what one-off extravagant purchases do you have ? *not a gloating thread*

[littlemoonspistachio]

A friend of a friend lives in Greece and has recently brought themselves an underwater sea scooter. A top of the range one. They are not well off by any means, but could afford to treat themselves to this. It looks a real smart piece of kit.

It got me thinking, we don't have any one-off extravagant purchases. Not that you have to have any, of course. There has just never been anything we have really wanted, with the exception of a new car. But this thread is not about buying to that level.

*edited to add this is a no judgement thread

Talked my husband into the first new bike he's had in 35 years (has always bought used). He hates spending on himself, so it was a real push by the whole family to encourage him! And now he's thrilled with it 😀

We spent £225 on a prom dress for our daughter. I know this might not seem like much to many people, but I've never spent so much on clothes ever, and we had not intended to spend that much. But oh, she looked wonderful, and we had such a good time watching all the kids pulling up at the venue in their cars etc. One of the best uses of our money ever. 😀

White miniature schnauzer puppy. She cost a ridiculous amount of money and drives me nuts. Currently fast asleep on my lap and I love her to bits.
Worth every penny!

This is going to make me sound very dull, but National Trust life membership. It cost £1600 about 5 years ago and worth every penny!

iPhone 16 pro max and it's great.
It's not that extravagant a many people have them

It feels self indulgent to me!

Will not spend £28 on a Dior lip glow even though I have a £25 voucher

Your soul and everything you own?! 😂

My extravagant purchase was also a horse 😬… but before the cost of horses went through the roof with Covid!

We bought him in 2013 for £3650 and he’s been worth every single penny. He was my DC’s for many years till he outgrew him, and then he became mine full time! We’ve done a bit of everything and competed all over the country. He is a rare sort in that he’s quite happy bumbling about with a small child who can’t ride and kind enough not to take the mick, but will step it up for a decent rider and do a competitive novice test/80cm jumping round/fun rides/endurance etc.

Last year I was chatting to the vet and she was telling me about a pre-purchase vetting she’d just done for a similar sized/temperament/aged horse for the RDA (but in her words mine was more talented/competition history). She said if we sold ours we’d get £10k for him now 😳😳😳…. (They normally lose value in their teens).

Horses being horses, he got a field injury a few weeks later and may now never return to ridden work 🤦‍♀️ Luckily for him, I’d never sell him no matter what (altho I certainly wasn’t going to tell DH how much the vet thought he was worth!). On paper he’s now probably worth £500, if that, but to us he’s priceless.

We have a hot tub. It came with the house when we bought it. Hate the damn thing. Noisy, expensive to run if you can even get the chemicals right. Its been switched off for 4 years at this point. I will scrap it soon.

My road bike. Cost me about £4k, so not massively expensive in the wider scheme of life. But it was a frivolous spur of the moment purchase bought during lockdown. I love it to bits, the exhilaration of being out on the road. Except so many people get so angry with cyclists, even middle aged women going out for their mental health. To the point where I have been told I deserved it when I got knocked off when it was completely 100% driver error.

An electric bike. The second time I used it I fell off and damaged my leg and I'm unable to ride it. It's in the garage covered in dust.

It’s just gone up to £3k so you got a bargain!

Oh wow, that's a big increase!

I love it even more now. 😁

I bought a set of powered secateurs last week - amazing! Wish I’d bought them when I first saw them a few years ago.

I hear you, I did the spa tub with jets in bathroom redo in late nineties. I’m still kicking myself, it’s ugly, hard to clean and it’s just a dust collector. Dumb mistake that’s on me.

My horse. She wasn’t expensive but I had to get a bank loan as I had to buy tack and rugs. She cost £950 back in 1997. I had her 22 years and I dread to think what she cost me over the years but she gave me so much too.

Hermes silk scarf.

Ive bought far more expensive things like cars, laptops, art, etc, but my silk scarf was a treat as i neither needed it or have the innate sense of style to needed wear it effortlessly. But i adore it. Its just so pretty and soft and luxurious and wonderful.

Sadly for me, because horses are now so so expensive, if he cant return to ridden work and has to permanently retire, I’d never be able to afford to ‘replace’ (obviously not replace but replicate) him with another.

My guess is to get another that would tick the same boxes as a 6-8yr old, I’d be looking at £10k+ (more if I wanted bigger/proper horse size- mine is borderline pony/horse sized, or with a proven record of being able to do what I wanted).

That’s a good thing and you love it so that’s great

One horse I don’t ride. And another one to keep the first one company. Who is also unrideable

Fancy Sage bean to cup coffee machine, it is one of my favourite things in this world.

Dyson air wrap, it's nearly as beloved as the coffee machine.

More unexpected than extravagant, but I did once go out to buy a bag of peat and come home with a cabriolet.
Quite an investment really, because 10 years later, I still have it.

I got drunk and bought a horse. Not once, but twice. 😂 I no longer have one of them, but do still have the other. (I’ve grown up with horses and very knowledgeable, this wasn’t a totally spontaneous thing to do, though I no longer drink alcohol after enough foolishness of this sort. 🤣)

A 50th birthday trip I invited 3 friends to. Just two nights but I paid for hotel and meals.

4 day trip to Florence, it was in connection with a hobby but I added 2 days for sightseeing.

Converting the box room to a me-den, total renovation, day bed, book shelves, lots of books, plenty of pretty blankets and pillows. Entry by invitation only.

A coffee machine.
Three crowns on my teeth.
Cataract surgery, which was mega expensive.

It depends on the horse. Anything from “free” to millions.

The quotes are of course because they are expensive to keep regardless of purchase price. 😂

@Velmy wow are they amazing? I adore my music too.

I'm hoping to upgrade my Google speaker.

25 years ago, a Georgian foiled-back diamond brooch - I had nowhere to live then (halls of residence), no job, student debt, no decent clothes, decent underwear, decent shoes, etc. and a bloody brooch - I just put it on my credit card. Nowhere to wear it then, nowhere to wear it now - and my dd says 'it is fugly'. I look it at now and just ask 'why?' P.S. Did not increase in value because nothing special and, as dd says, fugly.