Things We Don't Do Without

I've been wanting to follow up on this post for while.  Reading my blog, you might sometimes think that my family is perfectly frugal, not indulging in anything.  That, of course, is far from true!  While we try to save money on almost everything, so that we can build toward our savings goals, we also have categories in which we spend a little extra.

As with the items in my previous post that we DO do without, they items that we DON'T do without are unique to us.  They will probably be suprising to some and a no-brainer to others. 

Finally, I was originally going to title this post: things we CAN'T do without, but I decided that was inaccurate.  We're blessed to be able to spend a little more on these things right now, but if we had to go without them, we would find a way to make do.

Now, 5 things we DON'T do without:

1) Pest control service - We originally engaged this service because when we moved into our house we had some roaches.  And one roach was one too many!  However, the service is very reasonably priced and will come as often as we need them, and it's just so nice not to worry about pests!  We haven't seen a roach in a year, but we're keeping our bug guy for now.

2) Eating out (sometimes) - This item actually appears both on my "things we do without" and "things we don't do without" lists.  That is because I can look at it both ways.  On the one hand, we eat restaurant food far less than the average American family, and it is not something that we really depend on.  On the other hand, we do end up eating out usually a few times per month, which is more than I did as a child.  I have to say that I really enjoy the occasional meal that I don't have to cook, and if at some point we have the money, I might like to indulge about once a week.

3) Salon hair gel and natural deoderant (some specialty products) - Yes, I admit it.  Although I have let my husband cut my hair, I do by a salon brand of hair gel!  And it's not cheap!  But I have tried many drugstore versions, and none are as good for my hair.  My husband also prefers natural deoderant, even though I could get him tons of regular deoderant free at CVS.  The point here is that we each have one or two personal products that we prefer and spend a little more on.

4) Chips and salsa and goldfish crackers (some "treat" foods) - Over the past year and a half we have compromised and modified many grocery habits in order to save the most money, but there are still a few holdouts.  As with personal products, we also have a few selected grocery products that we will often buy even without a coupon.  For instance, my husband enjoys having chips and salsa on the weekends, so I try to keep that in stock, even though the cheapest I can usually find tortilla chips is $2.50/bag.  And the goldfish crackers . . . well, I have two toddlers . . . you understand.

5) Gifts - My husband and I both come from larger families, and right now we still exchange birthday and Christmas presents with all those family members.  We also do buy gifts for each other and for our girls, and so together with the other random presents we need to purchase during the year, gifts do make up a significant category in our budget.  I certainly have a fairly strict budget for each gift, but right now it is important to us to be able to spend this money.  We know that we may adjust how we handle this in the future, but for now this is working for our family.

I love to hear about your little indulgences!  What do you NOT do without?

Photo by yeagleya.