The word splurge has some negative connotations to me. The web definition of it is “the act of spending money freely or extravagantly.” I guess it’s that “extravagantly” that gets me. That makes sound as if you’re spending money unnecessarily, and I often think of a true splurge as being on something that you don’t really need.

That said, I think there are things worth spending money on, but because of their quality, I don’t view spending more as an extravagance. So despite the slight difference in terms, I’ve crafted a list of things worth splurging on in response to Dave Ramsey’s list of the same!

I had a really hard time coming up with this list…a much harder time than I had coming up with my list of 7 things we don’t buy! I think some of that goes back to my taking issue with the word “splurge,” and some of it is because this is a really personal list. (For example, several things on Dave Ramsey’s list are not things I feel compelled to splurge on.) And also keep in mind that when I say “splurge,” that doesn’t mean I’m not still going to try to find a coupon, or a sale, or a free shipping deal. I’ll still do all of those things, but the splurge to me is that whether or not I can find a deal, the quality is worth spending more on. The main difference lies in whether something is inexpensive because it is cheaply made or whether it is inexpensive because I sought out a bargain.

Now, without further caveat or ado, the list:

1. Haircuts This is definitely a personal choice I've made. Andy couldn't care less about the quality of his haircut. In fact, I cut his hair with clippers in our bathroom. But for me, a great haircut includes the whole sensory experience: the relaxing salon, the head massage while being shampooed, the encouraging stylist who has ideas of styles that would suit you. I look for Scoutmob or Living Social deals that allow me to have this type of experience for under retail price, but barring finding one of those I still wouldn't head over to Great Clips for my next do.
2. Internet Andy, the financial maven in our household, couldn't quite corroborate this one for me, but maybe it's more of a mental thing than an actual dollar value thing. I keep hearing about these install-it-yourself free home internet plans that provide you with 200 MB of data. That's less than I have on my phone every month! Because my husband is a web application developer, and because I blog and clip online coupons, and because we don't have cable but rely on streaming for our entertainment, it is worth it to have unlimited, fast internet.
3. Coffee After several experiences of buying multi-packs of whatever-brand coffee from Amazon for dirt-cheap, I realized that even I, who chiefly enjoys coffee for its ability to be a warm conduit of creamer and Splenda, expect more out of my grounds. Having a little grinder has made a difference, too, and allows Andy to grind more coarsely for his French press. We now make sure to buy whole beans that we can grind ourselves, and we typically support either our local coffee shop or the farmer's market in order to buy flavorful, responsibly-sourced coffee.
4. Shoes (to an extent) Dave Ramsey had running shoes on his list, and I definitely agree with that. I have high arches (thanks, Mama!) and have always sought good, supportive shoes. Now, I definitely have and have had in the past plenty of ~$10 shoes from Payless and the like. I think those are great for fad-y shoes that you like right now but might not like next year, or for shoes that you need to wear only with a particular outfit. And I've had Payless shoes far outlive the life expectancy I mentally assigned them. But when it comes to every day basics, it's worth a splurge. I have a pair of black pumps and a pair of black flats that are my go-tos, and I'll potentially be wearing them to work for the long foreseeable future, because they're quality is that good! Some friends also suggested that men's shoes fall into this category, since men tend to wear only a small selection of shoes every day and wear them until they're coming apart at the seams.
5. Cookware This has been a recent revelation. I don't think cookware is worth investing in if you don't enjoy cooking. It's not worth it for the display factor. But when you really do cook, having quality pieces makes a huge difference in the quality of your output and the ease with which you get to the endpoint. Don't take my saying to splurge on cookware to mean that you should go out and buy every gadget and gizmo at Bed Bath and Beyond. In fact, the best chefs in the world recommend having only a limited selection of items in your kitchen! The 4 that I've found super important and useful are my enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, a lidded saute pan, restaurant-grade rimmed baking sheets that don't warp, and good knives. I have enough to say on this that I might become it's own post, so I'll leave it there for now.
6. (Some) Furniture As with shoes, I think there is some furniture that can be fun or space-specific and doesn't need to be a family heirloom. We have 3 end tables that I got at Bed Bath and Beyond because we had such limited space and they were the smallest ones I could find. Same with one of our bookshelves, which came from Target. But when it comes to the central pieces, quality of construction is worth it. I got out couch at a furniture consignment shop but paid more for it than I could have paid for a brand new one from a discount or warehouse furniture store. The shop proprietor assured me we would get a good 10 more years out of it, which is not true for even all new furniture. That's the only "investment" piece we have so far, but as our living area evolves that's the kind of thing I'll be keeping an eye out for.
7. The Occassional Frivolous Purchase That Makes You Smile I know, I know. This seems to go against all my railing against a total, unnecessary splurge. But sometimes, your happiness is worth spending money on, even though it will be fleeting. Money can't buy happiness, I guess, but it can buy a smile, and at least a few minutes of glee. I think because of how I shop this one is especially true for me. If someone truly struggles with their budget and can't afford to drop any extra dimes, I would NOT recommend that they follow this bullet point. But if you have some wiggle-room in your budget, or especially if you have saved up for an item, buying it on a whim can feel great. I recently bought a $50+ Vera Bradley bag. I looked at it online almost daily for probably a month, and hemmed and hawed about whether or not it was "worth it." One day I finally took the plunge, and when it arrived in the mail I spent 5 minutes exclaiming, "It's HERE, it's HERE, it's HERE!!!" before I even opened it. I'd call that momentary joy worth the splurge.

So there you have it: my non-comprehensive list of things worth splurging on. Do you have any to add? Where do you seek quality over price?

The most recent issue of Woman's Day magazine has an article called "Love Your Body (and Your Flaws, Too!). While this type of article is far from uncommon in magazines geared toward women, I was surprised by one suggestion:

"If you can't quit playing the 'Do I look as good as...?' game, at least compare apples with apples, advises Dr. Mintz [a professor of psychology at the University of Florida Gainsville]. Avoid 'upward' comparison to celebrities (who could ever look like Angelina Jolie?). Focus more on realistic women, like your neighbor or other moms at the supermarket and the way they take care of themselves. 'When you change your comparison standard to one that's more real, you'll find that you measure up a whole lot better than you thought,' says Dr. Mintz."

I have to say, I take issue with this advice. It seems like everything else I've read encourages women not to compare themselves to anyone at all! I know I, for one, struggle with the playing the comparison game, but I always try to remind myself that it's useless. Someone is always going to have prettier hair than I do, wear better looking clothes, and run faster, but those are likely never to be the same person. Maybe I'm just unusual in my unconcern with celebrity styles and looks, but at least personally, the girl next door is always going to inspire more jealousy for me than Angelina Jolie.

I learned a great lesson about jealous comparisons in high school. One of my friends came by one afternoon in tears, upset about a physics grade. As I hugged her and tried to make her feel better, she exclaimed, "I'm so jealous of how easily school comes to you! I feel like I work so hard and can never make as good grades as you do." I was stunned, because I had often been jealous of how beautiful and graceful this particular friend was. The take home from that experience for me was that jealousy is wasted energy. Just be you, because there's likely someone out there who is jealous of you over something that may be entirely unexpected to you.

I think social media outlets have also had a negative impact on our tendency to compare. People tend to put their best face forward on the internet, and it's easy to think, "Well, so-and-so ALWAYS has a good time and posts the cutest pictures on Facebook and has such a put-together house on Pinterest. I'll never measure up to her." But there are almost certainly things that so-and-so struggles with that might come naturally to you. We are all created differently, with distinct talents and personalities and looks, none of which is inherently more valid or more desirable than any other.

So I have to say I'm stunned to read a female professor of psychology suggesting that you compare yourself to other women. I guess I can somewhat understand that she's encouraging us to have realistic expectations of ourselves, but I think that can be done without comparing outwardly. Instead, why not compare your current attributes to where you've been in the past? If you've made it a goal to say, type faster, why not measure your speed and revel in how much you've improved? Why do you need to go find out how fast Susie Q types in order to feel good about yourself?

What do you think? Am I over-reacting or misinterpreting the suggestion? Do you struggle with making comparisons? 

....this happened!

(Someone should've told me to stand up straighter!!)

 ...and then fun was had by all!

 ...and then we drove away!

...to go here!

(Blowing Rock, North Carolina)

I know people always say things like, "I can't believe it's already been two years," but I really can't. With all the changes that have happened in the past 12 months, they've really flown by. Last year at this time we were in the final stages of preparing to move to Atlanta, and now here we are, all settled in!

We're going out for a nice dinner tonight, and I'll do a mental toast to many more of these whirlwind years to come.

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes 

The only Goodwill that I’ve known of in Atlanta is pretty far from my apartment. I went there once last summer when I was unemployed and seeking adventures to fill my time. It was a pretty good thrift store, but its distance made it impractical to visit very often. So imagine my excitement when I spotted a sign on the way home from running a work errand saying “Goodwill opening soon!” At only 3-ish miles from my apartment, this new location would be much more convenient for me.

Goodwill is one of those places that is somewhat of an enigma to me. Even after reading their website, I’m not entirely sure what they do, though it’s clear they provide employment and job-hunting services. And their thrift stores are at the heart of that.

Andy and I went and checked out the new location this past Saturday. I was a little wary of shopping at a thrift store that had just recently opened–would they have any stock in yet? Well, that question was answered as soon as we walked in the door: yes! Even the parking lot was bustling. The store was a big, open warehouse with well-define sections. The racks were extremely full! I don’t know whether they transferred items from some of their other locations or if all of this had been donated prior to opening this store, but either way I was impressed.

When arranging clothes, there seems to be a trend toward organizing by color. I love this in general (I keep my own closet set up that way), but I’d prefer if the clothes were then arranged by size within each color. Goodwill has the color system down pat, but it’s tough to browse because you have no idea what size anything is, and sometimes it’s hard to find the label due to how it’s hung. You have to really be willing to hunt in order to find anything. My tactic is usually just to scan the racks and see if any particular color or fabric jumps out at me. If it does, I then dive in and look for sizes. Despite this minor annoyance, I did manage to find a cute dress! It’s a bright blue, sleeveless jersey dress with florettes on the bodice. I think it will be super comfortable and easy to throw on for work in the warm weather. I was impressed with the selection of brands and the quality of most of the items. In the mens’ jeans section, I saw lots of Gap, Levi’s, and the likes that were in great condition, which is unusual for used men’s clothing. Of course, you have the odd 80s style dress or polo shirt thrown in the mix, but all in all, I’d say the stock was pretty current. (I think at thrift stores that has a lot to do with what demographic is donating, i.e. the neighborhood where the store is and who it’s run by.)

I also found a couple of books, which surprised me. I usually shy away from books at thrift stores because there is no organizational system whatsoever. I can’t blame them–it would take a volunteer or staff person wholly dedicated to the books to keep them arranged. But since I was on an exploratory mission of the new store I took a glance, and 2 that have been on my “to-read” list happened to jump out at me! I snagged paperback copies of Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life and Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains for $1.50 each.

My final observation of this store, though, was that the pricing seemed a bit off. My dress, which from what I can ascertain is a moderately priced department store designer brand, was only $5.99, which is a great deal. The books, at $1.50, were on the high end of what I would pay for a paperback (though I snatched them up because that’s still far cheaper than buying the Kindle version). And then some of the housewares seemed exorbitant! I could have found new versions of some of the things at Home Goods or Marshall’s for what they were asking. I’m all for charging what things are worth if they’re a high-end brand or in particularly good condition, but nothing I picked up seemed that to me. I didn’t get a good feel for the pricing scale they use, since it seemed like there was such a wide range. But either way, if you’re in Atlanta and in the mood to dig, I’d recommend checking out the new Goodwill on Northside Drive. You’re bound to find something that catches your eye!

Psst….I’ve got a guest post up over on a great blog, ATL Intown Living. I discovered this blog through my apartment complex’s Facebook page, and I’m thrilled that I got to contribute! Check out my post, and then check out the rest of the blog for a peek at the perks of living ITP Atlanta.

http://www.atlintownliving.com/2012/04/04/on-your-mark-get-set-go-intown-runners/