Things that aren't worth the $ anymore..

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2001
Things that aren't worth the $ anymore..
20
Fri, 11-04-2005 - 9:17am

I saw this thread on another board on iVillage and thought it could be an interesting one for this group as well.

I am going to start out by saying cable TV. Most of what is on there is rubbish, and every 6 months they put up the price. We are bombarded by ads and have to pay for the privilege of watching them as well.

Anyone else want to chime in?

Beach

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Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 8:25am

Things that aren't worth the $$ for me:


Salon haircuts/color - I've found someone who does my hair much, much better for 1/3 the cost!


Upgrading my cell phone.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2005
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 9:22am

HMMMMMMMMM..........there's lots of things I can post here!!!!! But I'll start with this.........


-Designer, trendy ANYTHING!

Lara

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2005
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 9:24am

There are a lot of things that just aren't worth the money any more.

Beauty products from the salon. I buy at Walmart/Target now.

Perfume from the beauty counter. Ebay has really good prices on perfume, I got the last bottle for half the price of what I paid at the beauty counter for a bigger bottle of my favorite perfume.

Expensive cat food and cat toys and cat litter. I really love to spoil my boys but they have enough toys. (That being said, I have budgeted for a cat tree for Christmas for them. They need a new scratching post and the cat tree I have my eye on is just as cheap as the scratching posts. Better to buy something for them scratch on then let them use the furniture.)

Book, cd, recipe clubs. Yes I signed up for them all. I was smart enough to get out once I fullfilled my contract but what was I thinking in the first place. I still have one more book to buy from Double Day then I'll cancel out of that as well.

Buying books. I still don't go to the library, because I'm still reading through all the books that I've bought in the past that I haven't read yet. That being said, I have asked for a couple of books for Christmas. (And there are books I will always buy, like the next Harry Potter.)

Buying DVDs, I have a large collection of DVDs that I haven't even watched yet. I'm working on watching my way through them. Then I'm gonna start weeding them out and trying to sell some of them on Ebay. Also I lucked out my cousin just got a job at Blockbuster and she gets 5 free rentals a week and she is willing to pick up movies for me to watch so I get to watch them for free.

Movie channels. I don't know how people live without cable though. I cancelled mine once but wound up spending more on going out than I spent on cable simply because I was bored. So I got cable back and the entertainment expense went way down. Maybe I'm just strange but I'm gonna hold onto the cable for now.

Movies at the theater, I agree with whoever said this. Six to eight bucks around here to see a movie. I can think of better things to spend my money on. We used to go all the time, now it's just movies we really want to see...like Harry Potter and Star Wars, and the like.

Brand Name food with the exception of ketchup, Equal, and miracle whip. Everything else pretty much tastes the same. Target has a wonderful store brand that tastes great. And I shop at Aldis a lot now.

Car Payments. Oh Lord will I be happy when I finally get out from under this car payment. Only one more year and a half to go, I'd get rid of the car but then I'd just wind up oweing more on another car that what I owe on this one. I gotta say though I'm driving this one into the ground and buying with cash next time.

Rent. Yes I said it. I'm counting down the days until July when I can move back home with my parents. I'm so tired of paying a large chunk of my money every month and not building a future with it. Next time I move out of my parents house, it will be into my own home.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2005
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 9:30am
Oh and I just thought of one more...magazine subscriptions. I only had a couple but the magazines just laid around and never got read. Or got read and made me want to spend more money. So I canceled all of them, or let the subscription run out and didn't renew. I figured out if I wanted to read something that badly I could either find it on-line or go to the book store or library and read the magazine without having to pay a dime.
Avatar for itsmylife2001
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-17-2003
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 2:42pm

Hmm I'm pretty much still at a stage where I think everything I want to buy is worth the $ but I know I'd better change that attitude.
So that's what I think :

- take-away, convenience food, and more importantly sandwiches and salad you get delivered at work. I have realized a couple of months ago that they were costing me each month the equivalent of my groceries budget. So now I brown bag and the food budget has been cut by 40%

- cosmetics; I guess the one I have now is my last Dior mascara, I can live with maybelline

- expensive bags : honestly I must admit that I never use them more than one season because the colors change etc... so if it's just for a few months, the 30$ ones can do the job as good as the 100$ ones

- branded products, at least for toilet paper or tissues or that kind of stuff

- books : well I love the library but I can't live without a regular trip to the bookshop so from now on I'll buy the cheap paperback editions instead of the expensive original editions, even if it means waiting a few months for them to be issued

- CD's : I can download what I need from iTunes and burn it myself, it's almost half the price (don't know about you guys but here in Belgium a CD is at least 19$ when just released, full cd on iTunes is 9,99!)

- my credit cards! the interest rates are so huge! as soon as they're paid off, I'll get rid of them. I'll just keep my Visa because I have to pay it off the next month and I need one cc to buy online

- living in Brussels where everything is twice as expensive as in the suburbs and where I don't have much fun anymore anyway. I'm getting back to my hometown as soon as I can even if it means an hour of commuting every morning and evening

Things that are still worth paying for :

- DSL, I can't live without web, without iVillage (I'm a cl for a board on Food), but I have just changed my provider for a cheaper one

- my car, that I need for work and for independance

- my own house, when I'll be able to buy it and will have found it - wich I hope is soon

- the hairdresser once every 2 to 3 months, but I stopped going to the expensive ones in Brussels and cut the budget by 50%

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-12-2005
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 3:31pm

I would like to chime in on the one about car payments. I would be free and clear now if not for my car catching on fire, stupid malfunction. I usually drive my cars until they need a push to get going (LOL).

Oprah magazine subscription - if I watch her show I feel that I get the same info, so I didn't renew.

Brand new name brand clothing for my teenage daughter. She will only wear it once or twice and then she is ready for something else. I shop at thrift stores just to supply her with those stylish clothing.

Cable tv is SO not the worth the money. I've watched 'Somethings Gotta Give' about 8 times. The cable has no variety. It is such a rip off. I would cancel if I were a single gal, but DH has to have his Discovery Channel.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2003
Sun, 11-06-2005 - 8:41pm

Great thread!

Some of the things that are not worth the $ money for me anymore are:

- Car payments! We don't have any car payments and God help me I will never pay one again.
I took a couple months break but now I have began saving the car payment to start a big repairs/new "used" car fun for the time when I'll have to replace the current car. We drive a nearly 8 yr old car with less than 110 thousand KM. As long as we continue to follow the maintainance guidelines, we should be good for another 2-3 years at least.

- High end clothing stores. I am working for a company that is a high-end retailer & supplier in designer eyewear/watches and apparel, so due to a generous employee discount I get great quality clothing at often ridiculously low prices. I now refuse to pay retail prices in any store after I discovered the amount of the mark-up!
We had a employee sale last Friday and I bought a winter parka for $15 CDN and it sells for over $400 in store; just because the sleeves were a bit dirty...nothing a good wash couldn't fix!

- Jewellry: I used to spend huge sums on precious gemstones and gold pieces. I gave much of it to my nieces and kept my favorite pieces but I will not buy anymore.

- Cable/Satellite: If it wasn't for the History/Learning/Discovery channels I would not have any form of cable in our house - but the dh cannot live without his sports so to keep peace in the home we have cable...

- Designer Hair/Skin Care Products: they aren't worth the exorbitant retail prices, but I will buy them when there are yearly sales that I get an invite for, and pay less than wholesale for it and they usually last me until the next big sale comes around.

- Buying books: I have made use of the library, or I'll go to Chapters, and they provide couches for you to read the books and you don't have to buy them.

There is much more, but I've slowed down considerably on the consumer treadmill of buying and I and my wallet are much better off!

Kassandra

Kassandra

"It is said that life has its peaks and valleys.  The challenge is to accept them equally and experience them

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2001
Mon, 11-07-2005 - 11:08am

Painters/Contractors - what a rip off!!!!!!!!!

I wish I had just taken a week off of work and had painted my own condo. I spent a couple of thousand $$s having my condo painted top to bottom, and they really didn't do that great of a job and on top of it - I can't get them back in my home to do the touch up work. It was an expensive lesson learnt. If I didn't have popcorn ceilings and wasn't holding on to my vacation time like it was so precious, I should have just painted the place myself and have done a hell of a better job. In the end, I didn't have the cash to take a vacation and these guys kind of ripped me off. I actually need to take them to small claims court - what a pain! They barely painted the skirting boards in the place. It really was a disappointment. I feel like I'm going to get an ulcer just thinking of how they got my hard earnt money from me for such a lousy job. Never again!!!!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2004
Tue, 11-08-2005 - 11:50am
I totally agree with the cost of the wedding. We got married in the city's prettiest garden, free, and no need to buy flowers. We had the reception in our church's fellowship hall, free. I do regret not spending money on a professional photographer, but that's about it. Catering? Naaahhh. The in-laws and cousins made all the food for the reception, and rented the bowls, fancy serving stuff, fountain, etc, for $200 total. Making your invitations is a great idea, as well as thank you notes. Have fun!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 11-08-2005 - 1:06pm

Just MO, and I DO agree with you that painters can be expensive. But my DH is in the construction industry (asphalt and paving), and because of the SOARING prices of petroleum products (anyone paying under $2.50 for gas anymore???) that their costs have gone up, and asphalt production has been slowed dramatically. I was in the industry myself, and when I started in it eight years ago a ton of asphalt cost us about $20 a ton. Now the price according to DH is upwards of $40-45 a ton, and this is for LOWER QUALITY/GRADE asphalt from what we were using when I started years ago. The asphalt companies are now capped in how much they can produce on any given day, and my DH's co now works 7 days a week just to get jobs done when they can get the materials. And the oil companies just reported RECORD PROFITS this past quarter. The bottom line is that guys like my husband are working their butts off so that guys in suits can buy 6,000 sq. foot homes, and we continue to live in a small 3 bd apt with three kids...

So, I would say that HOUSES just aren't worth the money anymore! Here in SoCA you can pay upwards of $700k for a 1200 sq. foot house. A friend just bought a 35 yo house in the next town for $875k...mort payment of $5,000 a month!!

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