Archives for September 2012

Both, Lisa and Kyria recently wrote an interesting post about the things they like to splurge on and other things that they are happy to save money on. It’s interesting how everybody has different priorities when it comes to spending their hard-earned money!
Although I’ve always been a pretty frugal person in general, there are definitely things I like – and don’t feel guilty about – splurging on. Some things are just totally worth it!

I splurge on…

• food. I try to be very cognizant what I put in my body and I buy a lot of organic, fresh and unprocessed food. I do try to be mindful of our weekly grocery spending, but I don’t really cut corners if it would mean to compromise the quality of my food.
• shoes. I try to get good deals on shoes, but when it comes down to it, my feet hate plastic and shoes that are simply not well made. They clearly tell me with blisters and overall foot-aches and I am not having that.
• my iPhone. Obviously the costs are higher than if I didn’t have a smartphone, but it makes me so happy on a daily basis that it’s totally worth it.
• actual coffee beans. I am a bit of a snobby coffee drinker and I will only drink good coffee, or no coffee at all.
• travel. Weekend trips and then the annual overseas trip home. It’s a necessity.
• gifts for other people. It makes me happy to buy stuff that will make someone else happy.

I save by…

• doing a lot of DIY projects.
• making coffee at home (and at the office) pretty much every day; I hardly ever stop at the coffee shop. It’s usually only a special trip when we’re traveling or out and about.
• buying mostly non-brand clothing (I’ll make an exception for longer lasting quality every once in a while)
• packing lunch usually for all days of the work week (we only go out to group lunch every once in while).
• using credit cards to earn reward points and cash back. I am very good about the credit cards that I use. When I buy something with my credit card, I almost always transfer the amount from my checking account to the credit card on the same day; that way I earn rewards, but don’t end up with a huge credit card bill at the end of the month and I am never tempted to buy ‘on credit’, but only spend the money  I have.
• comparing prices. I am a bit notorious for making sure I buy certain things where they are cheapest (obviously, only when it’s reasonable. I won’t drive 20 miles to a gas station just because gas is 2 cents cheaper – defeats the purpose!)
• using coupons and store sales. No worries, I am not one of those extreme couponers, but I do pay attention to coupons, store sales and personalized deals at the grocery store. I only use coupons for stuff that I would buy anyway and try to plan my shopping around sales for certain items. It does pay off quite a bit. Also: buy certain things in bulk at Costco.
• using the library or book swapping website.
• cooking at home (we try to only eat out maybe once a week, if at all).

What do you like to splurge on? What makes it easy for you to save? Tell me in the comments or write your own blog post! I am curious!