So you bought a house in a good school district from less desirable one?
How do you like it?
We've been contemplating to do the same thing for last few years but haven't pull the trigger yet for the amount it requires for the next 30 yrs.

Love our house, love our neighborhood, love our neighbors, love the kids schools (almost done - will love that too). My DH gets paid every 2 weeks, so we pay 50% of the monthly amount due every 2 weeks. It's like making an extra payment toward the principal every year, and shaved years off our mortgage. I have NO REGRETS buying the house. Plus, our income went up, and now mortgage is not much of each paycheck compared to what it was. Does that make sense?

Anonymous wrote:$100 pair of Cutco scissors. Best tool ever.

What do you use fancy scissors on? Not being snarky - I really am curious!

Automated car wash. Especially the one where they vacuum and clean your windows for you.

Oil/oil filter change on the car. I just like getting it done while I flip through magazines in the waiting area. I don't want to waste more of our weekend trying to find the time to do it ourselves. Plus they check all the fluids, air in the tire, etc. It's nice to have that done.

Haircuts for the family. I don't cut hair, I don't pretend to know how to cut hair.

Nice dinners out on special occasions.

Our annual family vacation.

Anonymous wrote:attached garage

I lived most of my life w/o one, so didn't get it. But now that I have one? It's a beautiful thing.

$100 pair of Cutco scissors. Best tool ever.

Personal trainer twice a week. Costs about $560/month but I feel/am so much healthier.

side chick

Anonymous wrote:Our dance lessons. DH and I still take weekly dance lessons at $175 a pop. Priceless. It comes out to 12-15k a year, but we're really good now.

Gosh, I tried to do dance lessons with my husband and it was the biggest waste. Apparently he has zero ability to retain anything that he was taught. We started over at the absolute beginning every lesson for 6 months. It's like he had dance amnesia.

Brazilian waxing

Pedicure.

Our dance lessons. DH and I still take weekly dance lessons at $175 a pop. Priceless. It comes out to 12-15k a year, but we're really good now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cleaner every 2 weeks (ask friends if theirs has any openings);
Organic milk (yes a splurge - we go through over $100 per month in organic milk);
Housing costs - ridiculous, but it was either buy the house (which has doubled in value since we bought 20 years ago), or pay for private school, we couldn't afford both.

While it seems like you drink a lot of it, organic milk is actually not a splurge IMO because it lasts so much longer. We rarely drink milk, but buy organic not only because it's organic but because the expiration date tends to be 6-8 weeks out. So it actually saves us from throwing away spoiled milk more often!

I've read that regular milk is better for you than the ultra pasteurized organic milk that lasts forever. No milk has growth hormones anymore.

Our second home. Within driving distance for weekends away.

Anonymous wrote:Cleaner every 2 weeks (ask friends if theirs has any openings);
Organic milk (yes a splurge - we go through over $100 per month in organic milk);
Housing costs - ridiculous, but it was either buy the house (which has doubled in value since we bought 20 years ago), or pay for private school, we couldn't afford both.

While it seems like you drink a lot of it, organic milk is actually not a splurge IMO because it lasts so much longer. We rarely drink milk, but buy organic not only because it's organic but because the expiration date tends to be 6-8 weeks out. So it actually saves us from throwing away spoiled milk more often!

Anonymous wrote:Cleaner every 2 weeks (ask friends if theirs has any openings);
Organic milk (yes a splurge - we go through over $100 per month in organic milk);
Housing costs - ridiculous, but it was either buy the house (which has doubled in value since we bought 20 years ago), or pay for private school, we couldn't afford both.

Similar (less milk) except cleaner, for which we are saving now.