Chick Chat, Group Post

Chick Chat: What have we splurged on recently?

Today the Chicks are asking an all-important question: Is there something in these stressful times that you’ve splurged on? It could be an impulse item at the grocery check-out, or something you’ve been yearning for ever since high school and finally decided to just go for it. Or perhaps you simply said to yourself, “Today I am going to treat myself to a hot fudge sundae with a side of French fries for lunch!” Whatever it was, let us know!

Lisa Q. Mathews

I feel as if I’ve been indulging in a lot of mini-splurges lately, for an instant mood boost–none of them worth mentioning (hello, extra chocolate and ice cream). But this past Christmas, my kids splurged for me, and I am forever in their debt. My daughter got me an Irobot vac and my son gifted me a RoboLitter deal. Basically, they gave me hours of my life back each month. So much of my housekeeping involves pet maintenance–well, no more! I can’t tell you how overjoyed I am. When things look bleak in the world, I remind myself I no longer have to scoop a litter box or do extra rounds with the Swifter. Freedom!!!! (And finally, a good use of robots.)

 Ellen Byron

Oh, this is an easy one for me. But it wasn’t so much a splurge as blowing a hole in my bank account. I impulsively decided to sign up to parade with three Carnival krewes in New Orleans a couple of weekends before Mardi Gras. In my head, I wrote it off as research for a fifth Vintage Cookbook Mystery – ignoring the fact I don’t have a contract for a fifth VC mystery. (I’ll optimistically add “yet.”) First, there was the cost to sign up for each krewe. Then there was the cost of buying “throws” for each parade, the stuff you rain down on eager parade watchers. Then there was the cost of lodging – which doubled when the place I originally booked burned down and I had to quickly locate another site – travel, food, car rental… you get the idea. It turned out to be a great trip, but a pricey one. Plus, one of the krewes I was supposed to ride with got rain-delayed. We could have postponed our return so I could ride with them – to the tune of another grand. That’s where I drew the line, even though I didn’t get my registration fee back. (I did get to go to the pre-party, which was a blast.)

I have memories and tons of pictures. Just say I prayer that I land that contract so I can put everything to use!

Marla Cooper

Some recent splurges include: A new deck. (Is it really a splurge if you actually need it and you got it done for 1/3 of the price of your first bid? My checkbook says yes.) Eight dollar wifi to get some things done during my flight to California. (I know, it sounds like such a small indulgence, but I seriously had to think about whether it was worth $8.00 or I should just wait until I land.) A pair of Pizza Planet Crocs with several pizza-themed jibbitz. (Is that what they’re called? Auto correct suggested “kibbutz” instead. Regardless, they were a present for a friend who just had to have emergency heart surgery and who also works for a popular Austin pizza joint. You can’t put a price on the healing power of pizza-themed plastic shoes.)

Cynthia Kuhn

Love these stories and enjoyed living vicariously through you all! I guess we splurged on…paying our taxes? Even though we’re just two teachers, with two kids in college, we had to cough up a fair bit of cash (painfully, like a hairball). Our second and third jobs didn’t save us after all…I guess we just have to get more jobs. Meanwhile, I’m told that Some of Those People Who Have All The Money get to use loopholes and likely paid less than we did. Harrumph. #needloopholesforeveryone

Vickie Fee

I’m probably one of the few wives I know whose husband actually complains that she doesn’t spend enough money on herself. So, I’m working on it. I truly do not spend a lot on clothes. But, I AM shopping online at the moment. My nephew is getting married in June. I have a couple of dresses that would work fine. But, hubs noted, this was the perfect time to buy a new dress. I have a really good reason to do it. So, I’m currently poring over catalogs online. I don’t often wear dresses and I shop for them even less frequently. So, this is a bit of a splurge for me. But one I can justify. I also have a new purse I haven’t used yet. That’s a good reason to buy a dress, right? Once I buy the dress, I’ll move on to buying some new crop pants and summer tops, which I don’t consider a splurge purchase even though I already own more of those.

Leslie Karst

Robin and I recently spent nine days in Fairbanks, Alaska. Yes, it is still quite cold there–especially compared to the temperatures in Hawai’i, where we were coming from. (Though it ended up being unseasonably warm while we there: in the 20s and low-30s.) But we wanted to see the aurora borealis and the ice sculpting competition, so off we went.

And we really, really wanted to hang out with sled dogs. So we splurged and booked an afternoon at Black Spruce Kennels outside of Fairbanks that offered the chance to go mushing. Yes, it was pricey. But I don’t regret it for a moment, for unlike most kennels that invite tourists to visit, this one actually let you stand on the runners, rather than simply going along for a ride in the basket. And boy, was it fun–a bit scary, especially when we careened around corners and I had to lean like crazy to keep from being pitched off–but it was amazing. So worth the splurge!

Becky Clark

This was a hard one for me. I’m not a very good consumer because I don’t buy much of anything. And “splurge” seems as foreign a concept to me as “guilty pleasure.” If something brings me pleasure, I don’t feel guilty about it. And I seem to be immune to impulse buys because I can’t even conjure one up from a distant memory. I do, however, have a related superpower in that I can simply muse out loud that “I could go for a brownie” and the next thing I know, my husband is mixing up a batch.  

But if we’re defining “splurges” on something I spend money on that I don’t teeeeechnically need, perhaps our theatre season ticket subscriptions to two different venues would fit the bill. Mind you, I am of the opinion everyone neeeeds theatre tickets, but perhaps not quite as many as we get! But I refuse to feel guilty about it.  

Jennifer Chow

Food is my usual go-to splurge. I’m always one for trying new restaurants around town…to help the economy, am I right? Most recently, though, I’ve been into accessories. I got these cute boots months ago because I’d thought they’d dress up any outfit, and just the other day, I bought this cute pendant necklace–the pendant is made from washi paper! And I’m eyeing these fabulous purses from a vendor that my friend Liz Mugavero uses.

Readers: What have you splurged on recently?

30 thoughts on “Chick Chat: What have we splurged on recently?”

  1. Jen, I got hooked on those Liz purses too! I splurged on two – BUT I got them pre-owned off eBay. I highly recommend trying that path. I saved a lot.

    Love these stories, too. Lisa, robot-vacuum away! Marla, I’m def Team Jibbitz. Leslie, I’m jealous. Vickie, buy that dress! Becky, as a playwright, I applaud your theatre purchases.

    Cyn, on a more dour note, my poor mom lived all of three days in 2024. I had her taxes done and she owed $375: $125 for each day she was alive. On one social security payment and a small amount of IRA interest. And I KNOW she paid more in taxes than some billionaires!!

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    2. El, I’m sorry to be late in responding to this but MY GOSH, I cannot believe that story about your sweet Mom! Teeth gnashing time!

      And thank you all for your splurge stories.

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  2. What have I splurged on recently? Nothing! I’ve been too busy paying home repair bills. But that will hopefully be over early next week.

    I’ll splurge next month by attending Sleuthfest, in St. Petersburg, Fl. Yes, I know it’s work (writers’ conferences are my work now), but I’ll still get a chance to take my sweetie out for seafood and stay at a nice hotel. I’ll be on two panels — private investigators and historical mysteries, and I’ll get a chance to make a lot of new friends. That’s a splurge if I ever saw one.

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  3. Love learning all these facts about everyone’s splurges! Robots to clean pet poop? Yes, please! Parading with Mardi Gras krewes? Oui, oui! A new deck and pizza Crocs–most definitely! No loopholes for teachers? Boooo! Fun new dresses, purses, and accessories? Awesome! And yes to theater tickets! Maybe we should plot out a story using all these things….

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  4. My 18-day trip to Singapore & Taiwan was not as $$ as you may think. I used my miles/points to book long-haul Business Class reward tickets.

    Food & public transit in both countries was ridiculously low. Think $2-5 Cdn/meal and $1-2 Cdn for MRT/ bus ride.

    Where I got sticker shock was the 1.5 days back in Vancouver BC. Meals were $10-18, public transit fare was triple the pricebI paid in Asia.

    But the biggest indulgence was my foodie haul at Granville Island. KASAMA makes award-winning bean-to-bar artisan chocolate. Limited edition bars are made from cacao harvested from a specific farm/ region. So…each bar costs $18-19 CDN.

    DID I mention that I am a sucker for artisan chocolate?

    Yeah. I won’t be back to get more until this autumn or early 2026.

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      1. I would love to do a raucous foodie trip with you and Libby one day!

        FYI most visitors to Granville Island don’t know about KASAMA. They are not located in the public market. Their store is in a separate building at the opposite end of the island where they process the cacao and make their chocolate. Being chocolate-obsessed, I also took a 1/2 day chocolate tasting class with them.

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          1. San Francisco LCC 2026 will be located opposite the Ferry Terminal Building.. That would be a good starting point for a foodie outing esp if it’s almost a farmers market day.

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  5. Yay, Becky on the theater tickets! My wife and I don’t go to the theater enough. And we have some fantastic community theater groups which make the experience way more affordable than Broadway Across America.
    My recent splurge is a new laptop. I had a meltdown and quit writing back in March…for all of five days. When I came out of “retirement,” I treated myself to a computer that wasn’t a low-budget, cheapo model for the first time.

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    1. And don’t forget Performing Arts high schools … or any big hs, for that matter! When my kids were young they played in the pit orchestra for musicals at their hs. One year they did Les Mis and it was as good (if not better) than some of the professional troupes we’ve seen. I’m preaching to the choir here, but we need to support local arts or it WILL disappear!

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      1. Truth! My music teacher kiddo got his musical start at a public middle school. In May, he’s playing lead guitar in the pit for Kinky Boots!

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  6. In the last year, I’ve become a bit addicted to backing games on Kickstarter, not all of which will probably be played. And some of them are quit pricey.

    That’s about all I can think of. Unless you just count the two 4K discs that arrived yesterday. Movies in 4K are not as cheap as DVD or even Blu-Rays are.

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  7. Sounds like Ellen and I had the same idea, though we missed each other by a couple of weeks!

    I found myself in a state of complete creative stuck-ness, exhausted and completely peopled-out, so I took a chunk of my modest First Advance Ever and checked off an item from my bucket list: booked a tiny sleeper on the City of New Orleans train, spent a couple of days in the city itself, and then trained back home to Chicago. I went right after Mardi Gras since I couldn’t have handled the crowds, plus everything was cheaper once I got to the city. I walked for miles and miles, took a couple of Very Touristy ghost tours, had lunch with a author I admire, chatted up guides and bartenders (THAT’S where to get good stories!)…

    The whole way down on the train I just sort of zoned out and dozed, a sign I desperately needed to recharge–but I got going on a new story on the trip back, a new surge in “I wanna make something!” I hadn’t felt in quite a while.

    And yes, I too rationalized my trip by saying, “if I can write and sell whatever this is, I can call the whole trip research on my taxes next year!” too. 🙂

    It was wonderful.

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  9. Last month (March), hubby and I visited Malaysia (where my hometown is) and Singapore during my Spring break. We decided to fly with Singapore Airlines – one of the best in the world. In fact, the fare was quite decent, but we spent a bit more to get some better seats since it’s a long flight!

    We also stayed in a quite nice hotel and enjoyed some yummy food, and splurged on some unique souvenirs. It’s a wonderful “present” for my birthday! – Emily

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