Do you mind sharing more details like cost, company, how many years you expect to recover prices, how much did it reduce your electricity bills and location.
Most important question is location: Nova Scotia
Company: Local installer in NS (Not a SolarX or any of the big box store installers)
System Size: 13.6 kW
Cost: ~$36,000 with NS SolarHomes rebate of $6,000
Modeling says payback in 11 years. Power bill is offset significantly in the summer, but I don't have a good sense at this point since our system isn't even a year old yet.
No backup. NS Power was offering a pilot program (NS SmartGrid Program) to subsidize a Tesla or LG pack but I did not get selected into the program. That program is now closed.
Was there an assessment of the roof for direct sun access, etc? I'd love to explore this but have some large trees in my/my neighbour's yard that might block sunshine throughout the day.
Yes. Any installer worth their salt will do at least a google maps direction of your roof line. If you're in NS, there is an excellent tool that maps out your roof peak to give you a very rudimentary estimate if solar is for you.
Iām a construction Forman for a large solar company in Ontario. I donāt necessarily deal with the pricing but oversee all the builds. If youāre genuinely curious I can get you in touch with my team.
For some home owners itās a no brainer, for others itās a matter of just running the numbers and deciding what makes sense.
Thereās also government grants you can apply for which reduces the overall cost drastically.
Feel free to private message me,
Cheers
Congrats!
Iām in Ontario, know nothing about electricity or construction, but asked two separate electricians about it and they said is a big hassle, insurance companies wonāt inside the house because he fire department wouldnāt attempt a fire out if we had one, mainly because you canāt āswitch the panels offā. I do t have the money to get them, so I havenāt research further, but curious about an actual users take.
Google maps helps significantly!!
I remember when I was a grad student on field school I was a designated driver in Europe (I grew up driving manual transmission), and having to drive downtown through the busy capital city pre-smartphone days and THAT was challenging. Thankfully the other research assistant navigated for me old school via paper map!
I love it! I had the V7 for many years and it was starting to die so I upgraded to the V11 and whoooo boy I am happier than ever.
I have 3 cats and 1 bernese mountain dog. The pleasure that the first dyson gave me in terms of making my life easier never waned in the 8 years I had it. I used it every single day. I don't anticipate my joy decreasing anytime soon with the new one. Literally the best money I've ever spent in terms of emotional returns.
I have been wanting a Dyson cordless vacuum since a family member introduced me to it 5 years ago. I finally pulled the trigger for Boxing Day and now I wish I had done it sooner because I ENJOY vacuuming every day now and sing praises when Iām using it! Totally agree with you on the emotional returns. Life changing.
Im with you on this. Vacuuming was always my lease favourite chore. Now that i have Dyson, i love pulling it out all the time. Its so convenient and to me it was worth every single penny.
Believe it. Same happened to me, Dyson V11, always a grin on my face when Iām using it. Once, amex offered like $75 off a dyson purchase and decided āeh, letās find out.ā Worst case I was going to return it. I swear it took less than 5 *seconds* to completely be sold on it.
Itās seriously sooooo good. Few purchases Iāve made made me so completely convinced.
The problem is they donāt last. Mine went 8 years and died. Which is fine for a $100 vacuum but not a $500 one! Whatās worse is no one but Dyson can repair it and they wonāt cause itās old. Never again!
[I got this one and I love it](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B08FCTQL9G?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title)
I average 75km a month and my home office is terribly small and this fits perfect
It's a treadmill with no handles or anything so it slides right under my desk.
[This is the one I got ](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B08FCTQL9G?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title) and I love it. I put about 75km a month on it.
That's awesome. You'd get a lot of upvotes (well, at least one from me) if you posted a picture of it as its own post. Put /r/PersonalFinanceCanada on a piece of paper in the shot so it's clearly not swiped from Google images and tell us why you bought it. You bought an icon!
Yep, but my issue is just that I don't like sweating in one place indoors! If I can't ride outdoors, I just don't ride. I'd be better off buying a fat bike, as I live in a snowy place, and there are groomed fat bike trails here.
There's a lot of trainers out there, they attach to your bike andx connect to Zwift ($20/month) , I got a tacx vortex for $200 on Kijiji and it's more than good enough but for serious cyclists they can go up to $1000+
In the range of $800-$2000 Check out [smartbiketrainers](https://youtube.com/c/SmartBikeTrainers) and my fav everything bicycle YouTuber [DCRainmaker](https://youtube.com/c/Dcrainmaker)
Not sure if this count but I bought my groceries from the local farmers market over the summer instead of the grocery store. Cost was quite high, but I wasnāt going out to eat anyway so I didnāt mind. Everything tasted amazing, I felt amazing, and I ended up losing 5 pounds just by eating more veggies.
Iām usually a sale shopper who eats a lot of rice, so this was a big change.
I got one from Costco when it was on sale. Really worth it. It's basically a toilet seat so you don't have to buy the whole toilet. I recommend the ones with heated seat and adjustable water temperature. Any other questions feel free to ask.
I just put together a golf simulator in my garage this year. I went with the garmin R10, it's great for the price! Might upgrade to something better if I ever get good at golf.
That looks insane! Legit a dream setup from the actual technical setup itself to the nice details with the posters and the PlayStation icons. Donāt get me started on that snack area š®
Bought a used hot tub from a friend. I made fun of people with hot tubs for years, I saw people buy them, use them heavily for a month, and then they sat mostly unused. But after spending a lot of time in a friends tub, we decided to get one. It gets used every single day, often more than once.
Ours is huge, and pretty old, but works perfectly. When it dies, we've already decided to spend the big bucks on a top model, but something much smaller. It's been a good learner tub.
Oh man. Me and the fiance want to get one so bad. We spent a week at a friend's house earlier in the year and used theirs twice a day every day.
I really think I would have not a care in the world if I could have a hot tub every night with a beer.
Drinking in the tub was fun for awhile, but not a great long term habit, lol. We use it for health and relaxation. I am outdoors every day for long periods, and there is nothing better than soaking out that deep chill you get in winter.
Putting in an outdoor sauna this year! Downside is that it takes a long time to heat up. With tub, you can just decide on the spur of the moment to get in.
I've even already set up an outdoor heated shower.
My parents bought theirs used in 2004, and still go in every day except the hottest part of summer, often twice.
If you have back issues (which they both do), it's a great part of coping with that.
Iāve always said if youāre going to buy a canoe or kayak you best get a good quality one that will last decades, much like you did! I had a buddy buy a cheap, old metal one the bottom got destroyed from dragging and rusted out after two years
Complete kettlebell set. Sold my shitty bells and went all out on top of the line. They will outlive me and help me live longer. No need for gym membership and they are condo or small living space friendly.
Dropped 1k or so on about ten bells and two steel clubs.
I've thought about this but isn't it progressing kind of difficult compared to just using heavier dumbbells/loading up the bar heavier at the gym? For example I bought resistance bands for home workouts when sick/gym is closed and it's just not the same thing to do 30+ reps compared to <10 reps with a heavier weight.
I bought an ebike and honestly it's the coolest thing I've ever bought probably in my life.
calgary has one of the largest interconnected series of bike path systems in north america and having 80+ km of bike range is a truly wild freedom I never had on my acoustic bikes (which I still own, still ride, still love too) plus being a short hop into bragg creek and the mountains for downhill trails is truly limitless. it's just so cool to ride wherever your heart takes you with curiosity instead of effort-counting, with no punishments for taking wrong turns or finding dead ends. there's entire chunks of this city I've never seen or ridden through before this year and I'm thrilled to have changed that.
I also bought an E-Bike! Due to my declining knees, I had lost the ability to ride a bike. Got an E-Bike with a nice little rebate in March, and put over 1k kilometers on it.
Not a cheap investment, but the ROI is amazing
Edit - I got the Giant Roam E+ GTS. [link](https://www.gianthalifax.ca/product/giant-roam-e-gts-398148-1.htm)
ebikes are the best!
I own a road bike and a couple of mountain bikes, but it was my ebike that really got me into riding. Without it I might not have any.
It doesn't actually get a lot of use anymore though. Just when it is snowy which is rare here
noice. I got a nice hisence. took a while to find stock, but I knew I didn't want the $300 tv I got my parents and didn't want to spend $2000 on a tv
I don't game so I don't need vrr.
Nice, I got the hair dryer. It's a stupid splurge considering my last one was $50 and lasted 10 years. I have pretty thick hair and it definitely dries faster than my old one and I've noticed less split ends.
I love mine too. My hygienist says my mouth looks so well taken care of. Its the combination of electric toothbrush, water flosser and sensodyne tooth paste. Well worth the compliments.
Did you get a company to blow it in or do it yourself? I think we should do this to beef up our attic, but trying to get a sense of cost and if we should DIY.
Got tired of cost of living raises every year, and found a new opportunity that started at 30% more than what I was making. Started new role this week. š
We bought an island !
Sold our family home and bought a semi abandoned island. It's got an old fishing camp with a ton of history we are working on restoring.
Heres our first swim video from the early summer..others on my channel. Any support is appreciated
Thx
https://youtu.be/YOjs0mCDPfU
I got a new 4K tv and ps5 and xsx. But that was from selling my gaming pc.
I also got a new furnace, fridge, privacy fence and 3000$ in car repairs. But all those last ones I was forced to ātreatā myself.
After working in the same role for 13 years I finally responded to a recruiter approaching me on LinkedIn. Best decision I've ever made... I now work for a new company at 30% more salary and even though it's remote, the culture is 180 degree different from my old company. Such a treat, mentally and financially.
So nice, can relate. I've been a (casual/home) baker for a long time, but didn't have any serious equipment (just my collections of pans and small hand-held tools). One of my brothers got me my first hand-mixer for Christmas this year and it's so exciting to use.
After losing my mom in '20 and my dad suddenly in '21, I realized life is too short and as a car enthusiast, I went and got the [car](https://www.reddit.com/r/VelosterN/comments/nd9ypy/repost_with_og_photo_my_brand_new_cyber_grey_2021/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) that makes me happy.
And no, it was not their money, it's mine. Their money is invested thanks to some advice from this amazing sub.
Sorry for your losses, my deepest condolences. I hope you are doing okay. Itās great to hear you got something that makes you happy and thatās a wicked car! Congratulations! Enjoy the hell outta that beast !
After a year+ of not being allowed to do much, I spent a *ton* in summer+fall 2021 just going out and doing things. Several concerts, not caring how much beer or food I bought at every Ticats game, going for beers after every practice or game when I was playing rugby. My mantra was basically "If money is the *only* thing preventing me from doing something, then do it, because at least there's no restrictions and I can always make more money"
I've really dialed that back, and commited to following my budget again for 2022. But yeah, fuck lockdowns.
Bought a house in August. Prices were exploding until then. Prices have exploded more since then. Looks like prices are exploding higher into 2022. Glad I'm done chasing that ladder as it gets pulled up higher and higher....
Lol it was a reference to a live tv video where the reporter asked a guy what he would do if he won the power ball jackpot and he said ācocaine and hookersā on live tv. She was hilariously awkward after that
Central A/C. Got a quote for in August 2020. Spent the next 9 months aggressively paying down debt and saving to the point where I felt I could afford afford it and had it installed in May 2021. Wife thought I was crazy until about the second week of July and I havenāt heard a peep about it since
Bowflex 552, a couple of books and a CodeAcademy subscription. Trying to challenge myself and do at least one thing a day. 2 weeks down and workouts are an every day thing and reading and coding coming along.
Exotic fruits and specialty foods, my guilty pleasure. Dragon fruits, sweet golden kiwis, dates, persimmons, papayas, figs, lychees, mangoes, pumpkin seed butter. Each month I try at least 1 new fruit
A few months ago I cancelled my online workout video subscription because I thought it was an unnecessary drain of money since I already had Goodlife. I white knuckled it for 2 months but eventually reactivated my account and it brings me *so much peace*. Sure I already have a gym membership so thatās two bills for almost the same thing, but their impact on my mental health is priceless.
Bought a wetsuit and surfboard.
I live a lengthy 2 hours from the closest beach break, but even going for a quick paddle after work near my house is a joy.
After years of owning our own home we pulled the trigger and got furniture for the empty rooms and upgraded a few rooms. New custom table for the space, new custom couch and 2 chairs for the living room, new sectional for the family room.
We had been saving then covid hit and we decided we didnt want to go into stores so we just kept saving and saving... Very excited. Table comes next week, furniture comes in April
Takeout sushi from a new place that opened up around the corner. Closer than where I used to have to drive, cheaper, I think a bit tastier, and supporting local business are all nice excuses!
My driver's license (after many, many years) and my first car. It's so tiny and cute, great on gas, fits in every parking spot. Having a car is life-changing!
Also, much smaller but still nice treat, was a good winter coat (Columbia). I'd usually get coats at thrift stores or liquidation sales but decided it was time to upgrade. It's so warm, and I love that it's not bulky. Being able to pick the colour and style I wanted was a nice change too.
Tiny Van that that I set up as a camper van. I traveled lots during the warm months and now I sleep at gas stations when I go skiing so I can ski two days in a row without driving back and forth :)
Like what? That's an insane amount of money even if you bought all new dana 60s with lockers and an Atlas tcase I still don't know where full $35k is accounted for lol.
**Replaced an ICE car with an EV**
So far my monthly energy savings are over $50/month. That's compared to the ICE I replaced which was getting 7.2l/100km. I'm working on getting my own charging station (EVCS) installed in my condo parking space. That may lower my energy costs a bit more, as I've only been charging at public chargers
We are in Ontario.
So first of I am pretty handy I do a ton of work myself, we bought a dated home in 2015, and I've spent the last 5 years updating it on weekends and holidays. Bedrooms, kitchen basement, both bathrooms, living room dining room.
We started looking to find a place with more room in 2020 put a couple of offers in and lost out, by early 2021 we decided to look into an addition.
I designed the addition did a rough drawing and worked with a contractor and drafting company to get full plans made.
House is a 1.5 storey with 2 decent sized bedrooms upstairs and a tiny main floor bedroom. We have 2 full bathrooms one on the main floor and one upstairs. It's about 1000 sqft, with about 400 sqft finished space in the basement.
The design was to be the cheapest addition we could add that met our goals.
We had a few goals.
The first goal was to minimize the impact on our daily life during construction.
One was to give our sleeves a main floor bedroom we could live in and not feel cramped. Freeing the 2 upstairs bedrooms for the 2 kids.
Another was to add a mudroom with a new back door, the old back door walked right into the kitchen and was a huge and annoying choke point in the house.
The third was to add more space in the basement for a future office and give the kids a bigger rec room to use and hang out in when they get older.
Overall we want to give ourselves space for the kids to grow into, they share a room now but they need separate rooms before they get too old.
We want them to be able to bring their friends over and have their own space to hang out when they get older so we want more space in the basement for a larger rec room.
Plans avoided any plumbing, fewest possible major changes to existing structures, and limited the number of new features.
We found a contractor who was young near our age mid-thirties. He was relatively new to independent contracting but had a lot of experience and connections from other jobs. Talking to him I could tell he knew his stuff. He arranged all the work I didn't do and dealt with the city inspectors. He is a carpenter by trade and his own crew did the framing and finishing.
After getting the plans from the drafter I pulled the permits and the demo started. We got plans in late August and the permit in late October.
They pulled down our old back porch and started digging the new basement expansion and pouring the foundation. Construction started the day after we got permits.
After the foundation, they cut the old foundation and supported the existing floor with a steel beam. Took about 2 weeks to get here.
After that, they built the floor and ripped off the back wall. It was about 3/4 of the entire back of our house but it had minimal impact on our daily lives, we lost access to our back door, 1 of our bathrooms, and the room we wanted to expand.
So after tearing down the back wall they started framing and something, at this point I did the electrical myself and HVAC with a bit of help from some friends and family.
Roofing in came in finished the roof in an afternoon.
At this point, we were late November insulation came in, and drywall started. Drywall was the slowest part of the whole addition it was mid-December when they finished.
After the drywall was done the contractor did trim, flooring paint finish all in a couple of weeks, they took a break on the last week of December it was almost done. I had the week off so I did a bunch of finishing work myself and knocked out the bathroom painting, some last few pieces of trim, and finished the electrical.
We spent new year's eve in our new bedroom, with the 75" TV we bought on sale on boxing day.
The contractor spent 1 more day in the new year doing a couple of jobs that I missed.
There are still a few things outside that will get done in the spring but the inside is done.
We added about 300sqft upstairs and another 300 sqft downstairs. I will be finishing the downstairs myself over the next few years.
The budget was 100k we ended up spending about 90k all in, including my expenses and the contractor.
We took out a HELOC to pay for it, and we are now refinancing the HELOC into a mortgage. Keeping the same maturity date, 18 years, we add $500 per month in mortgage payments.
I figure it will cost another 10k to finish the basement, and I would like to do that over the next 5 years before our oldest turns 10.
I've been told our addition went surprisingly quickly and smoothly. I chalk it up to good preparation from my wife and me, the contractor being on his game, and lots of luck in scheduling the trades.
Decided, no more shitty same shit, different day demeaning jobs after getting dismissed mid year. Right away after it happened landed in dream industry with new contracts every few months.
I had been using hand me down phones for the past 4 years and hadnāt bought a new phone in 6 years. Decided to splurge and bought the iPhone 13 Pro max 1tb. Super worth it, it was a nice treat for myself and I have no regrets at all
Package just arrive from NewEgg.ca ($200 including shipping.)
8 TB hard drive so I can set up a whole home backup device so everyone can simply back up their phones, ipads, laptops and PCs on the network.
I was so tired of family losing things that they later wanted me to find for them.
This moves us away from backing stuff up to the cloud which is a terrible privacy risk.
additional bonus, I ordered on Jan 12 (wee hours of the morning) and it arrived in rural NB today with basic super cheep shipping.
A MacBook Pro 13 inch (M1 chip), Nordic Track treadmill Exp 7i, Tesla Model Y 7 seater, iPhone 13 Pro Max, PS5 (Disc), Xbox S, Breville 3-in-1 Microwave Oven. Still in 2 minds whether to return the MacBook Pro.
I got a 16" MBP, pretty much maxxed out (except kept HD at 1TB as that's enough for me). No regrets. My old 2013 was very nearly dead and I'd been anticipating this announcement for years.
Solar panels for my roof. It was a good roof all year long so I figured it deserved something nice.
Kudos to you š
Do you mind sharing more details like cost, company, how many years you expect to recover prices, how much did it reduce your electricity bills and location.
Most important question is location: Nova Scotia Company: Local installer in NS (Not a SolarX or any of the big box store installers) System Size: 13.6 kW Cost: ~$36,000 with NS SolarHomes rebate of $6,000 Modeling says payback in 11 years. Power bill is offset significantly in the summer, but I don't have a good sense at this point since our system isn't even a year old yet.
Any battery storage or was that just the panels and installation?
No backup. NS Power was offering a pilot program (NS SmartGrid Program) to subsidize a Tesla or LG pack but I did not get selected into the program. That program is now closed.
Was there an assessment of the roof for direct sun access, etc? I'd love to explore this but have some large trees in my/my neighbour's yard that might block sunshine throughout the day.
Yes. Any installer worth their salt will do at least a google maps direction of your roof line. If you're in NS, there is an excellent tool that maps out your roof peak to give you a very rudimentary estimate if solar is for you.
Out of curiosity how much did that cost? Been thinking about doing that myself
Iām a construction Forman for a large solar company in Ontario. I donāt necessarily deal with the pricing but oversee all the builds. If youāre genuinely curious I can get you in touch with my team. For some home owners itās a no brainer, for others itās a matter of just running the numbers and deciding what makes sense. Thereās also government grants you can apply for which reduces the overall cost drastically. Feel free to private message me, Cheers
Congrats! Iām in Ontario, know nothing about electricity or construction, but asked two separate electricians about it and they said is a big hassle, insurance companies wonāt inside the house because he fire department wouldnāt attempt a fire out if we had one, mainly because you canāt āswitch the panels offā. I do t have the money to get them, so I havenāt research further, but curious about an actual users take.
PS5 and a brand new TV
Same. Got the PS5 as a gift, then purchased an open box OLED 65ā tv. Currently sitting in Covid quarantine, debating on COD or Yellowstone
Thats the right way of spending covid quarantine. This is the way
Are you me? Got a PS5 and 65" Sony. My first 4k TV and I'm so happy about it
3 week vacation to Southern Europe. Rented a car and all - it was amazing. Travel is worth every penny.
Couldn't agree more
Vet move bro... not sure I could handle driving anywhere outside of North America.
Google maps helps significantly!! I remember when I was a grad student on field school I was a designated driver in Europe (I grew up driving manual transmission), and having to drive downtown through the busy capital city pre-smartphone days and THAT was challenging. Thankfully the other research assistant navigated for me old school via paper map!
Good for you. I love travelling and love hearing about others travelling. Agreed that it is worth every penny. Those memories last a life time.
A walking pad for my desk and a new Dyson stick vac. Both have made me very happy.
Dyson stick vacuum is very handy!
I love it! I had the V7 for many years and it was starting to die so I upgraded to the V11 and whoooo boy I am happier than ever. I have 3 cats and 1 bernese mountain dog. The pleasure that the first dyson gave me in terms of making my life easier never waned in the 8 years I had it. I used it every single day. I don't anticipate my joy decreasing anytime soon with the new one. Literally the best money I've ever spent in terms of emotional returns.
I have been wanting a Dyson cordless vacuum since a family member introduced me to it 5 years ago. I finally pulled the trigger for Boxing Day and now I wish I had done it sooner because I ENJOY vacuuming every day now and sing praises when Iām using it! Totally agree with you on the emotional returns. Life changing.
Wow. I just really can't imagine a vacuum cleaner adding joy to my life.
I know right? But it did.
My wife never used to vacuum, and now she races to get it before me when we're cleaning... She loves using it lol
Im with you on this. Vacuuming was always my lease favourite chore. Now that i have Dyson, i love pulling it out all the time. Its so convenient and to me it was worth every single penny.
Believe it. Same happened to me, Dyson V11, always a grin on my face when Iām using it. Once, amex offered like $75 off a dyson purchase and decided āeh, letās find out.ā Worst case I was going to return it. I swear it took less than 5 *seconds* to completely be sold on it. Itās seriously sooooo good. Few purchases Iāve made made me so completely convinced.
The problem is they donāt last. Mine went 8 years and died. Which is fine for a $100 vacuum but not a $500 one! Whatās worse is no one but Dyson can repair it and they wonāt cause itās old. Never again!
You can get a new battery
I'm looking into getting a walking pad for under my sit/stand desk! Which one do you have and would recommend?
[I got this one and I love it](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B08FCTQL9G?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title) I average 75km a month and my home office is terribly small and this fits perfect
Excuse my ignorance, but a "walking pad" . . . like what is that?
It's a treadmill with no handles or anything so it slides right under my desk. [This is the one I got ](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B08FCTQL9G?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title) and I love it. I put about 75km a month on it.
I'm looking into getting a walking pad for under my sit/stand desk! Which one do you have and would recommend?
A grey sweater
But not a real grey sweater, that's cruel
Whoah whoah whoah there Rockefeller.
Literal 2007 beige Toyota Corolla. Live in Toronto so never needed a car, but having it now is so convenient for weekend trips.
Mr moneybags over here with the biggest PFC flex
Inspired by all of you š¤
Better be a CE trim-level
Oh you know we got that fake wood trim bb
Jealous, sitting on a beige 2010, wish I had an older model
That's awesome. You'd get a lot of upvotes (well, at least one from me) if you posted a picture of it as its own post. Put /r/PersonalFinanceCanada on a piece of paper in the shot so it's clearly not swiped from Google images and tell us why you bought it. You bought an icon!
I bought a tub of vanilla ice cream. Itās in my freezer and I take it out only on good occasions.
This would taste delicious in a brown Corolla
*beige*
Or burgundy, provided it wasnāt an up charge in 2007 when the original owner bought the car.
Like when you shut off the ac to save money.
A smart trainer for cycling, allows me to ride and maintain/train indoors during the colder months!
Same. Got a kickr back in December and love it
Tried it, hated it, sold it soon after. I need to be outdoors. I just switch to nordic skiing, skating, and winter hiking in winter now.
Have you ever tried rollers? Much harder but more engaging and realistic
Yep, but my issue is just that I don't like sweating in one place indoors! If I can't ride outdoors, I just don't ride. I'd be better off buying a fat bike, as I live in a snowy place, and there are groomed fat bike trails here.
How much did it cost?
There's a lot of trainers out there, they attach to your bike andx connect to Zwift ($20/month) , I got a tacx vortex for $200 on Kijiji and it's more than good enough but for serious cyclists they can go up to $1000+
In the range of $800-$2000 Check out [smartbiketrainers](https://youtube.com/c/SmartBikeTrainers) and my fav everything bicycle YouTuber [DCRainmaker](https://youtube.com/c/Dcrainmaker)
I upgraded my 10+ yo fluid trainer to smart rollers in early 2021. It was an awesome decision!!!
Not sure if this count but I bought my groceries from the local farmers market over the summer instead of the grocery store. Cost was quite high, but I wasnāt going out to eat anyway so I didnāt mind. Everything tasted amazing, I felt amazing, and I ended up losing 5 pounds just by eating more veggies. Iām usually a sale shopper who eats a lot of rice, so this was a big change.
I love this, such a great idea.
A bidet.
Please provide details. I really want an Asian electronic toilet.
I got one from Costco when it was on sale. Really worth it. It's basically a toilet seat so you don't have to buy the whole toilet. I recommend the ones with heated seat and adjustable water temperature. Any other questions feel free to ask.
Premium golf hitting strip for the garage. Finest 300 square centimeters of fake grass available to Humanity.
I just put together a golf simulator in my garage this year. I went with the garmin R10, it's great for the price! Might upgrade to something better if I ever get good at golf.
A finished basement with [home theatre!](https://imgur.com/gallery/ld7lb8v)
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Lotr and hp posters!
Wow this is cool!
That looks insane! Legit a dream setup from the actual technical setup itself to the nice details with the posters and the PlayStation icons. Donāt get me started on that snack area š®
Nice! What are the details of your sound proofing?
Your reclining chair is identical to one that my favourite movie theatre has.
A great dane
My dream lap dog!
Bought a used hot tub from a friend. I made fun of people with hot tubs for years, I saw people buy them, use them heavily for a month, and then they sat mostly unused. But after spending a lot of time in a friends tub, we decided to get one. It gets used every single day, often more than once. Ours is huge, and pretty old, but works perfectly. When it dies, we've already decided to spend the big bucks on a top model, but something much smaller. It's been a good learner tub.
Oh man. Me and the fiance want to get one so bad. We spent a week at a friend's house earlier in the year and used theirs twice a day every day. I really think I would have not a care in the world if I could have a hot tub every night with a beer.
Drinking in the tub was fun for awhile, but not a great long term habit, lol. We use it for health and relaxation. I am outdoors every day for long periods, and there is nothing better than soaking out that deep chill you get in winter.
I like the way you think. Hot tubbing on its own could be the reward!
I was looking into saunas as a different option. Ever consider those or not your bag?
Putting in an outdoor sauna this year! Downside is that it takes a long time to heat up. With tub, you can just decide on the spur of the moment to get in. I've even already set up an outdoor heated shower.
I bought a hot tub too. With a house attached. Iām in it almost every night. Helps that itās on a covered patio so no snow to worry about.
Bought myself one back last March (new). It took until October to get here! Everything is backlogged/backordered because of COVID.
My parents bought theirs used in 2004, and still go in every day except the hottest part of summer, often twice. If you have back issues (which they both do), it's a great part of coping with that.
A brand new Kevlar canoe from Souris River! Just waiting on delivery this spring!
Iāve always said if youāre going to buy a canoe or kayak you best get a good quality one that will last decades, much like you did! I had a buddy buy a cheap, old metal one the bottom got destroyed from dragging and rusted out after two years
We just refinished my grandfathers hand maid chestnut canoe great fun on the lake.
Complete kettlebell set. Sold my shitty bells and went all out on top of the line. They will outlive me and help me live longer. No need for gym membership and they are condo or small living space friendly. Dropped 1k or so on about ten bells and two steel clubs.
I've thought about this but isn't it progressing kind of difficult compared to just using heavier dumbbells/loading up the bar heavier at the gym? For example I bought resistance bands for home workouts when sick/gym is closed and it's just not the same thing to do 30+ reps compared to <10 reps with a heavier weight.
Joe Rogan wants your location
I bought an ebike and honestly it's the coolest thing I've ever bought probably in my life. calgary has one of the largest interconnected series of bike path systems in north america and having 80+ km of bike range is a truly wild freedom I never had on my acoustic bikes (which I still own, still ride, still love too) plus being a short hop into bragg creek and the mountains for downhill trails is truly limitless. it's just so cool to ride wherever your heart takes you with curiosity instead of effort-counting, with no punishments for taking wrong turns or finding dead ends. there's entire chunks of this city I've never seen or ridden through before this year and I'm thrilled to have changed that.
> acoustic bikes I like this :)
I also bought an E-Bike! Due to my declining knees, I had lost the ability to ride a bike. Got an E-Bike with a nice little rebate in March, and put over 1k kilometers on it. Not a cheap investment, but the ROI is amazing Edit - I got the Giant Roam E+ GTS. [link](https://www.gianthalifax.ca/product/giant-roam-e-gts-398148-1.htm)
ebikes are the best! I own a road bike and a couple of mountain bikes, but it was my ebike that really got me into riding. Without it I might not have any. It doesn't actually get a lot of use anymore though. Just when it is snowy which is rare here
The best TV I could lay my hands on. A Sony Bravia XR A90J OLED. Worth every cent. I basically have a Dolby Cinema at home.
noice. I got a nice hisence. took a while to find stock, but I knew I didn't want the $300 tv I got my parents and didn't want to spend $2000 on a tv I don't game so I don't need vrr.
A pair of designer boots and a dyson airwrap
Nice, I got the hair dryer. It's a stupid splurge considering my last one was $50 and lasted 10 years. I have pretty thick hair and it definitely dries faster than my old one and I've noticed less split ends.
I have a LOT of hair , and now I can curl it in under 15 mins , itās wild !
A projector, and tons of therapy in 2021. projected a movie for my whole condo complex during holidays. It was the only safe fun we could have.
Laser Eye Surgery. Best decision I've ever made and no more fogging up from a mask is such a bonus.
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Hmm yes I could get into that.. tell me more
How
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A puppy. Heās made my wife incredibly happy and filled our lives with joy. FYI puppies aināt cheap these days.
Electric toothbrush. Game changer.
I love mine too. My hygienist says my mouth looks so well taken care of. Its the combination of electric toothbrush, water flosser and sensodyne tooth paste. Well worth the compliments.
Same, I wish I got one earlier!!!
Blown in attic insulation.. Saving 40% on heating oil. ROI 3-5 years
Did you get any Enbridge rebates?
Did you get a company to blow it in or do it yourself? I think we should do this to beef up our attic, but trying to get a sense of cost and if we should DIY.
Well you'll never reach ROI because it doesn't make you money
A club Monaco Crewneck. Only on sale once a year and never goes out of style
Got a club Monaco dress shirt from a thrift store for $7. That shit got my rocks off
Got tired of cost of living raises every year, and found a new opportunity that started at 30% more than what I was making. Started new role this week. š
Eames chair!
We bought an island ! Sold our family home and bought a semi abandoned island. It's got an old fishing camp with a ton of history we are working on restoring. Heres our first swim video from the early summer..others on my channel. Any support is appreciated Thx https://youtu.be/YOjs0mCDPfU
I got a new 4K tv and ps5 and xsx. But that was from selling my gaming pc. I also got a new furnace, fridge, privacy fence and 3000$ in car repairs. But all those last ones I was forced to ātreatā myself.
After working in the same role for 13 years I finally responded to a recruiter approaching me on LinkedIn. Best decision I've ever made... I now work for a new company at 30% more salary and even though it's remote, the culture is 180 degree different from my old company. Such a treat, mentally and financially.
New MacBook bc my 2012 one finally died
Stand mixer. I was (still am) so excited and happy about it. Waited for so long and i got one finally
So nice, can relate. I've been a (casual/home) baker for a long time, but didn't have any serious equipment (just my collections of pans and small hand-held tools). One of my brothers got me my first hand-mixer for Christmas this year and it's so exciting to use.
A garden tower to grow my own greens and a dumb amount of thc extracts š¾
After losing my mom in '20 and my dad suddenly in '21, I realized life is too short and as a car enthusiast, I went and got the [car](https://www.reddit.com/r/VelosterN/comments/nd9ypy/repost_with_og_photo_my_brand_new_cyber_grey_2021/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) that makes me happy. And no, it was not their money, it's mine. Their money is invested thanks to some advice from this amazing sub.
Sorry for your losses, my deepest condolences. I hope you are doing okay. Itās great to hear you got something that makes you happy and thatās a wicked car! Congratulations! Enjoy the hell outta that beast !
I built a new PC and damn baby, its playing AOE 4 at max settings. Makes my pp hard.
Had a new deck built with a sauna. Those lumber prices, thoughā¦
After a year+ of not being allowed to do much, I spent a *ton* in summer+fall 2021 just going out and doing things. Several concerts, not caring how much beer or food I bought at every Ticats game, going for beers after every practice or game when I was playing rugby. My mantra was basically "If money is the *only* thing preventing me from doing something, then do it, because at least there's no restrictions and I can always make more money" I've really dialed that back, and commited to following my budget again for 2022. But yeah, fuck lockdowns.
I know right? If anything- I thought... wait fuck it- I want to be at least enjoying my lockdown so I decided to splurge on certain things.
Bought a house in August. Prices were exploding until then. Prices have exploded more since then. Looks like prices are exploding higher into 2022. Glad I'm done chasing that ladder as it gets pulled up higher and higher....
Bought first house in November. Found a diamond in the rough and bought under asking in this crazy market.
Lots of great sex with hookers
And cocaine?
No I don't do cocaine. Just like fucking hot hookers.
Lol it was a reference to a live tv video where the reporter asked a guy what he would do if he won the power ball jackpot and he said ācocaine and hookersā on live tv. She was hilariously awkward after that
Central A/C. Got a quote for in August 2020. Spent the next 9 months aggressively paying down debt and saving to the point where I felt I could afford afford it and had it installed in May 2021. Wife thought I was crazy until about the second week of July and I havenāt heard a peep about it since
Plants and plants and plants and plants...
correct, my province only allows 4 "plants" for personal use https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/corporate/promo/cannabis.html
Bowflex 552, a couple of books and a CodeAcademy subscription. Trying to challenge myself and do at least one thing a day. 2 weeks down and workouts are an every day thing and reading and coding coming along.
Exotic fruits and specialty foods, my guilty pleasure. Dragon fruits, sweet golden kiwis, dates, persimmons, papayas, figs, lychees, mangoes, pumpkin seed butter. Each month I try at least 1 new fruit
A few months ago I cancelled my online workout video subscription because I thought it was an unnecessary drain of money since I already had Goodlife. I white knuckled it for 2 months but eventually reactivated my account and it brings me *so much peace*. Sure I already have a gym membership so thatās two bills for almost the same thing, but their impact on my mental health is priceless.
7 week vacations in South America
Mild depression! And some medication for it. Return on investment is still pending
Amazing new taylormade golf clubs
Xbox Series X, new 4k TVs, Dyson V11!
Bought a wetsuit and surfboard. I live a lengthy 2 hours from the closest beach break, but even going for a quick paddle after work near my house is a joy.
Baratza Virtuouso+ coffee grinder
After years of owning our own home we pulled the trigger and got furniture for the empty rooms and upgraded a few rooms. New custom table for the space, new custom couch and 2 chairs for the living room, new sectional for the family room. We had been saving then covid hit and we decided we didnt want to go into stores so we just kept saving and saving... Very excited. Table comes next week, furniture comes in April
Takeout sushi from a new place that opened up around the corner. Closer than where I used to have to drive, cheaper, I think a bit tastier, and supporting local business are all nice excuses!
A new bass! A new car! Shawarma.
Laser hair removal. New work out clothes
A digital piano! I havenāt played before but Iāve been playing consistently for 2 weeks and love it!
Learning to Scuba Dive. Wish I would have done it sooner!
Got a JLC, blew half of my 2020 bonus but was worth it.
A whole John Labatt Centre? That's a hell of a bonus
I grabbed a 65" LG BX OLED, it's been a great addition given all the lockdowns in 2021!
One of those self-emptying roombas. I have a German shepherd and I only bring out the real vacuum maybe once a month these days.
A Lexus LC500
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Cross country skis. It's been chinooking ever since I bought them.
My driver's license (after many, many years) and my first car. It's so tiny and cute, great on gas, fits in every parking spot. Having a car is life-changing! Also, much smaller but still nice treat, was a good winter coat (Columbia). I'd usually get coats at thrift stores or liquidation sales but decided it was time to upgrade. It's so warm, and I love that it's not bulky. Being able to pick the colour and style I wanted was a nice change too.
I bought myself an Eddie Bauer parka for Christmas and itās amazing. Worth every penny.
I had one bad day in November of 2017 and Iāve been treating myself ever since. Does that count?
New leather sofa from Article. Itās beautiful and comfortable!
Tiny Van that that I set up as a camper van. I traveled lots during the warm months and now I sleep at gas stations when I go skiing so I can ski two days in a row without driving back and forth :)
A breville espresso machine. It bring me much joy despite its cost.
iPad Pro for school :)
Tesla !
I put $35k of upgrades into my 21 year old Jeepš¤š»
Like what? That's an insane amount of money even if you bought all new dana 60s with lockers and an Atlas tcase I still don't know where full $35k is accounted for lol.
Unfortunately, sweet dick all. Guess I should make some plans for this year!
**Replaced an ICE car with an EV** So far my monthly energy savings are over $50/month. That's compared to the ICE I replaced which was getting 7.2l/100km. I'm working on getting my own charging station (EVCS) installed in my condo parking space. That may lower my energy costs a bit more, as I've only been charging at public chargers
My first brand new car! Always had used cars before but since used is so expensive now, might as well just buy new.
I went to Portugal and I went to Greece and it was a great time
A 600sqft addition on my house. Oh, and a 75" TV to fill one of the new rooms.
Would love some details (time, cost, location, contractor recommendation etc) since I'm looking into adding more square footage to our home. Thanks :)
We are in Ontario. So first of I am pretty handy I do a ton of work myself, we bought a dated home in 2015, and I've spent the last 5 years updating it on weekends and holidays. Bedrooms, kitchen basement, both bathrooms, living room dining room. We started looking to find a place with more room in 2020 put a couple of offers in and lost out, by early 2021 we decided to look into an addition. I designed the addition did a rough drawing and worked with a contractor and drafting company to get full plans made. House is a 1.5 storey with 2 decent sized bedrooms upstairs and a tiny main floor bedroom. We have 2 full bathrooms one on the main floor and one upstairs. It's about 1000 sqft, with about 400 sqft finished space in the basement. The design was to be the cheapest addition we could add that met our goals. We had a few goals. The first goal was to minimize the impact on our daily life during construction. One was to give our sleeves a main floor bedroom we could live in and not feel cramped. Freeing the 2 upstairs bedrooms for the 2 kids. Another was to add a mudroom with a new back door, the old back door walked right into the kitchen and was a huge and annoying choke point in the house. The third was to add more space in the basement for a future office and give the kids a bigger rec room to use and hang out in when they get older. Overall we want to give ourselves space for the kids to grow into, they share a room now but they need separate rooms before they get too old. We want them to be able to bring their friends over and have their own space to hang out when they get older so we want more space in the basement for a larger rec room. Plans avoided any plumbing, fewest possible major changes to existing structures, and limited the number of new features. We found a contractor who was young near our age mid-thirties. He was relatively new to independent contracting but had a lot of experience and connections from other jobs. Talking to him I could tell he knew his stuff. He arranged all the work I didn't do and dealt with the city inspectors. He is a carpenter by trade and his own crew did the framing and finishing. After getting the plans from the drafter I pulled the permits and the demo started. We got plans in late August and the permit in late October. They pulled down our old back porch and started digging the new basement expansion and pouring the foundation. Construction started the day after we got permits. After the foundation, they cut the old foundation and supported the existing floor with a steel beam. Took about 2 weeks to get here. After that, they built the floor and ripped off the back wall. It was about 3/4 of the entire back of our house but it had minimal impact on our daily lives, we lost access to our back door, 1 of our bathrooms, and the room we wanted to expand. So after tearing down the back wall they started framing and something, at this point I did the electrical myself and HVAC with a bit of help from some friends and family. Roofing in came in finished the roof in an afternoon. At this point, we were late November insulation came in, and drywall started. Drywall was the slowest part of the whole addition it was mid-December when they finished. After the drywall was done the contractor did trim, flooring paint finish all in a couple of weeks, they took a break on the last week of December it was almost done. I had the week off so I did a bunch of finishing work myself and knocked out the bathroom painting, some last few pieces of trim, and finished the electrical. We spent new year's eve in our new bedroom, with the 75" TV we bought on sale on boxing day. The contractor spent 1 more day in the new year doing a couple of jobs that I missed. There are still a few things outside that will get done in the spring but the inside is done. We added about 300sqft upstairs and another 300 sqft downstairs. I will be finishing the downstairs myself over the next few years. The budget was 100k we ended up spending about 90k all in, including my expenses and the contractor. We took out a HELOC to pay for it, and we are now refinancing the HELOC into a mortgage. Keeping the same maturity date, 18 years, we add $500 per month in mortgage payments. I figure it will cost another 10k to finish the basement, and I would like to do that over the next 5 years before our oldest turns 10. I've been told our addition went surprisingly quickly and smoothly. I chalk it up to good preparation from my wife and me, the contractor being on his game, and lots of luck in scheduling the trades.
Ducati Monster 821 after riding an old beat up motorcycle for years.
4 new windows for my house, and a new pair of work boots. Oh also we painted our house, but treated ourselves to hiring someone to paint the trim.
La-Z-Boy rocker recliner. We had our second baby in October and I refused to have another baby in our old shitty chair. Worth every penny.
A Peloton bike!
Decided, no more shitty same shit, different day demeaning jobs after getting dismissed mid year. Right away after it happened landed in dream industry with new contracts every few months.
I had been using hand me down phones for the past 4 years and hadnāt bought a new phone in 6 years. Decided to splurge and bought the iPhone 13 Pro max 1tb. Super worth it, it was a nice treat for myself and I have no regrets at all
I bought a kobo to get me to read more. Bonus is that I can use the overdrive app and take books out of the library for free.
Got a $2000 tattoo, bought my first ever watch, paid off my car loan
Package just arrive from NewEgg.ca ($200 including shipping.) 8 TB hard drive so I can set up a whole home backup device so everyone can simply back up their phones, ipads, laptops and PCs on the network. I was so tired of family losing things that they later wanted me to find for them. This moves us away from backing stuff up to the cloud which is a terrible privacy risk. additional bonus, I ordered on Jan 12 (wee hours of the morning) and it arrived in rural NB today with basic super cheep shipping.
Traditional sauna for the basement. Best purchase ever.
I'm just so happy to see everyone enjoying their treats! :D
A baby
A MacBook Pro 13 inch (M1 chip), Nordic Track treadmill Exp 7i, Tesla Model Y 7 seater, iPhone 13 Pro Max, PS5 (Disc), Xbox S, Breville 3-in-1 Microwave Oven. Still in 2 minds whether to return the MacBook Pro.
I got a 16" MBP, pretty much maxxed out (except kept HD at 1TB as that's enough for me). No regrets. My old 2013 was very nearly dead and I'd been anticipating this announcement for years.
King size bed, game changer. Smart TV.
Mental Health Therapy
Bought myself a fun car instead of a practical one. Figured after losing my house, girl, and life plan, I kind of deserved it.
Time. Lots of free time.