I have money, but this is where I cheap out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I won't buy personal care items (toothpaste, shampoo, etc) or cleaning products at a grocery store. I can afford it, but I'm not paying that markup.

I get all of those items from Target, Walmart, Costco, or Amazon.

Also, I never stay in hotels better than 3 stars if I'm paying. When I'm on vacation, I'm there to do things outside of the room. As long as it's clean, that's all I care about.

I don't want a Super 8 but I also don't need a luxury hotel. A HoJo or Holiday Inn Express are fine in my book.

I find that I can get better deal at CVS with my coupons for personal use items than Costco, Walmart or Target. Walmart is not cheap actually.

They’re much cheaper. CVS is insane.

[Anonymous]

Lololol! Everything, except food. We have so much cash coming in each month stbnust piles up in our checking account, it’s ridiculous. We really doing get out rocks off spending money on random things, plus with 2 jobs and 2 busy kids we don’t have the time to spend money.

Mortgage 1900/mo
Rental properties netting more than the above
Cars paid off
Shop at target, nordstrom rack and Costco for clothes
Have never owned a nice handbag
Still don’t have furniture in our formal living room after 13 years. That room is useles.

[Anonymous]

I cheap out on lots of stuff, primarily because the quality of certain things and services just don't justify the cost to me. Here's a rundown:
- Hair - I learned to cut and color my own hair. I do a WAY better job than the salon did. Kicking myself for not learning to do this sooner.
- Home and simple car repairs - I got sick of getting weird shady stories for why a certain repair costs so much or took so long. I now google my problem and find YouTube videos for how to make a repair. 9 times out of ten the fix is inexpensive and fairly easy.
- Cars - I just don't care about expensive cars. We buy new practical cars (think Subaru) and drive them for 15 years or until they require an uneconomic repair.
- Housekeeping - I have used numerous people and services over the years. None of them do a job that I consider to be "good".
- Landscape - I consider yardwork to count towards by workout.
- Airfare - I always opt for the cheapest non-refundable tickets and I don't buy travel insurance. If I can't go on my trip... oh well. It's cheaper than having purchased travel insurance for every trip I've made over the past 20 years.
- Clothes - never, ever, ever have I paid for a full-price item.
- Dining Out - I used to love going to a luxurious prix-fixe dinner. But over the years, the cost of this type of thing got so outrageous that it just isn't worth it. Example - Minibar was $60 a head when it first opened. It is now $325. $750 for spouse and I is more than we paid for our first apartment's monthly rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lololol! Everything, except food. We have so much cash coming in each month stbnust piles up in our checking account, it’s ridiculous. We really doing get out rocks off spending money on random things, plus with 2 jobs and 2 busy kids we don’t have the time to spend money.

Mortgage 1900/mo
Rental properties netting more than the above
Cars paid off
Shop at target, nordstrom rack and Costco for clothes
Have never owned a nice handbag
Still don’t have furniture in our formal living room after 13 years. That room is useles.

That's admirable. Do you plan on spending the money at some point then?

[Anonymous]

But buy all of my professional work clothes at thrift stores.

I often spend more on drycleaning than the actual purchase price of the items. I’ve know to be very well-dressed.

Latest finds: a long cashmere cardigan by an Italian designer who seems to have a contract with Bloomingdale’s and sells similar sweaters for $800. Bought for $19

I also enjoy crafting and purely for fun, create collage art and make greeting cards. I refuse to buy any art materials at retail cost. I find on clearance at Michael’s but mostly again source all from thrift stores.

[Anonymous]

We usually fly first class, but I have the kids bring water bottles because I'm too cheap to buy drinks at the airport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll go out of my way to save 5 cents a gallon on gas.

DH, sitting on $10M in assets, drives 10 miles for Costco premium gas (more than 5 cents savings, but still).. I use this to my advantage.

This is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can the pp who likes to buy and get bargains for others please tell us where to get deosner purses for pennies? Are they reps? Where? Thank you!

Why? No one cares about your purse.

[Anonymous]

My ILs are super comfortable, just treated the family to an expensive vacation, but they totally cheap out on cell phones. They buy older, limited Iphones (I think one of them has a 7SE) and terrible service providers that half the time doesn't even work at their house! And they got rid of their landline! DH keeps trying to tell them that this is not the thing to cheap out on.

[Anonymous]

Rarely any new items- buy used first, refurbish what I own, only then sale, or go without.
Never a designer item
Restaurants rarely- social and celebratory
No facials, manicures, pedicures
Cut and color hair at home
House purchased was below cost
Home repair when we can
Road trips

What we do spend on:
Health care
Veterinary care

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars. My husband drives a 2010 Acura and mine is a 2014. Although we will be replacing the 2010 this year.

Vacations. We take one big trip every few years.

Home. We live in Potomac, but our home is one of more modest by Potomac standards.

The only thing we splurge on is education. Both kids did private school. One in college at private university and the other will likely do the same.

You are driving nice cars that aren’t too old. You go on vacation. You live in Potomac. Sorry, but that’s not cheap.

+1,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lololol! Everything, except food. We have so much cash coming in each month stbnust piles up in our checking account, it’s ridiculous. We really doing get out rocks off spending money on random things, plus with 2 jobs and 2 busy kids we don’t have the time to spend money.

Mortgage 1900/mo
Rental properties netting more than the above
Cars paid off
Shop at target, nordstrom rack and Costco for clothes
Have never owned a nice handbag
Still don’t have furniture in our formal living room after 13 years. That room is useles.

Having a useless formal living room means you wasted hundreds of thousands in housing cost - not very optimal financial choice~

[Anonymous]

Cars. We have one no frills car that we bought with cash that we will drive to the ground. It has a radio and that’s about it. When I am in my relative’s loaded BMW it feels like being in a spaceship.

I can’t ever pay for fancy/expensive hotels.

Part of me longs to have a cabin in the woods but even though I could easily buy one, it just seems like a waste of money when I could just rent other peoples’ when I want to go away for a weekend.

I hate paying for shipping.

[Anonymous]

A lot...
Clothes, I rarely buy designer by DCUM standards.
Groceries, Aldi all the way.
Used cars but luxury used cars.
A house that is only 1x our HHI, hence paid off.
I search for deals on just about everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot...
Clothes, I rarely buy designer by DCUM standards.
Groceries, Aldi all the way.
Used cars but luxury used cars.
A house that is only 1x our HHI, hence paid off.
I search for deals on just about everything.

This is so normal for me. Our HHI is $220k, and our house is $345k. Not 1x, but people ask why so cheap when we can clearly afford more (DH is military, so salary is public).