Figuring Out Our Non-Essentials Budget

[Anonymous]

It feels like we have a ton of "want" purchases at the moment. Either things that are pleasant for us/make life easier or go towards hobbies...as well as some "needs" like furniture for a new house...like furnishing whole rooms...that we would prefer to make "the right purchases" for and spend a little more for higher, long term quality vs. low end ikea (though we are absolutely mixing in some low end stuff for storage and what not.) We were raised with and can afford a certain level of "it's cheaper in the long run to buy higher quality". Just...we are finding when we apply this to everything...at once...that we are suddenly just spending a ton of money overall cash flow wise. We are typically excellent savers, and max out retirement and college savings etc...each month, and have for as long as we've been working. Our only debt is a low interest mortgage on our house. How do we figure out what makes sense to give ourselves permission to spend on these "non-essentials" without feeling frivolous?

[Anonymous]

Have you made an annual budget for furniture, hobbies/entertainment? You need one to keep you on course. If you blow the budget on 1 room, that's it for the year. It's a choice.

[Anonymous]

Some interesting ideas here:

https://blog.getwela.com/pastblogposts/2015/03/17/buying-a-new-home-have-a-plan-for-furnishing-your-house

I like the idea to list everything you want in every room, then prioritize by which rooms you will spend the most time (or awake time) in.

[Anonymous]

When you buy a new house, it can get really expensive really quickly. You have to also budget for anticipated home maintenance as well as unanticipated repairs. Build up a sinking fund first to be able to cover repairs and maintenance, then once that is established, buy nice furniture. Meanwhile, for the rest of the house, buy decent used furniture that you can resell when you are done with it for close to the same cost.