What item could you “afford” but don’t buy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$400k for an undergrad degree

I know people who are considered full pay but can’t afford it, but I have yet to meet anyone who can easily afford expensive private who just refused to pay for their kid.

Plenty of wealthy kids want the state school, but it’s not because the parent refused to pay for a private.

I think it really depends on the private. I would pay for a top school (say maybe top 50) without blinking. But I would not pay full cost for a lower tier private college (but most of them offer merit - if my kid did not get merit he could go somewhere else).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guacamole at Chipotle

Hilarious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A car. Our HHI is about $250k, we have three kids, live in a dense neighborhood in DC and do not own a car.

It's so much easier. One less hassle, no trips to the DMV, no need to clean or get gas or find parking or get an inspection. Saves a ton of money. And we end up walking a ton which is good for the body and mind.

For the longest time I kept thinking it would get hard at some point - once we bought a house, once kid number 2 got here, once the kids got bigger - and we'd buy a car. My current one is "once a kid has a travel sport" - that would really break us. And if we need one, we'll get one, we're not absolutists. But it continues to be a delight.

Uber is the best.

PP here. We don't frequently do this. When I do, I prefer Curb (or, as a backup, Lyft) and don't even have an Uber account. I would say that I take a cab or Lyft round trip maybe once or twice a month? My husband probably similar?

We do use Zipcar probably monthly to go see friends/family who live a bit further out. And we rent a car for a weekend or week for vacation probably three times a year. Beyond that, it's walking, busses, and metro for us!

Really big automobiles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luxury cars. DH and I are not car people at all. A friend was trying to convince DH to buy a 100K car and DH just kept saying "why would I get this when I can get basically the same one for $45K"

I'm not sure you can get "basically the same one" for half the price. But I wouldn't buy a 100k car either.

True. My husband has a Suburban that was $75,000 new when he bought it 8 years ago. It's so giant it causes a ton of issues. We can't park in DC unless we research parking garages to check on height restrictions. Street parking is basically impossible downtown. We finally have a garage but need to precision park because we probably have 8 inches of clearance around the Suburban to be able to fit my tiny car in as well. And now that our kids are teens it's only maybe twice a year we actually use the third row of seating. The mileage is terrible. It has 170,000 miles and he's replaced the transmission TWICE. I occasionally drive it and feel like the blind spots are huge and the handling is crap. What a pain in the ass. Hoping the next car is a regular SUV, not a 3-row and is at least a foot narrower. I also hope DH is finally sold on buying a practically new but used car with maybe 10-15,000 miles. So yeah, we could get something similar but actually much better and more practical and spend a lot less on it.

[Anonymous]

First/business class airline tickets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to go against the grain here and say that used cars are just not worth the hassle anymore. It's easier just to buy new cars so you know you won't have any anoyying issues abour the car breaking down for a while.

This 1000%. If you are the original owner you know of any issues. I had a "luxury" vehicle that had engine burning oil issues. From the first sign to it being fixed for free was less than 2 months. But the first question when I started to address it was "but you haven't had your car serviced completely at the dealer", once I told them I did, just another dealer in another state where I lived before here, the manager knew I meant business and I had proof. I got a rebuilt engine on a 60K vehicle for free (and a loaner car while work was being done). It was a known issue for a Honda when this happened. Had I been a 2nd owner, I would have had to fight tooth and nail to make them pay.

Afterwards no issues at all, took it another 100K before selling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy expensive sunglasses. They get lost or broken way too easily, especially with small kids.

I never understood this craze either. But my prescription sunglasses are pricey and I can’t do anything about that.

Once you try Maui Jims (including prescriptions) you won't go back to anything else. They are such high quality lenses and last forever (but I don't typically break mine or loose them, I'm used to having prescriptions so any sunglasses are too valuable to "loose")

It's lose, you know.

I find people like you very annoying and unlikable. And I have a graduate degree in English.

I don't really care. This is such a moronic misspelling. How do people spell the word that means the opposite of tight? Lose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy expensive sunglasses. They get lost or broken way too easily, especially with small kids.

That’s my 1 splurge. I do a lot of driving. I wear them a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A new car.

I’ve never bought a new car. I always think that I would like one but I don’t do it.

I’m 60 and have never bought a new car either. I just don’t care about cars enough to even want a new one.

NP- Have never bought a new car, but I like nice cars. I have a Mercedes but paid 25k for it used. I treat it very well and plan to drive it forever, as I did with the previous one.

We buy new cars, but we drive them for 8-10+ years. Last one cost me $50K, sold it 13 years later for $14K. Paid $30K for another car, sold it 11 years later for 11K.
We like having new, so we don't have someone else problem (like many used cars do). And it works well if you keep cars for a long time. Financially we come out the same as someone who buys used cars---and we don't do repairs ourselves and need reliable cars for getting to jobs.

Sucker. Your hunk of metal depreciates a ton immediately after driving it off the lot. 8-10 years is also not very long to keep a car.

I agree, we could have kept them longer. But we can afford new ones easily. But it's better than most do. And I bought the one for $50K, sold it for $14K. So paid $36K over 13 years, so about $3K/year And for that I got to drive a luxury SUV that could seat 7 and haul all my kids and their friends and their equipment.

So yes, if I couldn't afford it I would keep it longer. But 10 years is still way longer than most people keep their vehicles.

NP. I've read that now the average number of years people keep their cars is over 12, due to better reliability (and cost).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy expensive sunglasses. They get lost or broken way too easily, especially with small kids.

I never understood this craze either. But my prescription sunglasses are pricey and I can’t do anything about that.

Once you try Maui Jims (including prescriptions) you won't go back to anything else. They are such high quality lenses and last forever (but I don't typically break mine or loose them, I'm used to having prescriptions so any sunglasses are too valuable to "loose")

It's lose, you know.

I find people like you very annoying and unlikable. And I have a graduate degree in English.

I don't really care. This is such a moronic misspelling. How do people spell the word that means the opposite of tight? Lose?

What is moronic is that you can’t comprehend that this is a casual forum where autocomplete can tinker with people’s words using slightly different words in their place. It doesn’t take away from the message they’re communicating and we all know exactly what is being said. You’re being ridiculous and pedantic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guacamole at Chipotle

Ding, ding! The only correct answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guacamole at Chipotle

Ding, ding! The only correct answer.

I preferred the earlier response that included queso.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$400k for an undergrad degree

I know people who are considered full pay but can’t afford it, but I have yet to meet anyone who can easily afford expensive private who just refused to pay for their kid.

Plenty of wealthy kids want the state school, but it’s not because the parent refused to pay for a private.

That’s just your own echo chamber. I know lots of people like this, us included. We can easily afford private college but do not see the value at all, nor did we want our kids around people who believe they are better than people at top public schools. I worked a several years at an expensive private (often lusted after here) and definitely would NOT want my child at that school, even if it were the same price at public (and if’s not.) The fact that posters here are so elitist about it only solidifies my feelings. We shared our views, our kids were fine with it, and we told them they could have the difference towards grad school plus a large down payment on a house. It’s not the money - it’s what you get for the money and it’s not worth it to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guacamole at Chipotle

Hilarious

I am that OP. For the record, I had the issue with queso since it's unhealthy and not tasty. My kids now pick quac. Also, I'm DCUM famous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A new car.

I’ve never bought a new car. I always think that I would like one but I don’t do it.

I’m 60 and have never bought a new car either. I just don’t care about cars enough to even want a new one.

NP- Have never bought a new car, but I like nice cars. I have a Mercedes but paid 25k for it used. I treat it very well and plan to drive it forever, as I did with the previous one.

We buy new cars, but we drive them for 8-10+ years. Last one cost me $50K, sold it 13 years later for $14K. Paid $30K for another car, sold it 11 years later for 11K.
We like having new, so we don't have someone else problem (like many used cars do). And it works well if you keep cars for a long time. Financially we come out the same as someone who buys used cars---and we don't do repairs ourselves and need reliable cars for getting to jobs.

Sucker. Your hunk of metal depreciates a ton immediately after driving it off the lot. 8-10 years is also not very long to keep a car.

I agree, we could have kept them longer. But we can afford new ones easily. But it's better than most do. And I bought the one for $50K, sold it for $14K. So paid $36K over 13 years, so about $3K/year And for that I got to drive a luxury SUV that could seat 7 and haul all my kids and their friends and their equipment.

So yes, if I couldn't afford it I would keep it longer. But 10 years is still way longer than most people keep their vehicles.

NP. I've read that now the average number of years people keep their cars is over 12, due to better reliability (and cost).

People keep their cars on average 8 years but the average age of cars is 12.6.