How much would you spend on a single item?

[mermaidin]

Just curious really.
I earn a semi decent salary. More than average but not more than £50,000 so not high, but I'm single with no kids so I have a fair bit left after bills etc.
I was watching a documentary where someone said they'd had a £30,000 ring stolen and I was blown away! I cannot ever imagine spending that amount on a personal item! Obviously this person was very rich but I wouldn't spend that no matter how rich I was.
I'm not frugal at all as I believe life is for living and if you want something you should buy it. But really the most I've ever spent on clothing or jewellery for a single item is £200 and I thought that was expensive!
I understand people with higher incomes would/could spend more. So it just made me wonder...
What's your most extravagant purchase? Not including cars or houses obviously!

I guess my car. My wedding dress was £1200. I think other than holidays and travel that's the most I've spent on a personal item.
Ummmm... spent £400 on a bespoke rug for my bedroom as a Christmas present to myself a couple years ago.

I spent £1000 on a watch with a bonus from a promotion once.

Antique sapphire & diamond engagement ring 8k
Ligne Roset togo sofas & armchairs 12k

I spent £5000 on eye surgery. I was in my first professional job after qualifying, lived alone with minimal outgoings and could save up for it. I couldn't do it now with a husband and child so I'm glad I did when I could. I've probably saved half of it back by not needing glasses since.

My darling Dad gave me money to buy jewellery before he died, i bought a pair of earrings to wear every day, they were £155 and i thought that was a hell of a lot.

I'm not a high-value spender, and can't really think of any expensive "item" I've bought for myself (outside home improvements, car, holidays etc). I always go for the bargains. I buy a lot of clothes, but have never spent more than £150 on anything, not even my wedding dress. Jewellery tends to be silver/inexpensive.

My DSis is quite well off, has a city job with a high salary, and has a soft spot for fine jewellery - she is always dripping with diamonds, blingy rings, bracelets etc. and thinks nothing of spending a four-figure sum on a nice piece.

Yet she never spends a penny on clothes, and usually accessorises her diamonds with the same old baggy jeans and bobbly jumper. Makes me laugh how different we are!

Depends on the item i suppose, id happily buy a games console or laptop for a significant sum. I would not buy jewellery for myself (think i baulked at the cost of my wedding ring at less than £100) but i did buy wifey an expensive (for me) engagement ring, she will never have that spent on her again! If the item means a lot though for whatever reason it could encourage a higher price tag

I earn £67k a year and the most expensive item I've bought myself is a £250 Reiss coat. I bought a Boden coat at a similar amount in recent years too. I love coats. They're my Achilles heel. For the house I bought a lovely cabinet at £850 which felt like a luxury but we obvs have more expensive items in the house like the sofas.
I wouldn't spend more than around £7k on a family holiday. £4/5k is normal for us. Pay school fees too.

Whilst I totally get the point regarding the cost of childcare it’s not really true to say you get nothing for it, the main thing you get is the ability to earn money which presuming outweighs the cost of the childcare.

Bikes are definitely our biggest purchase too 😬

I've realised reading this that I'm quite frugal on clothes etc. £150 is my maximum and I've rarely spent that.

I did spend £8000 on a cooker and £2500 on a Fired Earth sink unit but hopefully they will last forever.

A Pre-owned Rolex which was £3.5k and a vintage Chanel bag which was £1.5k, I’ve recently looked into selling both and they’ve more than doubled in value so even though they were expensive purchase, they turned out to be decent investments.

Other than those items I have a small collection of designer coats, bags and shoes, which individually cost between £500-£1000.

When DH grandma died she left him a specific bit of money (about 1.5k) with the instructions "he's always wanted a good quality camera and lenses so I want him to buy himself one with that" so he spent over 1k on that.

Then we probably spent 3k on our sofas in the DFS sale but we paid them off monthly for 3 years because we couldn't do the big 1 off payment.

We would have had to spend a lot on baby items (travel system / cot / etc) but we were the last of both families to have a baby so we were given all of it or we would never have afforded it. I know the travel system we have is worth 2k new but we were gifted it by my cousin because they were done having kids. I can't imagine having to find that much money to buy new ourself.

Other than that the most I've spent was on a Christmas present for DH. He wanted a ps4 back before ps5 so it was the newest in the range. We absolutely couldn't afford one new so I managed to find one; no box included, used, with the smallest hard drive they made, from CEX on black Friday. With 2 games for him and 1 controller I paid £95. I was properly happy and so was he 😊. He still loves it to this day because he knows it would have cost more than we could afford and we are "let's just do without" people normally.

I spent £5k on a Chanel bag. Average salary and saved up.

I completely agree with you, I don’t earn much (around £23.5k) but I’m really sensible with my money and wouldn’t dream of spending that much on anything even if I earned triple my income. It just doesn’t appeal to me at all.

I picked my engagement ring, it was £50 from Argos. But when my husband went to get it, it was out of stock so he chose a similar one for £99. I then knocked it and broke it on the lap bar of a roller coaster and I still think about what a waste of money that was! My wedding ring was around £150.

if I won the lottery, I’d get a small extension on my house, maybe upgrade my car, save a lot and travel!

Most expensive purchase we’ve made was buying out sky glass tv outright that was £950

Pre kids (ten years ago) I bought a pair of boots for £180. I still have them but never wear them because they hurt (🙄🙈😂). Still can’t bear to part with them because they are the priciest physical thing I ever bought for myself!

I bought myself a 14k ring after a huge project at work ended successfully. It was my bonus and I was young (28). I don’t regret it as I wear it everyday and it reminds me of the hard work I did. It’s also appreciated in value.

I think of myself as a bit of an impulse buyer and try to curb that, but the purchases tend to be fairly small. I try to buy clothes that will last but usually wait for sales or think about it until I start to be worried it'll go out of stock! I recently bought a beautiful long cardigan for £122 and that was a major splurge. I spent about the same on a new raincoat last autumn (also in a sale - I had a budget of £250 but ended up spending less). I once had a pair of Doc Martens which were £85, which was a lot at the time.

My phone and laptop were both about £300 (a couple of years ago for the laptop). I can't drive. My bike was around £350 - in 2007! I have spent some money here and there keeping it roadworthy, probably around £1000 over the years.

The most expensive things would be my engagement ring (£650, vintage so no tax) and wedding dress (about £1500 I think - my parents and aunt paid). The dress was a bit crazy but I couldn't find ANY off-the-peg dresses that worked for me (everything was sleeveless or strapless, which wasn't my style) so I had one made and I absolutely loved it. It was incredibly comfortable.

30 years ago I spent £1100 on a young horse.
More recently I spent £1000 on my dog.

An iPad costs well nigh £1,000 these days, and a decent phone would cost more than £200. My personal luxury is art, and although I can’t afford to go too mad, I’ve paid £400 for a piece before now.

I’m similar to you - most expensive thing would be around £250 on a good winter coat or trench. I have never spent more than about £30 on a single item of jewellery as I prefer to buy fun things and change it up, plus I always lose it!

I have spent loads on things for the house though as renovated my old house and renovating the current one. So hundreds and thousands on kitchens, white goods, furniture and the rest, and always seem to have to prioritise something else house related rather than clothes and fun stuff!

As I get older I do increasingly believe in spending a lot on an item to be kept forever. Eg I just spent £110 on a pair of wellingtons and I never intend to buy another pair. I just actually can’t be bothered with al the decision making, I wnat to choose something once and that’s it!!

I'm not telling

I put myself down on a waiting list for a watch costing £65K today. I don’t particularly like the watch but I want to buy another watch (which I do like, obvs!) from the same company and they don’t allow you to buy the watch I do like as the first purchase from them. Even if I get the watch I’ve put my name down, there’s no guarantee that they’ll sell me the one I want and, if they do, I’ll probably have to wait several years for it and prove I still own this one when I go to collect the second one.

They probably won’t sell me the watch I’ve put my name down for either if it turns out to be popular (it was released today) as again they will give first dibs to existing owners.

Excluding education, baby stuff and white goods.

Barbours
I wear them all the time so always have at least a summer and winter Barbour, but they last a long time.

Art, generally eg Tracy Emin, Billy Childish etc
Bob Dylan’s are our most expensive. A red version of rail tracks for £15,000

My wedding shoes were £3500, they cost more than the dress. But shoes are my thing, its not like my shoe size will change (been the same size since first year!) and to be honest, i could sell them now to close to the amount i paid. I wouldnt sell them though, to be honest i'll wear them next time too (jokes, we are still married but you never know 😅)