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As we ponder retirement and moving from savers to spenders i was considering what recent discretionary purchases really added extra value to our lives.
Here is my short list:
1) A home milk frother – we love coffee at frugal prices so we DYI most of the time.
2) a good quality sound bar – we love music.
3) my carbon frame touring (upright) bike – mental/physical health and fun. This wasn’t frugal but so worth it in terms of comfort and road confidence due to it’s wider tires.
I was wondering what purchases you would put on your list and why.
Thank you Jonathan Clements for all that you do. I have read many of your articles and books and wanted you to know that you have a fan for life. Wishing you a full recovery.
~Moshe
Our Peloton bike and later rower. Game changer for my fitness journey.
I’m a sucker for kitchen gadgets and love my Instant Pot and air fryer. I use both multiple times a week.
Fully agree, thanks Jonathan for everything. On my list, was a transistor radio in 1957, a boom box on 1960, Handheld Sony 1970, powerful hand held calculators 1975, Our first Apple computer 1983 and the list goes on. I like computers that are faster than me, and work properly everyday. I splurge on smartphones, smart TV’s and Apple Mac’s. I wonder what’s next!
I have absolutely LOVED reading this post! Thank you to all who have commented.
My list (in no particular order):
1) Membership to the local indoor pickleball courts. My wife and I play 3-5 times a week. Great exercise and social connections
2) Milk frother (from the OP!) We have two. We have a Bialetti and make our own lattes every morning.
3) Heated mugs (Nextmug from Amazon). You can take an hour to drink that amazing latte, and it never gets cold. I actually take these out with me too, as I find most places the coffee gets cold too fast
4) We live in Montana, and we now have an electric snow shovel for the front sidewalk and an electric snow blower for the back driveway. So much easier, faster, and way less chance of a back injury
5) We go to the local runners store to buy our athletic shoes. A while ago my wife bought her running shows on Amazon to save money. Ended up creating a stress fracture in her toe due to a not-so-go fit, and that cost $600 and 4 months not working out. Total waste of money saving money!
6) Costco membership. The fuel saves you a ton. I never bother to look at the price of petrol as it’s always the cheapest, and, per Consumer Reports, the best. I also like to get my tires done at Costco. Way cheaper.
7) Consumer Reports subscription and the print magazine. I’ve found that the print magazine brings me to stuff I would never look up. Just upgraded my wife’s lip balm to the “best” based on the CR reviews
8) Walmart+ membership. Didn’t use it for months, but just figured that getting groceries delivered is VERY nice indeed.
9) Paying to not have to watch ads on whatever platform. Ads are awful.
10) Paying for a month on a particular streaming service for a particular show. We don’t go to the movies, so spending $9 to watch amazing shows on Britbox is a steal
11) We have the Delta Reserve AmEx card. We pretty much have to fly Delta out of here, and the card gives you upgrades and, the most important part, access to the SkyClub. We just got our “complimentary” (obviously it’s not, as we pay $600 for the card) free companion ticket, and we’re both flying first class to Belize for Spring Break.
12) Top quality coats. Being cold is awful. Coats from Patagonia, Black Diamond and Arc’Teryx are stupidly expensive, but very light and very effective, and so very much worth it.
13) We have two old cars. Honda Ody, bought brand new 24 years ago, and now has 275k miles on it. Runs like a dream. I always buy good tires (from Costco) for it, plus have a very reliable local mechanic. The other is a 21 year old Honda Civic, just 105k miles on it. As someone else said, having two cars when at least one is old is just the right choice. Cheap to insure.
14) Good car insurance. I don’t want to have an issue if there’s an issue.
Central air conditioning, central vacuum system, first class plane tickets.
I installed the first two when I bought my fixer upper house over thirty years ago and if I ever move to a different house I’ll do it again.
I started purchasing first class plane tickets a few years before I retired. The “first on first off” and larger seats make them worth every penny.