What was your last discretionary purchase?

[Nell-e]

Out of curiosity, wondering what peoples' last discretionary purchase was and where you purchased from? 

 

I recently bought a smartwatch from Amazon but returned it cause the battery life sucked.  I also bought running shoes from Jet.com.

 

 

 

 

[rb]

I bought some C-clamps today from Canadian Tire.

 

Not sure what you mean by discretionary purchase. If you mean meaningless, last week I bought a pair of sunglasses from Amazon to bring the order total up so it would qualify for free shipping.

[DTEJD1997]

Hey all:

 

I bought some wonderful Hugo Boss & Canali Ties off of Ebay.

 

I am very happy with the purchase, wonderful colors & silk....paid almost $40 for the two of them.

[gfp]

I bought a Honda Fit for my son yesterday. Today I bought 4 tires. Is that discretionary?  In a few weeks I will buy a new iPhone. I also bought some shoes from a company called Xero.

[Gamecock-YT]

Floss

[Nell-e]

I would describe discretionary as non-essential.  My inquiry is about thinking through the cycle.  At some point fatigue sets in, nothing goes up forever i.e. spending fatigue, FB fatigue, etc.  How many new cars, BBQ grills, or TV's can you buy? 

 

But I think smaller items i.e. concert tickets, cosmetics, sneakers, weekend trips can still have legs meaning when the economy is doing well you buy more expensive versions of what you used to buy.

 

 

 

[rb]

Floss

That's not discretionary.

[Lakesider]

Floss

That's not discretionary.

 

It is if you are British.

[rb]

I would describe discretionary as non-essential.  My inquiry is about thinking through the cycle.  At some point fatigue sets in, nothing goes up forever i.e. spending fatigue, FB fatigue, etc.  How many new cars, BBQ grills, or TV's can you buy? 

 

But I think smaller items i.e. concert tickets, cosmetics, sneakers, weekend trips can still have legs meaning when the economy is doing well you buy more expensive versions of what you used to buy.

Those are not discretionary goods. They are durable goods. An economy can buy quite a few of those. The economic principle that drives that is called use, decay, and obsolescence.

 

Honestly, instead of message board I would recommend learning a bit about economics. Pick up some books. Ideally written by some salt water economists. But if you do not want to invest too much time and just want to get some handle on things I would recommend "Macroeconomic Essentials" by Peter Kennedy.

[rb]

Floss

That's not discretionary.

 

It is if you are British.

True that!  ;D

[Nell-e]

 

I would recommend "Macroeconomic Essentials" by Peter Kennedy.

I'm not interested in academic theory.  I'm curious about how real people are spending money these days so hence my inquiry.

[rb]

::)

[LC]

Discretionary is different for everyone hence the varied responses. Tires for a new car. Well is the car necessary? Well do I live in a mass-transit city? Well do I live here out of necessary or choice? Etc. etc hence the topic of economic theory.

 

For me, my last purchase was paint and supplies to refinish my kitchen. But before that I spent $400 on sushi so you tell me what that means, haha :D

[Nell-e]

For me, my last purchase was paint and supplies to refinish my kitchen. But before that I spent $400 on sushi so you tell me what that means, haha :D

 

@LC That's a straightforward answer and I consider your answer and the other responses helpful.  There's nothing actionable about it but they're all anecdotal datapoints.

[Lakesider]

I bought some equipment for a home gym, very discretionary as it probably wont be used much.  ;)

[Hielko]

I bought a couple of ice creams yesterday evening.

[rolling]

Out of curiosity, wondering what peoples' last discretionary purchase was and where you purchased from? 

 

I recently bought a smartwatch from Amazon but returned it cause the battery life sucked.  I also bought running shoes from Jet.com.

 

 

3 pairs of leather sneakers for a total of 75€ in a street shoe shop, not sure this should qualify as non essential: on the one side my wife had offered me a pair of leather sneakers a few days before (cost 60€ at a 50% discount) and as such I had no urgent need but on the other side I had no sneakers and only two pairs of old used shoes/boots only a week before and as such I now only own 4 wearable shoes/sneakers

[writser]

I bought a can of ginger beer. Brand via PM only.

[Spekulatius]

There is a constant stream of packages from AMZN delivery centers to my house. Only my wife knows what’s in them. >:(

I moved recently and bought a house, so discretionary items were home gym equipment, paint, several pieces of furniture, tools, pressure washer. A lawn tractor is probably next. I will also need winter tires.

[Foreign Tuffett]

One 16 oz glass bottle of organic, cruelty free, non-GMO, not tested on animals, reverse osmosis, ozonated water.

[boilermaker75]

Retro 51 Tornado Mechanical Pencil, Dmitri Periodic Table of Elements for $36 from AMZN

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DGK83CY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

What can I say? I'm a nerd.

 

 

[DooDiligence]

Radial Pro48 active direct injection box (not really discretionary unless you want your passive instruments to sound like crap on long cable runs.)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DI_unit

[gfp]

Discretionary is different for everyone hence the varied responses. Tires for a new car. Well is the car necessary? Well do I live in a mass-transit city? Well do I live here out of necessary or choice? Etc. etc hence the topic of economic theory.

 

Yeah I wondered if a consumer durable was correct, but the kid already had a car (a shittier one) and still mostly rides his bike everywhere (New Orleans is very small and flat) so it certainly felt discretionary.  My wife certainly thought it was discretionary, as in - 'you spoil that kid'...  Lest folks think I'm not into value, it was a 2009 Honda Fit for $3700, so I think I paid a sensible price.

[rkbabang]

I bought a cup of coffee this morning from Dunkin' Donuts because I woke up late and didn't make it at home like I usually do.  Before you say that isn't discretionary I have free coffee in the break room at work (but it is even worse than DD), so buying it at DD instead is discretionary.

 

Looking back at my Amazon order history the last things I bought that you could call discretionary was an Instant Pot on PrimeDay and an Apple TV 4K a few days before that.

 

EDIT:  I've also purchased a number of kindle books and audible audio books in the last month, but I don't consider that discretionary, because in my own personal hierarchy of needs books are located just below food, water, and shelter.

 

[BG2008]

A $699 Weber grill that will likely last 20 years for the family but also bring a ton of joy and fun for having BBQ with friends and family.  It's a lot cheaper to cook at home than eat out in Queens NYC.  So, it may wind up saving us money.  We've discussing doing meal prep on Sundays by grilling some chicken thighs. 

 

I tend to view purchase lately by judging the amount of time saved.  Sure I can make a meal at home, but it will take me off course from doing work.  If I get Chipotle, it allows me to plow through listening to a conference call etc.  I've found that it is more cost effective to pay for the meals. 

 

Other discretionary purchases, taking my family out for dinner.  It's an Asian communal thing.