Minimalism and What I Do Spend Money On

Minimalism is wonderful for the environment (less stuff getting thrown away/replaced constantly) and your sanity (less stuff to clean/repair/organize) but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the dopamine hit that frequently comes from shopping. Our household doesn’t spend much on THINGS… whether it be new technology (our television is over 10 years old and still works perfectly!) or clothes/bags/jewelry (yay for thrifting) or cars (we downsized to one car!)… but we do happily spend on fun, meaningful (to us) experiences and services that make life a tiny bit easier. Here are my and my husband’s top fun/unnecessary spends:

Travel! Probably the #1 “fun” expense in our household — we stock away a good amount on a monthly basis to explore the world. For us, travel is thoroughly joy-inducing.
Mini season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks. Since we don’t have time to go to 40 home games, we splurged on a smaller season ticket pass with great seats. Live basketball games are hands down my favorite sporting experience.
Memberships to the Dallas Arboretum, the Perot Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. We love supporting Dallas’ museums and cultural endeavors — and it’s great to be able to go to these wonderful places as much as we want every year.
Cleaning service every 6-8 weeks. We do a good job of cleaning our home on our own… however, it’s been nice to have someone come about every 2 months to really deep clean all the nooks and crannies. A definite time-saver.
New restaurants on weekends. We eat at home 5 days out of the week for our health and wallet but we also love trying new restaurants and foods — Friday and Saturday nights are dedicated to exploring the Dallas food scene.
Cooking and hobby classes. I love going to cooking/baking classes at our local Central Market as well as any floral/wreath making/etc. workshops that happen in local small businesses. I enjoy learning something new, creating something beautiful/consumable, and supporting local businesses.
Bi-monthly manicures. I suck at doing my own nails, hate having large quantities of unused nail polishes, and enjoy the 2-3 week lasting polishes my salon uses. I’ll take the time and space savings!