What are your "necessary" luxuries?

[FlyingJesus]

Unless you're lucky enough to have been born into a millionaire family or are some hideous "influencer" who gets everything given to them for free, you're probably feeling the pinch of price increases and general incapability from our global leaders and their efforts to increase the wealth gap for their pals. I really hope that none of you have been forced to cut back on pure essentials, but I expect most if not all of us have had some tricky decisions to make regarding the extras in our lives - even down to simply changing what brand of X product you go for!

There are some things however that I know people will cling to no matter what, and I want to know what YOUR more expensive vices are. It could be as simple as jamiexo's love of Heinz baked beans over any other brand, or as hefty and expensive as buying every new iPhone on release day in spite of the specs, but what are the things you absolutely will not budge on???




Full disclosure, I thought of this thread while contemplating toilet roll, because looking after your un-sunned regions is very important and I 3000% believe it's worth paying a little more for something that doesn't feel like you need a safe word while using

[-:Undertaker:-]

I'm not sure really. I mean in terms of materialistic stuff, I have gone without things before quite easily. Even a mobile phone is easy to go without after a week or two, you just stop caring about it. For me though I would say my most treasured luxury is being able to go abroad on holiday. It gives me something to look forward to/aim towards and is good for my mind. So yeah, I'd sacrifice all other luxuries just for a holiday or weekend trip somewhere.

With the pandemic and following, prices for long haul just became impossible and it is only recently that they've come down in price, and this May/June I am planning a trip across Pakistan-India-Nepal-Bangladesh after 6 years teaching abroad... so it'll be nice to get back to something I love doing and a nice little reward after 6 years of the first step in my career/celebrating my life being back on track 100%.

[tbl]

Starbucks, Spotify, and the occasional 50% credits deal.
Starbucks coffee isn't amazing, but sometimes no amount of at home coffee is giving me the kick I need.
I pay for Spotify because the ads annoy me and I like to skip songs when I'm driving.
Those two seem justifiable if I squint hard enough and obviously the 50% credits deal because I've lost my mind.

Howling @ the "I 3000% believe it's worth paying a little more for something that doesn't feel like you need a safe word while using".
Every time I need toilet roll, I go into the store and stand there for 2+ mins debating which brand to buy because WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE. In the big scheme of things okay not that expensive, but still!

[LUCPIX]

Upon a quick analysis triggered by this thread, I am a disgustingly thrifty individual . I remember that when I first started earning cash as a worker I would vastly spend it on books because I did not have to pay bills + couldn't really think of anything else (not technological) that could give me happiness (...over the long term, at least.... ), plus I might have enjoyed the concept of buying something that can be both usable and decorative, maybe. But these days though, as a not-so-eager-anymore-reader (i will fix that it's a promise) I'm forming the habit of spending my savings on games I know I will not regret buying... thankfully most of my favorite games are abandonwares!

[FlyingJesus]

Yeeee same I am incredibly thrifty, only very very recently forcing myself into the mindset that I don't HAVE to live with the bare minimum and it's ok to treat myself sometimes.

Most things I will still spend as little as humanly possible on (especially clothes, god knows when I last paid full price for something new for myself), but there are some things I've realised will only set me back like ?5 a year in order to be decent-ish quality. Mostly things that involve hygiene actually now that I think about it... toilet roll, shower gel, conditioner, dishwasher tabs, etc all upgradeable at not much cost when it's only for me

[Hannah]

Full disclosure, I thought of this thread while contemplating toilet roll, because looking after your un-sunned regions is very important and I 3000% believe it's worth paying a little more for something that doesn't feel like you need a safe word while using

Never a truer word said.


I'm quite fortunate, I'm no millionaire or anything but until now (as I'm buying a house, that'll change for an expectant 275k mortgage) I've had a better salary than needed for my outgoings for a couple of years now and I never really increased them as my salary went up. Therefore I've not really skimped or felt the pinch which I am so grateful for.

If I had to choose, it'd probably be haircare. Even when I wasn't on the greatest salary I would still be spending ~?8 on a bottle of conditioner, and thanks to the length of my hair go through A LOT.

Maybe petrol too, I've always gone for the 'premium' even before the standard went to E10. Comparing how much a full tank costs vs during the petrol price hikes was not so fun.

[Samantha]

Mine is probably Guylian chocolate seashells. Other shops/brands do them cheaper but they don't taste the same and I don't like the others. I only ever buy them when they're on offer though or I get them for Christmas/birthdays etc. I remember when I worked in ASDA and one day a couple of weeks after Christmas I noticed they had gone down to half price (just over ?2 at the time) but the shelf was empty. A couple of days later I saw a colleague had a full box on their cage they were working on, scanned them and they were still cheap so I ended up buying the full box (6 packs of them). One of the only things I miss about working at ASDA .