The other day I was driving home from work and I remembered I had to stop at the dry cleaners to pick up my work shirts. After I picked them up I thought to myself that this is one of those expenses that I can easily go on without as long as I can learn how to iron my shirts, and take the time to do it, but it is not worth it. My dry cleaners charges $1.40 per shirt and $5.00 for pants. I can wash my own pants since they do not need to be ironed, but $1.40 is worth it for me to not have to wash the shirts and iron them.
I started thinking to myself, what else can we do without? What are our frivolous guilty pleasures? I’m sure everyone has them, even the most frugal people. I’m sure many of my fellow bloggers won’t admit to some of these guilty pleasures, but here are some of the guilty pleasures that my wife and I have, that we know are not a need, but rather a want. I like to play Xbox, and my wife likes to read books on the kindle. Now I don’t buy many games, maybe 3 a year? So three games plus a yearly membership to Xbox Live costs about $240 a year. My wife buys and reads many books on kindle, not sure what to estimate it to be but let us assume about the same, $240. Now we can do something else with our time, but we like what we do, we still have a great marriage, we still go out, do things around the house, clean, exercise but we do not have kids yet, which probably explains the extra free time we have.
Now we have cable like I’m sure many of you do, even the most frugal individual enjoys sports or television shows. We also subscribe to the highest package they have, because it includes television channels that my wife and I enjoy. Do we need these channels? Of course not, but we like them, enough that our want for these channels outweighs the cost of the upgrade.
We always try to be good with money, watch our spending, look for coupons and make shopping lists to cut out unnecessary expenses, but the idea of ironing my own shirt does not sit well with me.
One thing we used to have a hard time giving up but have done so recently is Starbucks. Starbucks used to be a part of our vocabulary, in the morning, after a long day of work, on the way to the mall, at the mall, on the way back from the mall and so on. Although I hate Starbucks’ regular coffee, I love their lattes and cappuccinos but every trip started costing upwards of $9 for two lattes. It took a while, but I’m happy to say that we only go to Starbucks every couple of weeks now. We picked up a very nice coffee maker and although it is not as good, it is good enough to save $9 or more per day.
How about you my fellow bloggers and readers? What do you know you can do without, but is so good that you don’t want to?
My frivolous guilty pleasure comes in the food that I eat. I’m in love with pho, a vietnamese noodle soup that takes forever to cook. When I get the chance, I get a big bowl (or giant cup) of pho and some basil rolls (rice noodles, shrimp, and basil leaves wrapped in rice paper) and bring it home. I know that I could make these things. In fact, I have made these things, but there’s nothing so fine as to bring it home, made by the loving hands of other people.
Lol that is a great example. We often order out foods that we can make at home, but sometimes just not in the mood to make anything. I have not heard of Pho but that sounds really good.
Pho is one of those delights that’s available wherever there’s an Asian population. It’s absolutely divine, mainly because they stew the ingredients for days on end to make it absolutely perfect. Probably not good for diets – as there’s a lot of fat in it, but it’s still heavenly.
I can’t tell you how many Italian restaurants that I’ve been to where I order and go… wait, I can do this as well or better at home. Still doesn’t stop me from eating, but still.
Unfortunately I don’t know if there are any Vietnamese restaurants near me, excuse my ignorance but do you think this would be available at other Asian restaurants? I love trying different foods and it sounds quite delicious.
Hrm. It might be. They advertise it as beef noodle soup at one of the places that I go to. There’s a possibility that some of the other Asian places have it listed as that.
I don’t buy coffee from Starbucks or other coffee places regularly, but I do buy Half & Half to mix with any coffee I drink. I refuse to use the powdered stuff.
I completely agree, I like the half & half as well, we buy the a big box of the “one serving” half & half mix from Costco. I really can’t stand the powder stuff
We’ve cut out a lot of unnecessary food spending. Saved us a lot of money.
We definitely try and do that too, we try to go grocery shopping after we have eaten because we noticed that we purchase more when we are hungry
My guilty pleasure is cookies. I can eat them every night. I don’t for the obvious reasons.
Probably my most prominent guilty pleasures are excessive t-shirt buying and excessive book buying (both of which I recently wrote about). I’m trying to rein both of these expenses in.
those can definitely get dangerous. My wife likes to read a lot and found the kindle to be cheaper (once you actually buy it) for books
I have a Kindle, and I’m finding it kind of an odd duck as far as book pricing. I would expect the Kindle version to always be cheaper than a new hard copy book, but that’s just not the case.
Still, in general, I like the on-demand access to books that the Kindle allows.
We’re generally very frugal, but I have a weakness for quality bikes and an endless need for high-dollar bike parts and gear. It’s my hobby!
That is a big one for sure, I have a coworker that is VERY frugal, but he spends a lot of money on his bike. It comes down to what your most important “want” is after you have taken care of the needs.
My weakness is probably eating out at restaurants periodically. I just like being out and about, though it’s important to be careful in terms of health when deciding on going out to eat.
Also, taking dress shirts to the cleaners is something I do, but frankly I see that as more than worth it considering the cost/time factor.
Frugality is a good thing, but we can spend a little here and there on things that only make sense to some of us – and not feel guilty about it. Life is to enjoy
I couldn’t have said it any better, that is exactly how I felt/feel when it comes to certain things that I do. It is ok to spend a little here and there.
MAC makeup. The quality is better, it lasts longer, and it doesn’t make my skin break out. I know that drug store brands can be equally good but as long as I can afford it, I will buy my MAC.
My wife is very similar, she is very particular about what brands she buys and even if they are more expensive they are worth it to her.
My main guilty pleasure is probably eating out. I eat out too often and many times it is just the default option and I don’t get much enjoyment for the expenditure.
Eating out is a big one, it is much more convenient than grocery shopping and cooking after a day at work.
A great post. I think it is useful to occasionally “prune” those things that have been subscribed to over previous months or years. They might have made sense when you started the subscription, but it might not as you go forward. I try to do that at the start of each year.
Ahh… but how do you get the free song of the week now?
My main guilty pleasure is drinking Diet Coke – should really give the stuff up but I love it so!! (I do only buy when it’s on sale though)
Our guilty pleasure is pizza from the deli every Saturday night along with Coke Zero and a movie. It’s been our tradition for the last 2 years.
My fiance and I get Max&Ermas (for me) and Olgas (for her) once a week and watch our DVR’d shows, or rent a movie. Those are good nights!
Oh yes, those pesky little habits.
I must admit, I have a hard time not going overboard buying seeds and plant in spring. It’s just one of those special times. I always end up with more obscure plants than I have space for …
My mother in-law has the same issue, she gets a bunch of seeds and plants and ends up with no room, so she gives the rest to us.