Then after Christmas I decided to splurge on myself a little.

I’ll do bigger splurges like a nicer car, vacation home and what not once I pass 1M in net worth or investable assets.

The 3x salary portion ensures that the tenants have enough coming in to not just barely make rent, but actually have enough to splurge from time to time.Here are some ideas, hope this helps. 

Be conservative, give yourself a safety net, and make sure your future is secure before you start taking big risks or splurging on toys."

Research your options here.Car lease - you're already researching thisDining out - $140 - doesn't look like a splurge, but is this a necessity at this point?

I rarely splurged on any frivolous purchases, I never ate out or drink when my friends would invite me out, and made sure to have a strict budget where I eventually saved 50% of my income.

I don't mean splurging money on a bunch idiotic things.

For instance, if the place cost 25% more to buy because of a great view compared to the same without a view,  I'll get 10% additional in rent but not 25%.It works much better with short term rentals where people would more likely splurge and pay more for a unique architecture or a great view for a week.

So brandon's initial 83k loan actually included the purchase price, the closing costs AND some rehab costs.Brandon ended up paying 35k for the rehab when you count the vegas vacation he splurged on for the first craigslist contractor.But basically, had brandon refi'd the house for the full 108k the lender would have loaned, here is how his numbers would have looked.70k purchase2k closing costs on purchase35k rehab and vegas trip (11k of this came from his original 83k loan, the remaining 24k came out of brandon's pocket)Had he refi'd for 108k, the original 83k loan would be paid off as part of the refi closing.

But something tells me thus question is less about utility of use....and more about wanting to justify a splurge purchase.