What's the largest cash purchase you've ever made?

[funlol]

Bailing my friend out of jail, lol.

I'm serious. It was $2500 and they didn't accept anything but cash (or certified bank check, and I wasn't about to go get one)

[cschin4]

I paid cash for my car $30K.

[disneysteve]

I never knew you gambled steve. This surprised me quite a bit! Not trying to seem like I really know you that well, but judging by your posts over the past few years I never thought you would gamble ever, let alone with $300-500 @ a table game!

This makes me feel more human

This fact often surprises people as they don't see how it fits with financial responsibility and frugal living. I think it's a great teaching point about priorities and preferences. My wife and I enjoy going to the casino. It is entertainment for us, a fun day out, or an overnight get-away occasionally. We can comfortably afford whatever we spend, and sometimes we come home with more than we left with. Last casino visit about a month ago, for example, DW and I won about $110 total. Of course, other trips we come home with less.

We don't smoke. We rarely drink. We don't have any expensive habits or hobbies. We buy used cars. We bought a modest house 20 years ago and never upsized. We don't wear designer clothes. We have basic cable. We have very little debt (small mortgage and small car payment). We travel on a budget. We cook most meals at home and buy lots of generic groceries. We save upwards of 25% of our gross income. We have retirements savings and college savings for our daughter.

And on occasion, we enjoy going to the casino in our free time. We play a little, have a meal (generally comped), sometimes spend the night (almost always comped), and just enjoy the break from our hectic schedules.

I've often said there is nothing wrong with having splurges as long as you can afford them. If I posted that we went to a Broadway show, nobody would comment, but a day trip to NYC would cost as much or more than a day trip to the casino. Rarely do we spend more than $200 on a casino trip. That wouldn't even cover the tickets to a show.

[cooliemae]

I rented a charter bus once for $1200 in cash...can't say that I thought much about carrying it around....

[HappySaver]

I sold a car for $7000 in cash. It felt weird counting and carrying that amount of money.
I went straight to the bank as soon as it opened, and I felt like I had to "explain" to the teller why I had so much cash, lest they see it as suspicious. Funny, because of course they didn't even blink; I'm sure they're used to large cash transactions. They are a bank!

[sandrark]

Cash? $6K for a car I sold.

Personal Check? $30K for my car.

Joint check? Probably the one for $240K for the downpayment on DH's business when we bought it in 2001.

[Snave]

Mine was a semester of college that was around 13K. My dad owned a business and received a lot of cash (nothing illegal!). I remember going in and asking what my bill was and them telling me. I asked if they took cash and they chuckled thinking I was joking. I then pulled out 130 $100 bills. Needless to say I made sure to get a receipt and called home to make sure they knew it was paid.