One Man's Cheap is Another's Frugal

[easysurfer]

We all have spending pet peeves. Things we hate spending money on, even if they are relatively inexpensive compared with a lot of other items we buy. Well here’s an extreme example.

LeBron James, who recently led his Cleveland Cavalier team to the NBA championship, is the highest paid player in the league. Yet he hates paying for data overage charges on his cellphone — according to James’s close friend and one-time teammate Dwyane Wade.

When asked by TV talk show host Kelly Ripa who the cheapest player he knows is, Wade immediately said: “LeBron.”

LeBron James made $71 million last year, but hates paying data roaming charges - MarketWatch

I actually kind of agree with Lebron. Depsite him making all that cash, who wants to get [-]screwed[/-] hit with outlandish cellphone charges?

That's funny about him needing to send the text to avoid possible no wifi.

Which kinda begs the question, what spending pet peeve do you have? One that comes to mind is getting socked with ATM fees if I don't withdraw from a bank in my bank's network.

 

[2017ish]

One: Unnecessarily paying for parking. We'll take the free downtown circulating bus that primarily is used by tourists, then walk several blocks to an expensive restaurant--enables us to use my employer-paid parking garage and avoid valets in busy part of town.

Two: Paying too much for clothes. My workout shirts all come from second-hand shops.

Three: Paying for convenience in drinking water. We keep empty water bottles purchased by friends, then refill them from the tap as needed to keep our fridge stocked.

That's enough for now.

 

[easysurfer]

I'll add another peeve is paying for the "convenience fee" on concert tickets. Pretty just an excuse to place a surcharge.

 

[Souschef]

Paying for convenience in drinking water. We keep empty water bottles purchased by friends, then refill them from the tap as needed to keep our fridge stocked.

That's enough for now.

The water in our town is very hard. I just go to the local market and fill up my gallon bottles for 30 cents. I looked into getting water delivered and it is expensive. Besides, I am retired and it gives me something to do.

 

[calmloki]

The water in our town is very hard. I just go to the local market and fill up my gallon bottles for 30 cents. I looked into getting water delivered and it is expensive. Besides, I am retired and it gives me something to do.

Down in SoCal we fill gallon jugs with better tasting water for 25-30 cents. Up in Oregon I haul gallon jugs to a town 20 minutes away and fill them from the spigot at our apartments - much better tasting than the tap water in our home town.

What really gripes me? 6 units of water in the middle of the freaking desert, La Quinta Ca, costs us $13.06. 6 units of water in Oregon, 3 blocks from the river, in no kind of desert, is $50.32 - $105.25 when they add in storm drains and sewer.

 

[bclover]

I'll add another peeve is paying for the "convenience fee" on concert tickets. Pretty just an excuse to place a surcharge.

Amen!! I went to see a play on Broadway last January and got hit with a 9 dollar 9-11 fee. Seriously??

I'm weird with clothes, I'll drop a wad of cash of a luxury bag but absolutely will not pay 50 bucks for jeans.

 

[2017ish]

...

I'm weird with clothes, I'll drop a wad of cash of a luxury bag but absolutely will not pay 50 bucks for jeans.

Yeah, I disclosed my second-hand running shirts, and I get my jeans at walmart. But, neither of those makes up for the nice brooks brothers suits that are my work uniform....

We are all weird in some ways; part of being human.

 

[aaronc879]

The water in our town is very hard. I just go to the local market and fill up my gallon bottles for 30 cents. I looked into getting water delivered and it is expensive. Besides, I am retired and it gives me something to do.

Same here except I pay 39 cents per gallon. The store is .4 miles away so it's a good way to get a walk in.

 

[RobbieB]

I have to pay a resort fee when I stay in a hotel in Nevada that has a spa. You know where you can get a massage. Which I always do and I have to pay for that too. With a tip of course.

It's just a way to get the "well heeled" to pay extra. It's about $10 a day.

I don't mind, I'm "well heeled" and like to be rubbed. Really, charge me extra please, help me blow some dough -

There is not much that gets me peeved anymore, I'm pretty happy.

 

[Car-Guy]

Which kinda begs the question, what spending pet peeve do you have?

Not many (or any) that I can think of except tipping. Good service and I'll tip "very well" sometimes 30+% of the bill. Poor service can be as little as zero.

One that comes to mind is getting socked with ATM fees if I don't withdraw from a bank in my bank's network.

I don't like that either, that's why I use Schwab checking. 100% of my ATM fees are reimbursed each month.

 

[Big_Hitter]

paying for wireless in a hotel? seriously what a joke - every time I stay in one of those I chew out the front desk

 

[MichaelB]

I'll add another peeve is paying for the "convenience fee" on concert tickets. Pretty just an excuse to place a surcharge.

This. +2 Besides, there's nothing convenient about it. Even when buying directly from the theater, where the charge is a "facility fee".

 

[audreyh1]

paying for wireless in a hotel? seriously what a joke - every time I stay in one of those I chew out the front desk

Yeah - I think having to pay for wifi at a hotel annoys me and I won't do it. Many waive it for members - so I do that for major chains. In most cases I have cell reception and use that anyway instead because the hotel's wifi is too slow and has repeated annoying logins. Our cellphone plans allow tethering.

Verizon's phone plans annoyed me. I'm not with them anymore.

 

[NW-Bound]

We are frugal all around. That's how we could ER.

We have been more generous with others than with ourselves. I am working to change that.

 

[Bamaman]

High property and ad valorem taxes are my pet peeve.

I had a co-worker in Racine, Wisconsin with a 1930's craftsman house of 1,100 square feet on a 45 foot lot, and her property taxes are $5,500 per year. No wonder most of our ex-coworkers at MegaCorp lived in Illinois.

My Alabama property taxes are $0 because my wife was on Social Security disability. And sales taxes on automobiles and boats are 2.25%. State income taxes on defined pensions and Social Security are 0%.

 

[2017ish]

...

I had a co-worker in Racine, Wisconsin with a 1930's craftsman house of 1,100 square feet on a 45 foot lot, and her property taxes are $5,500 per year. No wonder most of our ex-coworkers at MegaCorp lived in Illinois.

....

Gulp.... As a former resident of Illinois (granted, on the other end of the state), I shudder to think of a state taxing so much that anyone would choose to live in Illinois for that reason! Tennessee residents complain about sales taxes--but they are essentially the same as those of Illinois, and everything else was much higher there.

 

[Mulligan]

I have to pay a resort fee when I stay in a hotel in Nevada that has a spa. You know where you can get a massage. Which I always do and I have to pay for that too. With a tip of course.

It's just a way to get the "well heeled" to pay extra. It's about $10 a day.

I don't mind, I'm "well heeled" and like to be rubbed. Really, charge me extra please, help me blow some dough -

There is not much that gets me peeved anymore, I'm pretty happy.

Robbie, $10 a day resort fee? Where are you staying at, a Nevada hostel? I thought you like to spend money! I was at Palazzo in Vegas last weekend and had to pay a $33 daily resort fee.


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[daylatedollarshort]

I've noticed that many of the items at the 99 Cents Only store or Grocery Outlet are always priced the same or less than the sale prices at Safeway for the same brand, same size items.

 

[aja8888]

We had a 99 cents store close up in our town. Don't know why as they were always busy.

 

[NW-Bound]

How long have they been 99c stores? Since 10 or 15 years ago? Them poor stores got eaten alive by inflation.

 

[Major Tom]

I've noticed that many of the items at the 99 Cents Only store or Grocery Outlet are always priced the same or less than the sale prices at Safeway for the same brand, same size items.

Shopping at the major chain markets such as Safeway drives me potty. I appreciate that they are simply responding to the various incentives the different distributors and manufacturers offer them, but I hate that I never know how much anything will cost, as it depends heavily on what is on sale every single time I walk in the door. As a result, I do the majority of my shopping at Trader Joe's with the occasional visit to Grocery Outlet. Besides, both of those places are more fun to shop at than the main chains.

I used to do nearly all my grocery shopping at Safeway, until I discovered Trader Joe's and suddenly, shopping for groceries stopped being dull as dishwater.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My complaint is when a service is included 'free'...such as 'free' breakfast for hotel guests. No...the price is included in the purchase price!

Sent via mobile device. Please excuse any grammatical errors.

 

[Sunset]

Kids eat free.

Yep, restaurants have zero cost for making and serving kids food. They don't increase their other adult menu prices a little to make up for it.

I refuse to eat at restaurant on kids eat free days as it's bad enough knowing my meal is partially paying for somebody's child, but I also don't need the extra noise on those days.

 

[Sojourner]

Paying for parking at places like doctor's offices, hospitals, or really, almost anywhere is a huge pet peeve of mine. Having to put my credit card into that little machine at the gate so I can get out of the parking deck just makes my blood boil, even if it's only $5.

ATM fees, too, but I'll go way out of my way to avoid them, so I almost never pay them.

Another one I can think of that may not be too common is the flat fee I'm charged every month by my city for trash pickup. I live alone and there are some weeks where I don't even have enough trash to take down to the curb, so my usage of the trash pickup services is quite minimal. Yet I have to pay the same $22/month that a family of 5 down the street pays to pick up their mountains of trash (two big overstuffed and overflowing bins) every single week. Galling.

 

[aja8888]

How long have they been 99c stores? Since 10 or 15 years ago? Them poor stores got eaten alive by inflation.

Actually, what's gone on is that the 99 cent stores have learned the technique of "downsizing" packages, buying knock off goods, selling lots of Chinese imitations, etc.

What happened in our community is the growth and success of the general area has community leaders increasing taxes and commercial property rents and leases are going sky high. We had a McDonald's close up permanently that is located directly in front of the brand new $500 million dollar high school. Go figure that one out!