If you are trying to save money, get out of debt, or just live frugally, you know all about buying used, shopping sales, sticking with store brands, and other tricks to spending as little money as possible.
But we all splurge on a few things that are important to us.
A splurge is not the same as impulse buying. Impulse buying will bust your budget in a hurry. Marketers would love for you to impulse-buy rather than mindfully splurge.
Mindful splurging reflects your values and your passions.
Here are some of the few things I splurge on:
- Organic milk. This is one of the few areas where I am willing to pay extra for organic. In our family, only the kids drink milk, and it is important for me to offer them milk that is "clean." Also, it keeps longer, not because it's organic, but because of the way it's pasteurized.
- Cage free eggs. Hens kept in cages get bored and peck their neighbors. As a result, on many farms, the hens' beaks are removed. I don't harbor any illusions that cage-free or even free range hens live active, frolicking lives, but it's important to me to know that the birds that laid my eggs at least had beaks.
- Baby carrots. They cost around three times as much as regular carrots — but I don't snack on regular carrots. They're just not snackable. Even pre-cut into sticks, they are just not as good to me. Since eating vegetables is important to me, I spend extra for the baby carrots.
- Brand-name diapers. With my first child, we did well with the least expensive store-brand diapers, but my current baby seems to have more sensitive skin. The name-brand ones do seem to absorb more. We use Luvs, the cheapest of the name-brands, which do a fine job.
