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!

Fags. Don't know how I ever afforded them!

Wine. Now we only drink socially so save £25 a week on the couple of glasses of wine we were each evening. If I do want an alcoholic drink when the kids are in bed I've been forcing myself to finish the weird stuff I got from my 2018 gin subscription!

I guess my vice is magic the gathering accessories and cards, mainly. But when bidding I usually limit myself rather than x amount. It's a hobbie I play with a group

@littlefirecar
Actually, I'm not sure I did enjoy the weekend breaks to places I wasn't keen on going to; the expensive skincare of empty promises; daily office pub lunches etc

@LazyJayne
Since becoming interested in minimalism, its made me realise that everything costs time, so for example, there's a perfume I really like but it costs £120, I'd have to work 2 and a bit days just to pay for that perfume. Also, I think previously I felt like I was trying to live a lifestyle that was never really me.

@Bluetowelsandflannels

There's nothing depressing about this thread. If something is unnecessary, then it IS frivolous ...

Sorry but that is depressing and very worthy, it's the little things that often cheer us up.

I agree. Still frivolous though!

Magazines and newspapers - oh the pleasure of a Saturday or Sunday with a chunky weekend newspaper, preferably the Guardian; coffee, scrambled eggs and bacon and fresh orange juice! Now there’s hardly enough content to keep a sparrow entertained, and what there is is just some recycled Gen Z rubbish. (I don’t even buy the expensive orange juice any more….) Used to love a good magazine, too - Red, Easy Living, Elle, Marie Claire, Vogue, Elle Deco. Anyone remember way back when Vogue and Elle used to carry short fiction and Marie Claire did proper issues long form journalism? Now none of them are worth reading - all just ads for awful clothes and articles about plastic surgery.

Yes too to taxis and eating out! Used to eat out loads. Now I feel like the aubergine woman in the Kumars - nothing I eat out is that good compared to what I can make at home. I’m fed up of mid range not-quite-as-good-as-the-price-they’re-charging over-fussy gastro food drizzled with jus or whatever.

Clothes and shoes - used to buy loads; hardly bother now. All the fashions are awful and the materials synthetic and sweaty. I had loads of high heels! Have barely worn a pair since I had DD - and weirdly you don’t get out of the habit! Used to be able to dance in strappy four inch heels - I’d fall flat on my arse if I tried a single step in them these days 🤣

Cut flowers - hardly get them any more, it seems such a shame somehow to me now to buy them and just watch them gradually die. Used to love big bunches of peonies, lilies, etc. - now pretty much only get them for my birthday!

Officially Old 🤣

@QueenLagertha

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Cigarettes 🤮🤦‍♀️

That should have been weirdly you do get out of the habit of wearing high heels! I have no idea now how I managed to wear them at all…it’s like me aged 25-35 was a completely different person.

have loved reading this!!
have wasted so much on crap paperbacks, dinner parties fir people who never invited me back,very average forgettable meals out with " the girls!🙄" extravagant children's birthday parties with entertainers which they now do not remember and i have not stayed in touch with any of the people who came
BUT have also had great times fantastic holidays should just have had more holidays

I used to work in the city and would buy 2-3 coffees a day, plus lunch most days. I probably spent £15-£20 a day on consumables.

Now that I don't work in the city I find that I spend it on more expensive clothes - often ones I only wear a handful of times, but I'm trying to be more conscious about what I buy so that I can wear it to more than just a dinner out.

mine was going on sunbeds/sundomes when I was early 20s well over 20 years ago now!!! it used to cost so much per minute and I would go several times a week for a few minutes at a time. I was paying to possibly give myself skin cancer in years to come and to look like an old leather hand bag 🤣. I wouldn't do it now I'm older and can see my ageing skin 🙈

I don't think it's depressing at all. Looking at your expenses and cancelling those that don't really bring you joy and have just become a habit, and finding less cost-consuming and time-consuming alternatives is a good thing

I agree with this. To me frivolous spending is stuff that you waste money on out of habit, or mindless spending, rather than it being something that really makes you happy. I've recently started budgeting again, and spent an evening going through all my spending for last year. It was a bit horrifying, the amount of money that I spent on meal deals because I couldn't be bothered to make lunch for work, costa coffees. Plus forgotten subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Ancestry.com, phone insurance, and a gym membership which I seldom used which all added up to nearly £45 per month, £540 per year . So I've cancelled those, started taking lunch to work with me, and feel way less guilty about spending money on things that I do actually want, like theatre tickets at £57 a pop etc.

@110APiccadilly

Flying lessons. (I hope one day I'll do it again, but it'll probably have to be once the kids are grown up!)

haha - yes this! I spent an eye-watering amount, but I consider it to have been therapy.

@orangeisthenewpuce

I agree. It also makes me think of the knock on effect on self employed people like hairdressers, taxi drivers etc.

Well that's just daft!

So are people meant to spend money they cannot afford anymore, or on things they don't need, lest the people supplying the service(s) go under?

Should people not quit smoking to keep to tobacco industry going?

Should people continue to go to the pub 3 times a week even though they can no longer afford to, to keep all the pubs in business?

Should people still use a taxi to get to work, even though they live only half a mile away, instead of 3 miles away, to keep the cabby in business?!

Should people keep going for meals out that they can barely afford (or don't need,) keep going for the meals out, to keep the restaurants afloat?

Your point is ludicrous.

For every person who stops or gives up something, someone else will start! The world won't stop turning because me and DH only have 10 takeaways a year now, instead of 26, or because I only buy 1 magazine a month instead of 3 or 4!

Good coffee on the way to/from work.

Manicures.

Haircuts.

I don't regret any of the things I used to buy. A thread about what we think is worth keeping would be good and for us theatre and opera is for keeps. Along with good wine and perfume.

Frigging dvds and cds. Cant even use them anymore. Nothing i own has a cd or dvd drive. Stuff in pagan/wiccan shops because there was no else to get it pre internet. Lots of alternative stuff like clothes and jewellery and make up. You used to never be able to get black nail polish or decent comics. Also blockbuster late fees. Getting a decent cappuccino was pretty hard too.

Alcohol, so much money wasted on booze throughout my 20s and early 30s.
Coffee from the likes of Starbucks, Costa etc
Sunbeds during my 20s embarrassed to say that now.
Highlights, although I my mousy greying hair would look so much better if I could afford them regularly these days.

Takeaways, moving to somewhere with barely any kicked that habit - nothing to do with money

Mags, clothes

Couple proper designer handbags....

Getting my work shirts and suits ironed (back in the days when women wore suits and shirts to office work!)

Getting a small one bedroom flat cleaned weekly.

Taxis everywhere

Buying drinks in expensive bars

Smoking cigarettes

Going on lots of weekends away abroad.

Also used to get my hair cut every 6 weeks and spend £65. This was 20 years ago so quite a lot then.

In other words- a totally different life to now and actually hardly imaginable it was mine. I haven't done any of those things for at least 15 years!

@Lemon221 I use the charcoal bar. Really good.

Trainers!! I used to spend £100 a pair on the high street regularly back in 2000, now I scour amazon for last seasons and never spend more than £50.

I wore them to death though so I guess it wasn't a complete waste. I've cut down simply because its an easy way to save money.