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

Oh, and when I got married, I insisted on Cottonelle toilet paper. No idea why, but I remember being very specific about wanting good, thick, cushy toilet paper. Now, it's the opposite -- we use that thin, eco-friendly stuff.

 

We do the housekeeper thing, too. Pay her $65 once a month to come in, clean the bathrooms, mop the tile floors ... all the grunt work I hate doing and my wife is unable to. It's worth the money, but she does have a bad habit of randomly relocating things that gets very annoying. Things like shoes on the floor getting moved to a closet, or cups being relocated from the kitchen to the bathroom counter. She also likes putting our trash in the carport storage room, which sucks because we rarely go in there this time of year. Always have to think about it and check it after she leaves.

We'll also eat out more than we should. Nothing too expensive -- more than $50 is an expensive meal -- but those little trips through the drive thru add up over a few weeks. With me often getting home late in the evening, though, it's one of our best ways to share a meal.

 

Can't even tell you how much more enjoyable the weekend is when you don't have it clogging up your time.

Before we got the housekeeper, we'd spend a solid half hour cleaning the house after putting the baby to bed every night during the week and then spend a few hours Saturday catching up on all the chores we were too tired to do during the week.

All told, I feel like I get about 6.5 to 8 hours per week to enjoy my time with my fiancee and son. That's time and money well spent to me.

 

This is not an extravagance. This is just the correct way to buy syrup.

 

*giggling*

 

It's annoying how housekeepers insist on making up the bed and washing the dishes, too.

 

As for the housekeeper, getting your yard mowed, (in my case) not changing your own oil, etc. … how much of that is regional? The cost is irrelevant. Even if you got those things for $10, for a fully able person to do so is a sign of idleness. Unless there was a reason I couldn't physically do it, I could look at myself in the mirror if I paid someone to clean my house or mow my yard.

Something that was always a pet peeve of mine was the way a guy I used to work with would always say "I can't afford that. I can't afford that." whenever someone would mention having extra cable channels, going on a trip, going out to eat, trading cars, whatever. He made more than anyone else. I was always quick to point out "No, you CHOOSE not to spend your money on those things. You CAN afford them." I'm pretty sure this guy has 50 cents of the first dollar he ever made. He was so tight he squeaked when he walked.

 

Yes. Saying "I can't imagine spending money on X; I'd rather have Y" is qualitatively different from "I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I spent money on X."

 

Same here. We don't really have the budget for anything extravagant, but even if we did, we probably wouldn't get much (if anything). My wife would love to have one of those KitchenAid mixers, but I'm not sure if even that would qualify.