Which little splurge/ luxury would you be *least* willing to give up?

[ourbabygirl]

I'm assuming most of us don't have all of the things on this list (I only have one item on the list), but I'm just curious which is the most valuable to you, and which you're least willing to surrender if push came to shove. ;)

[egoldber]

Good coffee. I mean for brewing at home, not like having a coffee while out and about.

ETA: I replied before I saw the poll. When DH lost his job we gave up all those things almost immediately. But we did not give up good coffee. Or good beer. :o

[Octobermommy]

If I could only keep one it would be the lawn maintence b/c dh doesn't have time to do it ( he works a lot ) and I don't want too.

[egoldber]

Oops, wrong post.

[maestramommy]

Whoa, read that question wrong!

I would be least willing to give up the girls' preschool and ballet classes. We would probably give those up last.

Along with good coffee:tongue5:

[MelissaTC]

My hair.

I get my hair cut and colored every 6-8 weeks. I am wearing it shorter now so I really need to get it shaped every 6 weeks and that is stretching it. I also get the full enchilada when coloring. I pay very little for a high quality cut and color but it still averages $50 a month. Throw in my brow waxing and I am spending a minimum of $65 a month on personal grooming. Worth every penny!!

[Twoboos]

If I could only keep one it would be the lawn maintence b/c dh doesn't have time to do it ( he works a lot ) and I don't want too.

I voted for this one, too. I think if we gave up lawn mowing/etc., it would mean sooooo much nagging on my part to get it done, it would be a constant source of frustration.

Although, it was really, really hard not to pick the house cleaner. And I reserve the right to change my mind. :wink2:

[ellies mom]

Good coffee. I mean for brewing at home, not like having a coffee while out and about.

ETA: I replied before I saw the poll. When DH lost his job we gave up all those things almost immediately. But we did not give up good coffee. Or good beer. :o

Yeah, good coffee and beer are necessities in our life too.

But as far as the list goes, the only thing I have from the list is my hobbies- mainly knitting and sewing. I don't take classes but I do like to buy fabric and yarn. But even if I had the others, I wouldn't give my hobbies up. They both are a way to pass time, remain sane and have a useful object at the end of it. Thankfully, I can usually find something in my stash to tide me over lean spells.

[lmwbasye]

Well, I have none of those...so I put other, LOL.

I wouldn't give up the internet. Need it too much with all our traveling to keep in touch with family and friends and DH during his exercises/deployments.

[wendmatt]

They are all quite big luxuries to me and I don't have any of them, how sad am I! If I did I'd like to keep the housekeeper.

[Puddy73]

I voted gym membership because that is the only thing on the poll that I have, but I would give that up before coffee! :)

[swissair81]

We have a regular house cleaner, because I am a slob. If we didn't have one, my husband and I would probably not be married to each other. We consider it a marital harmony expense.

[KrisM]

I don't have any of those either. I think the internet would be the luxury I'd have a hard time giving up.

[kijip]

As soon as I left my job we gave up the housecleaner, cancelled my bootcamp fees, dropped the gym memberships in favor of biking and running for free, and I dropped skating down to 1-2 nights a week. The others we did not have. If we did not have plenty of babysitter trade and relative options, the last to go would be date night babysitter. We would have a hard time letting Ts piano go as well but we could if needed.

[JoyNChrist]

Well considering that I've had a 4 week break from school and the nanny's still been coming 2-3 days a week, I'd definitely say her. I'd drop a meal a day before I'd drop the nanny. I don't know how I stayed remotely sane without her.

[baymom]

I voted for housekeeper---I would be so bummed to see our cleaners go! But, I was assuming the 'class' option was a class I was taking (as opposed to DC). I would give up the cleaners in a heartbeat if it was between that and DC's extra curricular lessons/activities.

[Jo..]

I don't have any of the items on the list either. But if I could pick one it would be a housekeeper (which to me would not be a little luxury but a HUGE part of our yearly budget).

[lalasmama]

I voted the part time babysitter/nanny. ... Mainly because I need an occasional evening/afternoon out, and I wouldn't be able to emotionally give it up, knowing that the back-up is there.

[wencit]

I think if we gave up lawn mowing/etc., it would mean sooooo much nagging on my part to get it done, it would be a constant source of frustration. We didn't have a gardener for the first 6-9 months we moved into our new house, and it was a constant struggle to get DH to go outside just to mow the lawn. He tends to melt if the temperature is over 70 degrees, and living in California at the time, that was pretty much every day between the months of March to September. Our yard is the size of a postage stamp, so fortunately it doesn't cost too much money every month.

[wellyes]

I am newly unemployed. We are giving up the housecleaner but keeping our (expensive) gym membership. It is important for my mental health - and there is daycare there, giving me a break during the day - and I truly can't exercise much outside in winter in New England anyway.

But the mental health is the most important think. No regular, vigorous exercise for me, and I suspect most people, leads to depression and anxiety and lethargy. Not go mention insomnia and general achiness.

[crl]

We have a gym membership, at the Y. It's where we do swim for the kids. Dh's work covers half the cost, otherwise I'm not sure we would have it. And I could definitely let go of it in favor of less expensive activities for ds in the short run.

We have lawn care in the sense that we rent and none of the outside space is part of our lease and it is all maintained by the entity we rent from. But we can't separate out that cost so it's not really a luxury. When we owned I did the bulk of the lawn maintenance with some help from dh.

The internet would be very hard for me to give up, but dh has to have it for work so it's not really a luxury for us at this point.

I think books are the luxury I would have trouble giving up. I check out a ton from the library, but they don't always have what I want and I do usually buy a couple of books a month from Amazon.

Catherine

[MontrealMum]

I voted gym membership as that's the only thing on the list that I currently have. I do like it because it's convenient and there are things that I can only do at the gym which I greatly enjoy such as swim laps in the pool. However, it's not impossible to exercise w/o a gym membership so I'd cut that before anything else. Including cable and occasional take-out which weren't on the list ;) Walking in the winter is amazing exercise. I also own a trainer for my bike (though I'll admit I haven't used it in awhile!) and workout videos are so easy to do at home. Also, DH and I are avid skiers so we XC every weekend possible.

[wellyes]

Walking in winter is amazing exercise

But what do you do with the kids?

[MontrealMum]

But what do you do with the kids?

Well, I only have one, but I either put him in the stroller or the pulk, or now that he's big enough he walks alongside me. I also see a lot of parents out walking here and toting kids behind on sleds. It's also not surprising to see strollers up on special stroller skis here.

[AnnieW625]

I voted for the only one we currently have, our gym membership. I can't workout at home unless I am taking our dog for a 2 to 3 mile walk. We have hardwood floors and our house is small (1100 sq. ft) so it is not conducive for workout videos at 5 am. DHand I go to the gym at different times, we have yet to use the gym daycare. I do not feel it is right to pick up my kids from one daycare and leave them at another. I have thought about it on the weekend recently, but just haven't actually done it yet.

Eye brow waxing would be a close second although I have gone a couple of months without it before; but I always regret when I do.

We haven't had a house cleaner in 20 months and we need one badly, but I din't want to call the guy we had before (he had lots of staff turnover), but I am getting desperate.

I used to go to yoga at a studio but I got pissed at them last year when they gave me less than 14 days notice that I had days to use up 10 yoga classes. Thankfully I hadn't paid full price for them as I got them discounted, but still it made me mad that I wasn't given more t
notice.

[randomkid]

I don't have anything on that list, assuming hobby/class pertains to me. If I did, the housekeeper would be the last to go. I hate cleaning and my house is never all clean at once. I'd love to have a housekeeper come and get my entire home clean all in one day! Now, if we are talking DH's hobby? That would be the FIRST to go!

[TwinFoxes]

Well, I only have one, but I either put him in the stroller or the pulk, or now that he's big enough he walks alongside me. I also see a lot of parents out walking here and toting kids behind on sleds. It's also not surprising to see strollers up on special stroller skis here.

Seriously, do you live next door to Santa? ;)

[amandabea]

Good coffee. I mean for brewing at home, not like having a coffee while out and about.

ETA: I replied before I saw the poll. When DH lost his job we gave up all those things almost immediately. But we did not give up good coffee. Or good beer. :o

Funny! Before I opened this post, that is exactly what I thought. I love good coffee! But for the poll I selected house cleaner...that's the only one I have on the list and will not be giving that up!

[MamaMolly]

We don't have anything listed either, but I'd give a lot for a sitter. Technically we hired someone to do the yard work but they only came once and have flaked twice, so I think I'm on my own there. The only reason we hired it out is because our lease states we will clean off the roof once a month and neither DH nor I wanted to do that.

[pinkmomagain]

I guess lawn stuff. We have never done our own lawn. We'd have to buy the equipment.

[momm]

I don't have any of these! wow - I must be really stingy, eh?

I vote "other" - Internet I guess is the one "luxury" - although it's a necessity essentially.

[Melaine]

I guess I would vote gym membership, because that is the only one we have out of those and we will likely drop it soon. We love having it but it is a lot of cash especially now that I am really not working out. The girls go every week for yoga and we go to play in the play place. We haven't done any other classes or used the pool in awhile so I am not sure we are getting our money's worth at this point. Although the girls do LOVE their yoga class and that is the only class that they have right now.

[elliput]

I voted gym membership because that is the only thing on the poll that I have, but I would give that up before coffee! :)

:yeahthat: The gym membership is a necessary medical expense as far as I am concerned, and cheaper than seeing a shrink a couple times a month.

[fedoragirl]

Housekeeper because that's all we have on that list. It keeps me sane since DH and I are neat freaks and with two kids, I can't keep up with the regular cleaning. Also, our housekeeper is much cheaper than what we used to pay in the States so we have her come every week as opposed to once a month.

[DietCokeLover]

We don't have any of the things listed. But, I wish I had a gym membership - only if it had childcare, because otherwise it would be useless to me.

[ilfaith]

I voted gym membership...because that's what I'd miss most. But when i think about it, I guess getting rid of our lawn maintenance people would have a huge impact. It's kind of like having little elves come every week (every other week in winter). I really don't even think about them (aside from when I see the bills), but if they didn't show up, I guess I'd notice pretty quickly.

I would also miss our house cleaner. But I have managed for most of my life without one. Still, i am fond of the woman who cleans our house and would hate to let her go.

[JElaineB]

I voted other because I don't have any of those items. When DS was born 9 years ago and I quit my full time job the things we gave up included monthly cell phone plans (we switched to Tracfone and still use it), long distance service on our home telephone (switched to OneSuite and still use it) and going to the salon to get my hair done (switched to Great Clips and still use them). I have been back to work full-time for six years so we could afford to switch back but I don't see the need to right now. Things that would be the last I would be willing to give up would be satellite tv service (we can't get cable) and internet. Internet would be the last to go for sure. Eating out is in the middle, we cut back on that for a good while, but now eat out too much.

[MontrealMum]

Seriously, do you live next door to Santa? ;)

That's why it's called the True North :D

[StantonHyde]

The house cleaning is what has saved our marriage!!!

[newg]

I put "other" because, for me, I couldn't give up my data plan on my phone.....and I could easily do without those things on the list (most I don't have anyways)........
but I am completely hooked on my iphone now and I can't go back..I won't go back.......you can't make me!!! :tongue5:

[mmommy]

The only thing on the list I have is a gym membership. But I'm not willing to give that up! We've cut back on everything and it is one of my only "luxuries" (it is a family membership at the Y, so not terribly luxurious). I really would be unhappy without it.

[mariza]

I put "other" because, for me, I couldn't give up my data plan on my phone.....and I could easily do without those things on the list (most I don't have anyways)........
but I am completely hooked on my iphone now and I can't go back..I won't go back.......you can't make me!!! :tongue5:
:yeahthat: I don't have anything on the list, but I could NEVER give up my iPhone. It's my life at this point. I use it to bank, pay bills, grocery shop, sell stuff on eBay, check email, read the boards, Facebook, take pics/video of the kids, keep up with the news, etc. oh yeah, I sometimes even talk to people on it ;)

[SnuggleBuggles]

Eating out.