A budget doesn’t mean you can’t splurge!!
Splurge is a weird word.
It can mean different things to different people.
However, I like to think of it as something I spend a decent chunk of money on AND I make the decision to spend the money quickly.
That’s NOT to say I hadn’t been planning to make the purchase or saving money for it, but it means that when the right opportunity presented itself, I acted fast!
Now… let’s go over my favorite splurges.
Splurge #1: NCAA Basketball Tournament Tickets
So, I’ve attended this twice to support Virginia Tech (GO HOKIES!!). Once in Buffalo and once in DC. Both times, I decided to go within 4 days of the game. DC was easier since I live in MD, but was tough in the sense of finding good deals on tickets. For Buffalo, we had to find an Airbnb (pets allowed), tickets, and make sure we could be off work. Thank goodness for the fucket though!!
Despite my team losing both times, I had so much fun! In Buffalo, we ended up staying for 3 days and even attended another round of games and purchased those tickets while up there! It was also St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so we got to celebrate that on our trip too!
The most hilarious/cool moment of the entire trip?! Welp… my husband got picked to go “compete” during the halftime break. What was SUPER cool about this though was that it meant we got to be courtside for a decent amount of time during the first half. I was only a few feet away from the coaches, players, and of course, the Hokie bird (our mascot). The hilarious part of it though was that my husband was in duck boots and was a little overly confident that he could put up shots from the three-point line… which resulted in a couple air balls and him getting booed by almost 20,000 people. He took it like a champ though and got free socks out of it!!
Splurge #2: Hawaiian Honeymoon
Now, I’m not saying we weren’t planning on going on a honeymoon but let me explain. We were getting married at the beginning of September. We knew we wanted to make Hawaii as a destination work with our budget, even if that meant delaying it a little bit. My husband (then fiance) agreed to play it by ear, but were leaning towards delaying it until April of the following year. We kept watching prices and magically 18 days before our wedding, we got a BOMB DEAL. This deal was for an oceanfront stay at the hotel we’d been eyeing up. So, we went for it! We also stacked credit card offers, which gave us an additional $180 back. Overall, we paid $1778.50 each for flights from Maryland and 8 nights in an oceanfront suite.
We did still spend other money on a rental car (luckily also discounted since my husband was working at a rental car company at the time) and excursions. We opted to get a couple fancy drinks at the hotel pool/beach bar, but they ended up being overrated and overpriced. So, we actually bought some tropical liquor and fresh juices and mixed our own drinks for our beach days! Also, randomly we kept ending up getting free bottles of wine from the hotel. We think they were apologizing because on night one, we had to sleep in a queen size bed instead of a king? Not sure, but we gladly accepted them!
Splurge #3: House
I knew I wanted to buy a house because I wanted a yard for my dog (now plural, but not at the time) and because I didn’t plan on moving anytime soon. I’d been saving up for a house and I almost bought a foreclosed home, but it didn’t work out.
One day at work, I was taking a break and checked to see if there were any new listings. A really nice place (slightly above my budget) had JUST popped up. I called my realtor and ended up leaving work to go look at it. I decided in the basement of the house that I wanted to make an offer. Then, I met back up with my realtor after work to put the offer in. Talk about acting fast!! And this was in 2015… before the chaos of the housing market! The next day, my offer was accepted and the open house that had been scheduled was canceled. While it was a very quick decision and over my budget, I’m still in the house 6.5 years later and have no regrets!!
Splurge #4: Peloton
Prior to the panini, I’d go to a spin class 2-3 times a week and LOVED it! I’d always liked the idea of Peloton, but didn’t want to spend the money on one. Then, once I no longer had a gym membership, the monthly membership didn’t seem so bad in terms of added cost. However, I knew I still didn’t want to pay full price for a bike. I’d looked into other options, like getting a different bike and using the Peloton app, but I really wanted it all integrated together.
I ended up going on FB one afternoon and saw that someone was selling a barely used one (legit only had 6 rides on it) along with a mat, shoes (conveniently in my husband’s size), and cage pedals (so I wouldn’t have to buy shoes right away). I made an offer and said I could pick it up that night and BOOM! Got myself a Peloton.
Since then, I even made an Instagram post about my Peloton cost per use!
These were all purchases that align with my values, but were NOT cheap and the decisions to go through with them were made QUICKLY.
I’m not saying you should splurge often or that your definition of splurge needs to align with mine.
What I am saying is that despite the fact that these purchases were quick and expensive decisions, they were (and are) important to me and were made possible through effective budgeting.
A healthy budget gives you the freedom to splurge when you want to without feeling stress or shame.
My group money coaching program, Cents with Sam, will help you not only develop a healthy budget, but also a healthy relationship with money… one where you don’t feel deprived and are able to spend money on things you value! Check out this page for more information.
Not sure where to start or have questions?! Feel free to send me a message or find me on Instagram!!
If you spent your money according to how everyone else wants you to, you’d likely end up broke and miserable.
Not sure where to start with budgeting? Message me or apply for money coaching!