What little things do you buy if you are finally financially stable?

[catfunk]

I'm not talking big houses or flash cars. More innocuous things.
Mine is fresh lemons and limes. I'm extremely frugal when it comes to shopping and always bought the bottles of concentrated juice for cooking or drinks but realised in the past year or so I've added them to my grocery shop without a second thought about the extra couple of quid.

Good quality fresh organic groceries (eg. Natoora, Daylesford. Have dabbled in fruit & veg boxes too)
First class travel (before Covid, of course!)
Hardback books
High thread count bed linen
Real chocolate
Designer clothes
Charity donations
Loose leaf tea
Thoughtful gifts for family and friends
Next day delivery

Flavored water
Books
Magazines
New pens etc
Clothes
Shoes
Wine
Flowers
Cake
Energy drinks
Sweets
Cheese
Notepads
Toys
Pet friendly items

@Thewiseoneincognito

Before Covid it was the cleaner, now I’m too paranoid to have a stranger in the house ‘cleaning’ when I’d have to bleach and dettol everything after they’d gone.

I really miss her. A lot. I hate doing the bathroom, she was so good. Sigh.

Small flex / brag, but I don’t really pay attention to my bank account and that in itself is a luxury. When I was starting out I would always end up in the overdraft by the end of the month so I appreciate now not having to think about that.

Snap. It was a sad day when we had to let the cleaner go, but it really isn't worth the risk of making another unnecessary contact.

Plus DH and I are now both permanent WFH so we can manage to fit it all in ourselves.

Fancy condiments. More expensive coffee. A lovely bottle of wine.

Mine are mainly food or drink related!

Plants for the garden
Café breakfast with the children
Kitchen gadgets
Nice makeup
Fresh flowers
Perfume
Stationery
Treats from the deli/ fishmonger
Holidays
Good wine
Meals out with friends
Buying extra annual leave
Velvet bedspreads
Vintage glass vases
Christmas decorations

A huge bag of frozen jumbo prawns.

Car valet.
Hair coloured at the salon.

Being able to put whatever we want in our shopping trolley when doing a food shop. When my DH and I first moved in together we were so broke for the first couple of years that I had to go around the shops tallying up everything we put in the trolley on my phone calculator so it didn't go over our budget by a single penny. We are hardly throwing Moet and caviar into the trolley now, but being able to get lots of fruit, veg, quality meat and nice ice cream etc is heaven.

Shopping at whatever supermarket I fancy used have to be either Aldi or Lidl eating out probably three times a week A cleaner, window cleaner, paying for summer camp for DD , fillers for me , premium skincare and hair care instead of superdrug.
Reading all that I probably need to reign it in

M and S for shopping every few weeks. Rituals Reed diffuser. Andrew toilet rolls. Vine tomatoes. Bottle of wine at £15 instead of under £10

I have just transformed my two little gardens, and I always like to spend extra money on some new and unusual plants.. I have always been a bit of a plant collector. and like to find new species that I haven't had before. They don't have to be large plants and flowers, just unusual ones, to arrange around my garden.

Flowers, a haircut (rather than using the kitchen scissors and hoping for the best 🤭), meals out, clothing

Throw in a trip to Waitrose if I’m feeling really flash with the cash

It's so sad that fresh fruit and high quality meat is such a luxury - it shouldn't be. Subsidising that would be public money well spent and an investment in the NHS.

@catfunk

One of my faves are True Grace candles. Really nice. They come in a tin for around £20 or in a glass for around £30. The same scents in both. I've tried nearly all of them.

I've recently started buying imperial candles for presents. They come with a piece of 925 silver jewellery wrapped up inside. Around £35. You have to burn the candle roughly halfway down in order to get your suprise jewellery. The scents have been lovely

Holidays in the sun. My house is a bit tatty and I wear clothes from charity shops but I have realised what makes me happy is sunshine. It doesn’t actually have to be hot just sunny with a blue sky.
I used to love getting away from British grey skies so as you can imagine I’m not too happy at the moment.

A gardener every week. It is so nice to enjoy my garden without all the work.

@ComeonJulia

Fresh fruit and veg Flowers every Friday Car valeting at home once every 3 weeks Full body massage once a month

@ComeonJulia @TooWicked

Can I ask how much the car valeting costs? Is the person independent or a national chain?

i can't find anyone doing at a realistic price!

Flowers
Sunday papers
We have a cleaner once a week - but my dh would say that was a necessity!

Heinz ketchup and Ariel or Persil washing powder.

When we were on the bones of our arse until a couple of years ago we made the best of it "oh the Lidl stuff is just as good, can't notice the difference".

It's nice being able to get a few brand names again just because I like them better, plus moving up from the value range.

Great quality tomatoes

High-end olive oil from a single estate in Crete

Just “solving problems with money” generally - classes for my DD, Amazon Prime etc. I’m naturally quite frugal but if something is just sitting on my brain not getting resolved I do occasionally throw money at it.

Coffee pods
Nice chocolate
An Amazon habit for treats for us all at random times during the month
Subscription TV

Nice shampoo and shower gel
Olverum bath oil
An "extra" of something I already own, just because I like it. A pair of sunglasses for example. I always used to be strict about only needing one of everything.
A really good electric toothbrush
Good bed linen

Not there yet (and possibly won’t be ever), but actual new clothes for me and dc rather than the cheapest ebay bundles I can find would be amazing.

I’ve never been into a shop and chosen clothes for any of us.

Oh and I would never buy the cheapest shower gel and shampoo that Aldi do ever again.