spending it while we can

[Deleted User]

I want to get away from the ski-ing idea, when spending is lavish and deliberately anti inheritance. We have lifelong savings and I have spent on various `good` items during the past year. Items I could have done without but want now, to enjoy while I can

First off was a new better sewing machine. Not the top of the range singing dancing type but a really good solid bernina that doesn`t put a foot wrong

Then a babylock coverstititch machine to match my babylock overlocker. None essential but by golly it helps me make well finished clothes for me and my hubbie

My hubbie needed a new cycle so I have been through the whole process with him and have persuaded him to have a ferrari of bikes, one fitted to him that floats over the lumpy roads. Great to see him so looking forward to it, his riding 70 miles at a time helps his heart condition and gives him a great social circle

We eat raw food at times and make nut milks etc so I decided yesterday to actually get the very high powered machine that I have been wanting for years. A vitamix, now ordered and the best one at that

I wanted a good new spinning wheel last spring, a majacraft. So I bought one and it sings so sweetly and is in use a lot. I already have two other wheels, one very old one which I renovated and a new one that packs into a bag for travelling, so the majacraft wasn`t essential but is a dream

Knitting needles, a simple thing like that. I bought carbonz and topped up my lantern moon needles. My old metal ones went to a charity shop

pollypenny

I don't see ski-ing as frivolous spending, it's not in me after a lifetime of having to count every penny.

However, we enjoy travelling and I feel I can only survive as long as I see my gorgeous boys in the USA about three times a year. We will continue as long as we have our health.

Anyway, after giving both kids a good start and help now when need, they are more than happy for us to enjoy life.

iris

My husband loves his photography and recently upgraded to a new Canon 7D and also bought some new lenses. I then encouraged him to buy an AppleMac Pro to store his photos on.

I haven't decided what I would like, although I have just bought a Pandora watch that I took a fancy to.

My DH gets very frustrated with me because I find spending money difficult, as I really don't know what I would like (although I love spending on DH).

At the moment my DH is pestering me for a Christmas List, but I don't know what to put on it:rotfl:

I find spending on myself very difficult, and when I do buy anything I feel guilty:cool:

zaksmum

I think after always putting others first it is hard to spend money on ourselves. I can't really think of a single thing I actually want for myself now.

However, you can't take it with you so we go travelling as much as possible and I'm getting some new stuff for the house.

I want O/H to get a decent car too but he's still of the mindset that if our old one still goes, it's fine.

It's 15 years old...!

[Deleted User]

iris wrote: »

I find spending on myself very difficult, and when I do buy anything I feel guilty:cool:

I believe that lot of us find it difficult to spend money on ourselves, it is the era in which we grew up, doing on very little really and content with second hand stuff. It has taken me 64 years to come to terms with the fact that we can pamper ourselves a bit now or the children will ultimately have everything that we strived for. Our 3 are all well settled and there is enough put by for care, if needed and to be a safety net for any of us. We have no mortgage and drive very little so bit by bit I want us to get what we want. I needed to do a lot of persuading re dh and his new cycle, costing twice what he was originally going to spend. He is of the same era and is still going through the guilty phase. Yet we earned every single penny through sheer hard work and doing without

I would love to go travelling abroad but dh has now too many ailments to be worry free away in a foreign country, so we enjoy ourselves in our own small way instead. Good food, a warm and cosy home and enough satisfying hobbles

Iris me too re the christmas list. Lol, we were listening to the wind the other week and wondering what speed it was, so bought a davis weather centre between us for christmas.

Goldiegirl

I don't have any kids, so the inheritance thing isn't an issue.

But we have saved money for retirement - if all gets to plan we should stop work within the next two years.

I'll be 55 at that point, and want to spend the money on holidays while I'm healthy enough to be able to do long haul travel. We'll buy a new car before we stop work too, so that'll be another expenditure.

But if a person has the money, wants something, whether it's big or small, and they can afford it, I think they should go for it while they are in a position to get enjoyment out of it.

Old age and failing health will catch up with us all in the end, so I think it is important not to delay purchases for too long.

Also, I think people can get a saving mindset, and when the time comes for expenditure, they find it difficult to let go of the money. In fact I know people who won't spend anything, claiming poverty, when I know for a fact they have hundreds of thousands in the bank.

They say the best things in life are free, and it is true that having a good time doesn't have to cost money, but sometimes spending a bit of dosh can make things even better.

Farway

I agree with all above, I have kids, they really do not need my money, on the other hand there is nothing I really want or need, so have taken to a sort of "bucket list" and visit places in UK I have never seen, it was Hadrian's wall this year

I am ex RN, so have seen the world, but realised there are many places in UK I have never seen, Bath in 2014 maybe?

iris

kittie wrote: »

Iris me too re the christmas list. Lol, we were listening to the wind the other week and wondering what speed it was, so bought a davis weather centre between us for christmas.

How strange, we also bought a Davis weather station (Vantage Vue) a few years ago now and my husband runs it 24/7 uploading his data to the internet.

We also treated ourselves to an upmarket brand new car a couple of years ago, which we love, and use for holidaying on the continent.

We have also decided to refurb our kitchen next year.

I am still working on my Christmas list:rotfl:

margaretclare

We've spent more this year than we ever did spend.

First off, I realised some of my investments at the start of the year to pay for reduction mammoplasty in the local Spire hospital. That cost £5 1/2 K. That was February.

Next, we had a very enjoyable but no-expense-spared holiday in the western Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. That was in June.

In August we had the pond completely re-done, a hard liner put in to replace the one that leaked and turned into a mud puddle, paving right round and looking lovely.

Just 3 weeks ago we flew from the local airport, the one highlighted in the Stobart TV programmes, for a few days in Alicante. We stayed in the 5* Hotel Amerigo in Alicante old town. We thoroughly enjoyed it. In just a few days I learned the basic few words of Spanish, enough to say hello, good day, goodbye, please, thank you, una naranja por favor and donde esta la playa, por favor. I like the Spanish people. I found them less stand-offish than the French. Very civilised people and I liked their way of life. We spent ages just sitting on the Explanada de Espana just watching the world go by, but that's what the Spanish also seem to like doing, or just walking up and down.

Flying by easyJet 'cattle class' is something else though. DH can't be jammed in because he needs space for his left leg, and nor can he walk very far. We got help on the return flight, thankfully. But travelling like that is a no-no for us, really.

We're going away for a couple of nights at New Year, DH found a 'deal' with Premier Inn 1st and 2nd Jan, in Blackpool. As for Christmas, I'm planning to cook a venison stew with red wine and herb dumplings. The next thing we're planning is to go to Switzerland next summer, but that will be our favoured mode of travel - driving.

DH and I have decided to live while we still can, (1) while we're still mobile and (2) while we can still afford it. The investments I cashed earlier in the year have almost grown back to where they were, and I've helped some of the young ones a little bit.

For me, I have the funny feeling of time running out, time speeding up, like sand running through an egg-timer. I can't believe that just 3 weeks ago we were off to Alicante. It seems no time at all.

Goldiegirl

Farway wrote: »

I agree with all above, I have kids, they really do not need my money, on the other hand there is nothing I really want or need, so have taken to a sort of "bucket list" and visit places in UK I have never seen, it was Hadrian's wall this year

I am ex RN, so have seen the world, but realised there are many places in UK I have never seen, Bath in 2014 maybe?

I've been talking about long haul travel, but equally there's loads of places in this country I have seen yet - I hope to travel in the UK too

margaretclare wrote: »

For me, I have the funny feeling of time running out, time speeding up, like sand running through an egg-timer. I can't believe that just 3 weeks ago we were off to Alicante. It seems no time at all.

It's very disconcerting, how quickly time goes. It seems no time at all since we took the Christmas decorations down, and here we are, contemplating another Christmas.

[Deleted User]

[QUOTE=margaretclare;63810595

For me, I have the funny feeling of time running out, time speeding up, like sand running through an egg-timer. I can't believe that just 3 weeks ago we were off to Alicante. It seems no time at all.[/QUOTE]

I have just the same feeling, a weird sense of time going by faster and faster. I am loving the moment these days, no point in looking too far ahead as what will be will be

We are home by ourselves for christmas too and very much by choice. We have told the children that this is the time for them to be at home with their own families. We will see them all at our house on the 28th and I will prepare a liverpool scouse with crusty hm bread and pickled red cabbage. Everything I need is in and red cabbage is made. Deserts from lakeland, lol the ones that can be heated and poured into little dishes and/or frozen yoghurt quickly made in my ice cream maker. I have no intention of going mad or getting shattered. The days of everyone at ours and dh and me being run ragged are over and I have gained the ability to say no, one of the benefits of getting older

Iris that weather station is brilliant, we look at it several times a day

I have just had another waitrose order delivered. I only spend just over the £50 but it saves so much time and I like armchair shopping