Frivolous things you used to spend money on?

[Lemon221]

What did you used to spend your money on that your now seems completely extravagant and frivolous? I’ll go first, jo malone candles ridiculous how much I spent on wax!

Bedding plants for hanging baskets and pots. Now I just buy bee friendly perennials that bloom every year.

Cigarettes
Alcohol
Threading
Personal motorised vehicles

Getting my nails done every two weeks. Used to get them done on my lunch break when office based but since I'm now full time WFH I just haven't bothered. If course my nails are shit, but I'm saving €50 a month 😉

Nail extensions

I now do them myself

I used to get really caught up in 'must have' beauty trends when I was younger. For example, when Hard Candy nail polishes came out in the 90s I was on the waiting list at Harvey Nichols for all five pastel shades. They were £12 a pop almost 30 years ago! Also Mac lipsticks. I must've spent a fortune on makeup.

Also cigarettes. I gave up 12 years ago but hardly a day goes by without me regretting the thousands I must have spent on the stupid things.

Riding lessons
Designer jeans
Expensive skincare
Magazines
CDs and DVDs (I know they aren't expensive but I used to buy A LOT pre-Spotify and streamed TV
New clothes most weekends for going out in

Heroin and crack cocaine were the biggies. That was a lifetime ago though.

Now I’ve got to break my Waitrose habit.

This post is so depressing :(
Yes most of these things aren't necessary but we enjoyed them.
How has it come to be that everything not soley essential is now frivolous?

M&S Beauty Boxes.

OK, they were a nice treat but I have enough creams and potions to last me for years!

I never buy clothes now. I have enough.

@littlefirecar

This post is so depressing :( Yes most of these things aren't necessary but we enjoyed them. How has it come to be that everything not soley essential is now frivolous?

Exactly what I was going to say X

Eating out, drinking and partying, make up, perfume, clothes, taxis, magazines, spa days

Lunch at work every day and two pairs of Irregular Choice shoes every payday. Can't even afford a pair a year now!

Cigarettes. I could weep for the £1000s and £1000s I smoked my way through. I could really do with that money now

Cocaine. Dread to think how much money I wasted on that muck.

Ah sorry was meant to be lighthearted

Clothes oh so many clothes. Every Saturday we'd go into warehouse, kookai, Topshop etc and buy new outfits for Saturday night. I sold them all on eBay over the years and they were such good quality fabrics such as silk. I really wish I'd kept them as they're back in fashion now except the quality is crap

Things like new perfume. I used to always have another malone on the go. Now Jo malone is a once a year treat. I used to buy a lot of clothes too. I got rid of binbags full last summer, to my shame. Now I'm more thoughtful about buying an item. For example, I bought a wool M and S coat last Winter. I've decided I'll just get it dry cleaned and use it again next Winter. No point in buying new one.

Magazines, manicures and music (CDs)

Also magazines and nails here, plus designer clothes, takeaways, food out etc. frittered away loads on this stuff but have always worked long hours in a stressful job so I feel like I can forgive myself. Spend nothing on most of this stuff now (except occasional takeaway/meal out) now but have a crippling mortgage and nursery payments!

Flowers here too, would quite happily chuck a bunch in the weekly shop. They’d brighten up the house quite nicely. Plastic toys here there and everywhere do that now.

Still love a magazine. It’s nice not to be looking at a screen sometimes, even if it’s essentially the same just in a different format!

Brazilians.

Cigarettes. The biggest and most expensive regret of my life.

Highlights, gel nail, waxing, facials, two many cloth and shoes, and don’t forget the magazines.

Only thing I don’t regret is all the holidays, I don’t think anyone gets to the pearly gates and says I have traveled too much !! New mantra in life less stuff more experiences!!

School fees. All peer pressure and FOMO. I should have put all my DC into the local state school from the start.
Treats from Selfridges food hall, every weekend. I might still be doing that if I hadn't moved a million miles away from the nearest Selfridges.
Single skeins of hand dyed knitting yarn that look like cat sick when I knit them up.