What do you own (or do or eat/drink) that others would consider extravagant?

OK. I did splurge on our sofa when we bought our house a few years ago. It's the best goddamn sofa on the planet, which is good since it cost $1,300.

 

I don't know about 10 times as much, but we have a $40 toaster. I did a lot of model comparison before we choose it to make sure I understood what the extra money got me. These are the features that we like that I got:

Room for four slices (or bagel halfs) but you can opt to do only two at a time.

Separate temperature control for each half -- so two slices can be darker or lighter than the other two slices

Even toasting -- middle isn't burned while the outsides are doughy

Durability

A lot of the time you are just paying more to pay more but with good product research you can find the right features and know why you are spending more (I love Consumer reports for this reason)

And that concludes FAR more than I ever thought I would write about a toaster.

 

Interesting thread. Reading these posts makes me feel like a boring, cheap, old guy who drinks too much Budweiser ...

I suppose any extra money we have goes toward travel. We usually fly to visit family during the week of spring break, then drive somewhere in the Pacific Northwest region during the summer. There's so many places to visit around here.

When I was younger, summer road trips with my family (both camping and motels) were great experiences, and my wife and I want to have the same adventures with our kids while they're still living with us.

 

I traveled everywhere as a kid and it had very little impact on me. We weren't going on vacation, we were always going to visit somebody. I don't want it to be like that for my kids and based on their reaction to the times we go to Disney, they love it so much and the looks on their faces when we go in is so worth the cost of going. I think this will be our fourth trip there in the last five years. We go plenty of other places, but it's usually stuff within several hours of where we live.

 

My wife and I don't have kids. House isn't small for a two-person (plus dog) family, but not huge by any means. Also outside the city limits. So that means easy house payments (which wife was already paying before I moved in).

Both our vehicles are fairly old. My truck is paid off. Think insurance is a combined $160 a month for full coverage on both.

She has a Samsung 4, but I have a plainer non-smart phone with no net. I have to have the slideout keyboard for texting and didn't like any of the smart phones I tried.

We don't have huge TVs (I think each of the three flatscreens is smaller than 40 inches) and have a queen-side bed. Lowest Dish package with no DVR and no HD. Master bath is actually smaller than the guest bath.

What we do is travel. A lot.

April: Drove to Smoky Mountains for a night. Saw two shows (Dixie Stampede dinner show and Cirque de Chine).

June: Flew to Vegas/Grand Canyon for honeymoon. Stayed at a four-star resort. Saw three shows.

June: Drove to Holiday World. More than $200 after gas, meals, tix.

July: Drove to Rough River State Park for two-day getaway.

July: Drove to indoor water park in French Lick, Ind., to take 7-year-old nephew.

September: Drove to Florida for four-night getaway. Paid for behind-the-scenes trainer tour/dolphin swim at Gulf World. Paid for a professional cand castle course (with a guy who is on SandMasters on Travel Channel).

October: Drove to Smokies again (third trip this year) for two nights. Saw Lumberjack Feud dinner show (sat front row, got good photos, also got called up in preshow). Went to Titanic exhibit. Ate out every meal.

Later This November: Will be driving to Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. Taking my parents and her parents. Seeing the Frosty the Snowman ICE! Exhibit. Maybe catch Rockettes show.

 

I hate cooking, so I tend to eat out for at least 10 of my 14 meals a week. (It helps that I skip breakfast.) I try to keep meals to under $10 mostly and almost never cross $20. And I probably drink a six-pack of good beer every week, but I generally keep that expense to $15 or less.

Every once in a while when going out with friends, I'll decide to go large and rack up a $100-plus tab. That's probably once a month or less.

 

I would love to hear more about this. Had you known about it beforehand? It sounds cool. Have you had a chance to practice the art you learned?

I love to travel, but do it really, really cheap, so I wouldn't call it extravagant.

Stayed in a castle in Ireland, but that was my mom's thing, not mine. I'm fine with hostels.

 

Living in a 3,600 square foot house seems extravagant to me ... not trying to cast a judgement ... it's just seems like a lot of freaking space.

 

Unless your last name is Dugger.

 

You forgot the most important part. 8)

Please tell me that's been rectified by now, right?

 

Shit, my apartment is 4,000 square feet. I guess that's my extravagance. But, it comes with parking. I have a workshop, a loading dock, and a freight elevator, and can run my business out of it.

And, I'm barely paying $0.50 per square foot.