying each other gifts. A few small items are exchanged. DH always asks me what I want for Christmas. I tell him nothing. Save the money and put it toward a nice vacation (see below)!!

Splurge - Vacations. Memories are the most important thing I splurge on. Not that we take big ones frequently, we don't. Besides our honeymoon in Jamaica in 1999, we did WDW land/sea in 2004, cruised 2007 and then again in 2011. We do have a big cruise planned for this April. We do little trips every year. Usually we hop on the Harley, tow a trailer behind it, and go. Fairly inexpensive way to travel. We also have no problem staying at cheaper hotels, as long as they are clean