The frivolous expenditures thread

There's also wine. I love wine. I'm pretty good at finding bargains, but I also like stuff from the Medoc, a good Margaux, Cru Beaujolais... Stuff like that usually requires a splurge.

Speaking of frivolous things...

Dear Self,

You already own a Rammstein shirt. Just because the rammstein.de shop has some awesome cool new designs does not mean you need another one. You're a dork.

Love,
Me

Bonus context for my War of the Ring CE: I don't have a table big enough to play it on.

I have a good idea for your next frivolous purchase... ;)

I tend to buy random games on steam .. lately. However I have gotten most the things I wanted and the types of games I enjoy aren't being made with any sort of regularity.

I probably should list mmo's. One cannot realistically progress in more than one at a time but I flit back and forth between them all like a crazed butterfly. Anything spent in them with real cash is entirely frivolous I cannot even begin to think of what I spent in City of Heroes since I got most the costume packs before their whole free conversion, now they are gone.

My major ridiculous expenses all seem to be around computers. Sometimes that has paid off for me when life kicks me in the ass and I go a year or so without.

I have six Opeth tshirts and one Opeth hoodie. I also have six or seven Radiohead shirts, three Tea Party (the Canadian rock band, not US political party), And two Mastodon shirts. What I'm saying is, go on and buy that Rammstein shirt!

I'll put them on my Elfster wish list and point my MIL at them. But I'm not spending $40 or so plus international shipping for a second shirt. (Yes, the American store carries some, but not the really cool new ones that just came out. WAAAANT.)

Like sinfony, I would never call buying music frivolous. However, buying music that has been printed on dead media? Totally frivolous:

FWIW, that Arcade Fire album is frivolous no matter the format, however the Baroness album isn't, no matter the format.

Furniture.

About once per year I decide that I have to have a new... (this year it is Wardrobe, last year it was sofa). But then while I'm looking for one I find all sorts of extras as well (this year it's dressing table, chair, shelves, chest of drawers and lamp) that just have to go with it.
So I've ordered a new 0% credit card just to buy this stuff, and I'm hoping it arrives before the wardrobe I like goes off offer.

ETA: Dammit, just checked and it went off sale yesterday. Will now have to wait until it goes back on sale again :( Even in my frenzy for a wardrobe I know I cannot spend more than £500 on one.

I have a complete unpainted and unplayed Dreadfleet...

If we're not counting video games where I buy way more than I ave time to play (even though I also get some for free), then I don't know. Books, music, movies are culture and thus not frivolous... Of course the still shrink wrapped box sets might just be.

I spend too much on good coffee instead of just drinking the free swill my employer provides. And I spend too much on new bottles of whisky, even though I must have 20+ bottles that are at least half full.
My wife also thinks I'm a food snob and spend too much on ingredients.

Watches. I have about 6 watches in my collection (not a big one) but two of them cost over $500 and one of them was over a $1000. My parents would freak at the idea of a $150 watch. I can't even wear more than one at a time!

1. Guitar pedals. I loooooooove guitar pedals. For example, I am seriously considering buying a Boss Feedbacker pedal. Allow me to explain what a feedbacker pedal does: When you press down on it, it will simulate feedback in and around the note you're playing until you depress it. That's all it does. It's a pedal that's pretty much guaranteed to drive everybody else in my band nuts, because my internal answer to the eternal question "Hey, does this song need more feedback right at this moment?' is always going to be a hearty "FUCK YEAH IT DOES!"

2. Weed. Although I might argue that it is not exactly frivolous, as I gave up drinking about five years ago so weed is my last vice. And as far as vices go, it's actually a pretty affordable one. HE SAYS, FOOLING NO ONE.

3. Blurays and DVDs. According to the little app I have that keeps track of these things, I am up to 376 blurays and DVDs. But, look, I could get in the mood to watch Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure any time, right? And clearly I need the best possible presentation of it, right? Right.

4. CDs. I do NOT have an app that keeps track of those. I'm not actually sure how many CDs I own. I think it's around 1500, but I'm honestly not sure. What I AM sure of is that I'm running out of shelf space to keep them. In my defense, your honor, the bulk of these are bought used, and are still cheaper than if I were to download them digitally. Plus, I like physical objects. Yeah, I know, I'm a weirdo, but I like having liner notes and booklets and shit. LOOK, I WAS BORN IN AN ANALOG WORLD, OK? Get off my back. Also, I have a real problem (which also relates to the bluray/DVD problem) in that I will sometimes buy something used not because I want it, but because I think other people don't DESERVE to have it. What's the word for that? Oh, right: crazy.

The move to digital distribution kills me because I can buy a CD used for $6-7, get the songs for way less than $.99 apiece (or whatever Apple charges for whole albums), I get a physical copy, artwork, and then can create my own lossless FLAC rip to my computer and transcode to MP3 for portability.

I can do all that legally because of Fair Use and the lack of copy protection on CDs.

Any future music format is not going to be physical, is not going to be lossless, won't be nearly as good of a value...

I'm sad about the future of music. :(

Sounds like a solution is just a few acres of grazing land and a flock of merino sheep away.

While I loathe the notion of actually listening to vinyl, there are times that I consider buying certain records for decorative purposes. Am currently imagining the three Baroness albums side-by-side on the wall, or the four Jesu albums arranged in a square, etc. Also, you have the wrong Arcade Fire and GY!BE albums in there.

I collect records as well (and listen to them), but since most of them are from various $0.25 bins I wouldn't call it one of my more expensive hobbies.

I have all the gy!be and arcade fire albums :)

As for displaying the baroness albums, that's a pretty expensive piece of artwork, the albums sell for like $60-100 each.

Food stickers.
They don't cost too much at $2 a pack, but I can not help but buy them when I see them. I stick them on everything and will look at them when I am bored.
I really like how food looks. As a consequence, I have banned myself from going to one particular store I know that has hundreds of food stickers.

and now i really want to go there and buy more of them nnnoooo

Food stickers? All I can think of are the scratch and sniff ones from the 1980s...

Fuck yeah Baroness.

My vice is art-books. Or picture books for kids. As long as it has pretty art in it I will buy it, waste one day looking through it and then never look at it again. I've considered tearing out pages and hanging them on my walls, because then I will get to look at pretty art everyday. But the idea of ripping out pages of a book makes my heart ache.

I am seeing them straight from Relapse for $21.99 each. I fear I am about to engage in a frivolous expenditure.

Ahh nifty. They've been rereleased. Awesome!

No, no, no...one of the three you quoted is not like the others. You can rationalize splurging on Cru Beaujolais because you can get 3 top quality ones for a nice Bordeaux. Or 2 for one of those candles. Which means you should buy 12 bottles, because you're really saving money, the more you buy.

*Mine's wine too; craft beer to a much lesser extent, but I'm stupid enough to pay restaurant mark-ups more often for the beer.
**And travel, but it's hard for me to see that as frivolous. Well, maybe the European male strip clubs, but there's only so many museums you can see in a day.

So I was out at the local record shops buying gifts for family (everyone in my family has a turntable and is big into vinyl). I ended up buying the Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness vinyl re-release. $100 well spent!

I grew up pretty poor, so now that I have some money, I don't intend to not spend it. My biggest frivolities:

Jewelry for my wife. Diamonds, I hate you (this is pretty much her only indulgence).

Videogames, obviously. Especially since I don't play them, I collect them. My backlog, let me not show you it.

Music -- over 1000 physical cd's and probably 300 now in digital only, to which I have basically migrated. According to ITunes, I have 21 days worth of songs that have never been played.

Candles -- Ben, you cannot tempt me with your fancy French spendy candles. I've got a buttload of Yankee Candles, and if there is a better scent than Stormwatch, I've never taken a whiff of it.

Soaps -- I have no indulgences of a personal grooming nature, including clothes, but I bathe only with fancy, expensive French and Italian milled soaps. Luxurious.

Dining out always feels like a waste of money to me and I try to avoid it, but my wife and daughter like it, so it happens.

My 17" Alienware laptop. We will not speak of this.

The biggest one that bothers me is travel. Vacations are very important to the wife, and I always always always tote the cost up in my head and think of the alternate uses for the same amount of money. But we do have some pretty great memories. I'm a lot of fun on a trip.

Anyone who listed books should be drawn and quartered. The written word is no luxury.

Sorry for the ramble. Heading for the Drunk thread.

Beer. I spend way too much money on fancy beer. And I don't even drink half of it; it just goes in my cellar. I have a real beer collecting problem; I'll see something that look interesting and I'll buy two bottles and stick one in the cellar... And probably half of it isn't even worth cellaring!

My God man. How can your opinions be so right here and so wrong elsewhere? ;)

Part of my charm.

I am super frugal and so I really do not have any of these issues until times of anxiety and struggle, but mostly when I am sitting around wondering "What is it all for?". Then, it is late nights of boozing it up and the rare trip to a gentleman's club. I don't like spending $10 for lunch so I generally get water to save $2, but those night's when I let it get away from me, I spend like what I am, a drunken fool. It makes no sense and I hate myself for it, but when all other avenues of escape have become worthless, anything that can bring you even fleeting joy is worth it.

There.

Tea and coffee.

I have more tea than we can possibly drink in any reasonable amount of time but when I see a box of tea that looks good or smell a loose tea that makes me go "mmmm" I just have to buy it.

I love really good coffee. I just spent $71 on 5 lbs of really good micro-roasted coffee. Only 2 of the bags of coffee are for us, the rest are gifts but it justs tastes so damn good that I just can't regret the cost.

Not scratch and sniff, but pleasantly squishy.

Watches.

I just bought a 55 inch TV, that feels pretty damn frivolous.

That has started to be an indulgence of mine. Sigh.

I don't consider books and music to be frivolous, which is probably a good thing as I'm another one with a total in the thousands. I have around 500 Anthropology, Sociology and Law Uni books boxed up in the garage that I really should get rid of as they just take up space these days, but I can't bring myself to do it. Music gear could be, but as it has been a part of me all my life and is also a source of income, I don't see it as frivolous. I also have a habit of buying interesting furniture, but it does serve a purpose. I also don't consider expensive food and drinks to be a frivolous purchase as I was brought up in a family that believed that food was to be enjoyed.

The biggest ones for me:

Watches. I have no excuse for these. They're not really needed these days, and they can be very expensive, but I have loved them since I was a kid. I have started setting a limit on price though.

Cars. I have cut these back and will be down to two in the new year. One family car and one for fun.

Clothes. I have way too many and my only justification is that I like variety. Lately I have been focusing on hats, beanies and scarfs.

Tins and Boxes. I collect old cigarette/tobacco tins and wood boxes.

I used to spend a lot on collectables, toys, figurines and general dust collectors, but these days I only buy the occasional piece.

Oh, yes. Travel.

This has always been a priority of mine and my wife is the same, but with two kids, it's expensive. But we're getting there. But then, travelling did start it all.

When I dropped out of college to go to Journalism School, I sold of everything I owned of any value (most prominently my Magic collection) to go two months to Australia starting with being best man at a friends wedding. I actually cleaned out so much, that flags were raised and I got a wanted-status in the national poice's investigative unit because somebody somewhere thought I had skipped the country with no intention of coming back and repaying my student loans... I met my wife at the wedding, so it was worth it.

When my youngest was 8 months old and we only had one income, I went 5 weeks to South Africa mostly on borrowed money and with my wife's blessing.

Most of our travels since has been short and within the country's borders, but we've begun to go to Italy and stuff now that the kids are old enough to appreciate it. I wouldn't go without, but it is a lot of money for a weeks fun. Next years US trip is priced at about what you can get a small hatchback for here (without our taxes it's probably the price of a nice BMW). For one trip.

OH god, travel. That's a big one. What tends to happen is that we're strapped for money all year and then we'll manage to save some up and it's like "We're stressed out, it's been a sucky year, we haven't allowed ourselves to spend much on anything, let's go on vacation!"

It's never anything super swanky, sans the honeymoon we did last year, but it's one of those things where a year or two later it's like "So if we hadn't gone on those two vacations, we could probably have redone our kitchen. Dammit."

But dammit. Sometimes I just want to relax!

Despite all of the bellyaching* in the various politics/economics threads, life really is not one big optimization problem. You aren't being stupid with the money you have (like one-way tickets to Vegas with next month's rent and a duffel full of dreams). Just enjoy what you spend time doing and look back fondly on it as much as reasonable.

*including mine.