During this last year I have been very lucky. Since my profession is classed as essential workers both my wife and I have continued to work in our offices throughout the lockdown. Obviously with social distancing and face masks etc. We have obviously not been able to go to all of the restaurants, gigs, cinemas, holidays that we would normally do. Financially we have never been so well off but that has tempted me to waste money on stuff I don’t really need, some of it has been okay but some has been a complete waste of money.Some even fell into the category of What was I thinking?
Just some examples here:
An online course in criminology – I didn’t do even one minute of one tutorial.
Some socks with famous artworks on them – so badly made I couldn’t even get them off my feet once I had worn them.
A pack of 48 Toilet rolls from China. When they hadn’t arrived I complained and they refunded me the money. They arrived the next day – bonus.
Some hair clippers again from China. The well know brands had all sold out, Absolutely useless unless you didnt mind having your hair torn to shreds.
A well known Pasta online delivery to your door subscription. Quality not bad but no better than what you can get in Waitrose. The first delivery was left outside my garage in the pouring rain. The package was soggy when I discovered it. Tried two deliveries – cancelled.
Some Everedge garden borders made of steel. Actually not bad but hardly essential.
Lots of good cd/lp purchases but many that I bought on impulse without much thought being given to why I was buying them. A boxset of all Motown number ones. I like the classic sixties Motown singles but not the later stuff. This is still in its box unplayed and will try to sell on Discogs at some later date.
So am i the only one – I hope there are others amongst us who are also prone to extravagant or unnecessary purchases and don’t mind sharing their embarrassment on here.
Similar to your story, the savings from no gigs, restaurants, commuting, holidays etc have been built up and funnelled elsewhere.
Bought a new car in September, and just had a new kitchen.
Amazon have (obviously) been getting more orders – a lot of catalogue gaps have been filled, and new stuff arriving. Music Magpie too. Usually at least one package every couple of days.
But the biggest profligacy has been Food and Drink.
Booze wise, Flavourly have been delivering an awful lot of beer to my house. As has Beerwulf. Also been getting some deliveries from local brewerys and a Tap House down the road. If someone offers me a wide variety of Beer at good prices, I’m taking it. And recently we found the Dropstore for a well-priced supply of spirits (Mrs D has been bitten by the Gin bug a good few years after most others).
Food wise – many companies went in for the Restaurant At Home experience. We tried a couple, bu the best one we found was Home-X – great food, great prices, great service.
Just bought a Summer Pass for them, so plenty more deliveries expected.
Why on earth buy toilet rolls from China?
Cheaper than everywhere else? Just a wild guess 😉
To send them back to China after you’d messily used
and then neatly re-rolled them?
I’m not letting those com-yoo-neests know what I had for dinner.
First lockdown here they were in very short supply. My wife bought them for our daughter in London. Thankfully supply got back to normal after the nutters had filled their houses with a years supply.
Nothing really unnecessary, but spending nothing on gigs and holidays, plus wfh, means that I’m sitting on a new sofa, feet on a new carpet, listening to a new mini hifi, and in the kitchen next to me are a new cooker and fridge freezer. Most of the old stuff needed replacing, but I might not normally have been so cavalier in doing it all in the last 12 months.
Having thought about it some more there are smaller items such is a new lamp over in the corner, and a Brabantia bin to replace the knackered old pedal bin in the kitchen. Does the new fuse box I had when the cooker was installed count? I guess that’s more of an essential.
I haven’t needed grocery deliveries because there’s a supermarket less than 5 minutes walk away (Aldi as it happens, and they’re fine since they seriously upped their game a few years ago) and I drink pretty sparingly. When you only get out of your home for groceries those trips become something to look forward to.
I do remember that at the start of the first lockdown I was ridiculously pleased to buy a small lamp with a rechargeable battery. I can see it on a shelf if I look over my shoulder, and it’s an attractive object, but can’t remember the last time I used it. I had just got to a point where I had only left the flat for groceries or walks for many week and just desperately wanted to buy something. I think it was less than twenty quid, which was worth it for the simple pleasure of a new acquisition it gave me.
Similarly, I’ve spent a lot on white goods this year, mainly because we’ve been in the house for 10 years and they all seem to go wrong every 5 years. So hardly extravagances. Washing machine, microwave and a new iron in the last few weeks, and the kitchen fridge door will soon fall off for the last time.
And a pile of unplayed vinyl and CDs (many Bandcamp purchases to support the artist – I’ll make the time to listen one day).
After years of going teetotal and not eating out (for medical reasons) I saved the funds to soundproof my garage by about a year ago, but builders are scarce at the moment as so many people are having garden offices built.
Tell a lie, I bought a(nother) PA system, one of those active mono subs with two passive satellite things. A pub singer/guitarist friend needed some cash so I agreed to buy it/store it until he’s back in the game. I’d be very surprised if I ever use it myself.
Not a big name brand I suppose?
It was one of those HK-but-not-HK brand ones, PowerWorks was it? It’s probably OK for a small pub/cafe venue but I already installed a PA in the only place I’d ever likely use it.
I’m lucky enough to be classified as an ‘essential’ worker. All that food you buy with Best Before Dates on it? I mangle the database for the people who design bits of the printer which prints the dates. I’m really not that essential. He’s furloughed and needed to get his car through a MOT.
Like this?
https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/SubZero-SZPA-L812-12-Column-PA-System/1HCV?origin=product-ads&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4cOEBhDMARIsAA3XDRix3RCpzJRtDNv19D-66QGVgBUj8nhQY6Y3f8EIlB3cNDq3jd0uZ48aAjR2EALw_wcB
I’ve heard a similar Bose unit which was quite good in a small pub.
Not a column, an active sub and two passive sats on tripods. More like this:
https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/HK-Audio-POWERWORKS-Sound-House-One-1x-RS-15-Sub-A-2x-RS-82/art-PAH0005369-000
I have a number of DVD box sets still unwatched, purchased last April. I PLAN to watch them, but you know how it is with impulse buys… likewise about 20 books not yet read. What we need is another lockdown.
What we need is a way to get a year’s worth of reading into our heads via a jab in the arm..
Huawei are probably working on it.
They certainly heard and made a note of what you said
Well we’re in the process of buying a 4 bedroom house. There’s just two of us. Apart from that, the spending hasn’t started yet…. think of the extra space for pointless stuff once we’ve moved….. oh yes we did buy an air conditioner today…. unsurprisingly not felt moved to open the box today though!
Oh, 4 bedrooms sounds like a lot, but once you’ve each claimed one of them as an office/den, designated a guest room, and stuck your bed in the fourth, that’s them all allocated. Then you need a library, a dining room, a living room, a music room… surely a 4-bedder is the minimum for two people?
also need to buy a Candlestick and a lump of lead piping
Lots of couples these days have separate bedrooms. It’s the modern way …
You are forgetting the need for 2 separate offices to do Teams/Zoom calls in.
Global warming, eh. Who gives a fuck.
We can easily justify the AC unit because when it’s hot enough to need it, the PV panels on the roof should be generating enough electricity to run it and still contribute (in a small way) to the National Grid.
Not much call for aircon at the centre of the earth, it seems…you can now get solar-powered aircon here in Oz, which is one of those blindingly obvious ideas which should have been thought of years ago.
I’ve bought a privet hedge fund, a Kardashian, some luxury designer anchovies and a small town in Botswana.
I suppose the obvious question is, were the “designer anchovies” bought from Richard Dawkins or from God?
From the estate of the late Douglas Adams.
He thanked them as they departed.
All I know is, I’ve bought an awful lot of board games. My wife isn’t into board games. But those boxes full of pretty bits of cardboard and plastic are just so enticing…
“Darling… I’m just going to the spare room to read my emails…”
*fifteen minutes later, the following cry is heard from upstairs*
“YAHTZEE!”
That’s reminded me of a dice game I used to play with friends a long time ago.
Shut The Box.
A nice simple quite addictive game, with an optional gambling element, just right for me and my stoned friends back in the early ’80s.
I’ve ordered a cheap set from Les Dodgeurs.
https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/shut-box-rules.htm
I’ve got about four sets of ‘shut the box’ as people always buy it for me. If anyone else would like a copy (including two player shut the box) feel free to ask.
Trouble is, I’m always drawn to extremes, when it comes to entertainment. Classical music? Mahler & Bruckner symphonies. Unclassical music? Tales from Topographic Oceans and anything by The Necks, especially the albums with only one long 50-minute track. So, with board games, this is where I end up…
We haven’t saved any money during lockdown. The bulk has been spent at the local businesses that have soldiered on during lockdown, or opened during periods when it was lifted. They are our neighbours and , less altrusitically, life will be worse if they don’t make it. Other money has been sent to friends abroad who don’t live in places with furlough schemes or similar.
I can’t say I’ve bought any fewer cds than usual. Should be more cash floating around but not seeing much, as big bills seem to clock up together like buses: this month £300 for the dentist and £1500 to get both cars thru’ Service and MOT. Anyone lend me a tenner?
Well, I’ve earned more than usual, because, perversely, there has been overtime to work covering for shielding colleagues; further there have been no pesky gigs or pubs to get in way of said overtime.
But then, just as lockdown started last March, the Defender 110 which would normally take me to a dozen festivals over the year, failed its MOT – the chassis was about as thick as a festival ticket, apparently. I finally got it back the following March, by which time I had plenty of opportunity to save the multi four figure sum it cost me.
There are few things more profligate than ownership of an ageing Landrover.
Other than that, I have been more generous with supporting (my definition of) good causes. But I am holding onto my surplus until I can spend it on the things that matter to me – live music and hospitality.
To contrast these tales of profligacy- I lost my job in Travel and Tourism – an industry cast adrift by current policy and have been working for the Covid 19 project, (NHS, Oxford Uni etc) conducting swabs and capillary blood tests for considerably less money. Purchases have been few.
More power to your elbow @Steerpike. I hope things work out better for you soon.
I’ve been getting rid, not accumulating.
We’re on a weekly bus ticket this week, the first we’ve needed for 14 months, and so tomorrow is another books/CDs, ten each or so at a time, offload in the nearest town.
The vinlys have so far remained untouched, not least because, on a cursory glance last week, the vast amount of the collection is original. I must have ditched many of the reissues during a former purge. Did you know I had the two original Crickets/Buddy Holly LPs released in 1958? I didn’t. Result!
My extravagance has been bottles of beer… and bottles of beer and chips (you have to eat to go in the pavilion) at the cricket.
I’ve had the opposite experience, not really buying anything extravagant.
I bought a good second hand bike, financed by selling a couple of other ones. My wife has wanted a greenhouse for years so we did that and put down a concrete base (ok, a bit extravagant but she wore down my resistance). Other than that, we’ve got rid of stuff, clearing out stuff on Facebook Marketplace, rather than acquiring more which has been good really. We traded down our car from an Audi to a Mazda and were a few grand better off. I think I bought a small amount of merch early on but to be honest, although musicians have been hit hard, a lot of them have had the opportunity to stream online for tips and sell downloads and merch so have at least been able to do something to bring in a few quid so while I’m sympathetic to their plight, the venue owners, front of house staff and crews haven’t had those options.
We’ve started using Aldi rather than Tesco for quite a lot of items and we ate a fair bit from the garden, especially tomatoes last year. The local takeaways haven’t had a lot from us, not that we were big customers anyway and I don’t miss takeout coffee although I wonder how much I used to spend on grabbing lunch several times a week, loads probably. We met friends for lunch outside today and it’s the first time we’ve socialised with anyone in months.
God, I’m bored! We’ve kept busy but I’ve had enough now and I just want to get back to what I should be doing.
A Peloton bike. I know.
It’s very good though. And my thighs are like oak trees.
I have also not bought a pizza from Papa John’s or a shop. Pizza dough via the bread machine and the discovery that my oven has a pizza setting (really hot but from the bottom only) has meant that home made pizzas are now a specialty. It’s possibly why my belly isn’t like an oak tree.
I’ve been working from home like many and exploring stuff on Spotty and I have a rule that if I love it I buy it even though it’s there free (plus can listen on nice stereo etc). So I’ve aquired a sizable chunk of the Porcupine Tree catalogue amongst others. I treated myself to some decent speakers for the work setup as I’m sitting in front of them for hours a day. Otherwise I’ve added to the book backlog. That’s about it. Broadly I’d rather get rid of stuff than acquire it but I still kinda feel like I’ve been giving Amazon too much business and intend to rein it in a bit.
I bought a couple of new keyboards – a Fantom workstation and Yamaha Reface CS. Mostly we’ve bought a lot of gardening stuff. I love the Ryobi one cordless range. Even got a scarifier for the lawn which is a lot of work. Unbelievable how much stuff it churns out of the grass. The hardest part is clearing it all up afterwards.
It really is, my back hates that rake.
I’m retired with not much savings, which were dwindling slowly before lockdown. I actually accumulated a little bit of money last year but then wrote off my car at the end of November and had to get another one.
Before the lockdown I’d had it in mind to no longer own a car once my 2003 Saab 9-3 saloon died, but to make use of my bus pass and a senior citizen rail pass. Services are pretty reliable around here.
I didn’t fancy having to rely on public transport during lockdown though, so I’m now the owner of a 2002 Saab 9-3 Turbo convertible and financially pretty much back to square one.
I was seriously considering buying an exercise bike but my brother has semi-permanently loaned me the one he bought and didn’t get along with. Needs a soft saddle cover, which should arrive tomorrow from some well-known tax-dodgers.
A few cheap jazz box sets have been bought, but I’m making more use of my Spotify subscription these days. To the extent that it’s mostly throwing up stuff I actually want to listen to on my Discover Weekly playlist.
Booked my first post-lockdown gig ticket today. The Nu Civilisation Orchestra playing a Joe Harriott tribute concert at Kings Place in July. Might get a ticket for Jazz Jamaica Allstars “The Trojan Story” concert at the RFH, later in July.
Worked all through the last year and a bit. But no holidays or Antique fairs to visit so the money has been increasing steadily. Plus I had a very nice redundancy payout in 2019 which helped a lot and hasn’t really been touched.
Other than the albums that have had to be bought I’ve gone slightly Sonos crazy. A Beam and two Ones in the living room. Ones in the Kitchen, Back Bedroom, Garden Room and a new Roam in the bathroom.
I know, I know but I enjoy having all our music around the house.
How is the Roam?
@SteveT
“Hair torn to shreds”
Isn’t hair shreds in the first place?
Speak for yourself.
Better than i thought a speaker that size would be. Sounds great to my jaded ears with som decent bass.
I have a 15% discount offer on one. It seems silly not to…
Your review seems to have been sufficient for my latest bit of lockdown profligacy. Ordered using my upgrade discount (which didn’t even require me to stop using my old product).
It’s not the B52s best single, but has its fans (hello Bri)
“Roam in the bathroom…” THAT’s what I can do with the Sonos Roam that the fiscal authorities refuse to admit is necessary.
Last night I had this dream I ate a fat toblerone and when I woke up the Sonos Roam on my bedside table was gone..
Oddly enough, the other day I found myself contemplating my Amazon orders in the 6 months between the start of lockdown and doing a bunk for Oz, and realising it was quite the lockdown snapshot. It’s quite interesting – only quite interesting, mind you, but bear with me.
Apart from books, both hard (including 3 copies of Craig Brown’s Fabs book, one for each of my sisters and one for me) and e, there were: a picture frame, a phone case, a 1TB SSD, an ear wax removal kit, a phone charger plus magnetic phone holder for a new car that wasn’t going anywhere, a USB-C hub, a bookshelf, a magnetic soap holder for the bathroom, a beach chair for the balcony, plus umbrella and a thing to bolt it to the railings, a toaster to replace the one that was only toasting one side of the bread, 10 pairs of washable cotton gloves, a tub of multivitamins, yet another bloody computer keyboard, a LOT of stuff for my suddenly revived plastic plane model hobby (5-minute wonder THAT was), Peugeot salt and pepper grinder, plus little wooden tray to stand them on, a hex key set, a lifetime supply of tahini, something described as a quick dry dad hat, a thermometer in case I got any symptoms, a printer, new Fitbit strap, screws and plugs for the magnetic soap holder because the sticky pad was rubbish, a can of WD40, grout cleaner for the shower, Australian plug adapter (getting optimistic there), a loaf tin, latex gloves to supplement the cotton ones, pack of face masks, a USB CD/DVD drive (what the hell did I want that for?), hand sanitiser, a pack of luggage tags…oh, and a LOT of whisky.
Cuddly toy!
You’ll need some nesting tables to put it on first, G
They are nesting at this time of year. Don’t disturb them.
I’m overjoyed when I learn a new word and its meaning. Profligacy. What an intriguing set of letters in a row to mean something I’ve no understanding of. Even to say it for the first time. Profligacy. Profligacy. I’m Malcolm Gladwell and in this episode we’ll be exploring, or, mining, words in the English language that have little bearing on the current culture of knowledge. Unless… follow us won’t you as we uncover the lives of the people who are at a loss with what to do with themselves when they have everything they need but seem somehow disembodied. I’ve a feeling they’re not alone…
Words like profligacy are of sadly nugatory interest to the rest of the Great British Public
Look how excited I was by it, the word, Profligacy. You don’t think when someone half my age hears the word, Nugatory they aren’t going to be intrigued to its meaning?
Not to be confused with the word proflegacy, which is when your academic supervisor leaves you his collection of old pipes in his will.
Fantastic sentence, @Jaygee.
Nugatory is a wonderful word – especially when writing letters/emails of complaint
“Given the nugatory interest your Customer Service Department has in adhering to the obligations inherent in its name….”
🤣
Got a nugatory government here.
Nugatreeee
Call on me
Nugatreeee
Come and see me
I’m the same boy I used to be
Now, now Moose. That’s very unfair on our Stevie. It may have been the ‘80’s but even disco/clubbing Stevie was still head and shoulders above the rest as his well known song ‘Nugatreee’ illustrates.
….what about his earlier hit “Dear Mister Profligacy”?
In the 80’s that was just fantasy. Who’s that playing the guitar? It’s Stevie. OK, who’s on bass? That’s Stevie. Who’s on drums? That’s Stevie. Profligacy? No, he was a wise, tight fisted bastard. Nice songs though.
It’s a wonder he wasn’t “interviewed” by the Musician’s Union – followed by his appearance on TV , looking mysteriously bruised, accompanied by a few bored-looking geezers from the Joe Loss Orchestra wearing faded black dinner jackets and reading Arc of a Diver from sheet music.
Personally, I like to keep my complaints simple and to the point. For example, “Dear Fedex, your courier service is completely crap. I will never be tempted to opt for your cheapskate services again.”
Given that the people who staff these sort of departments are barely literate, where’s the fun in that?
Nugatory? Isn’t that some sort of filling in a foookin’ chocolate bar?
Nah, it’s what fill the forests in Montelimar.
Or the place where feckless Customer Service staffers get sent for a few thousand years if they fuck me off
Today is voting day. Any Tories knocking on my door could end up getting nugged.
The GLW bought 400 plants. 400.
Think of how many CDs you could buy!
I love cress in an egg sandwich.
Amazingly cress was not on the list.
(to be fair, strawberries and raspberries were)
I bought eight fence posts and eight bags of Postcrete, and spent two weeks at Easter erecting and painting them. It took slightly over two weeks for my new neighbour’s ex-wife to reverse into them and knock them all over.
I could have spent the money on records and my Easter holidays in the warm playing them.
She was reversing over them for over two weeks? I’m no expert, but that suggests having too much time on your hands.
Knocking over 8 posts in one go takes some doing.
You have to be really, really, stupid and almost completely unfit to be behind the wheel. Both of which she is. I’d tarmac over my front garden to give her a bit more room, but she’s only crash into my house instead.
They’re renting. I really, really, hope they’re on a short contract.
Not spending, saving – but only because I intend to splash out later converting to electric motoring..⚡️🚗
I don’t know what the big deal is. I had an electric car when I was six. I couldn’t get in it, mind – but our hamster had a decent time sitting on its roof.
Bought a projector during lockdown 1 – so we had a summer of watching Marvel movies on the big screen.
A growing stack of books on the kindle. But that’s OK as I have been racing through novel in the last year (19 since Jan 21 – according to my Goodreads account)
Subscriptions to both Spotify and Disney +. Both well worth it.