$$$ Not worth the aggravation

[imoldernu]

Sharing a personal vice:
When saving money is not worth the aggravation.

Two cars... and house insurance. $2500/yr. If I fill out some forms and take a senior's driver test, I'll save $250.

I have Comcast, DirecTV, and Vonage and Netflix. I can cancel DirecTV and Vonage and bundle with Comcast and I don't watch Netflix.. Cancelling, changing telephone number, fighting with Comcast for the right plan, and having a guy come in to rewire my crawlspace, means going through hell and getting Please, Please, Please... special offers just isn't worth it. So maybe $1,000/yr. Worth it.

Car inspection and full annual service for my 96 caddy and 98 town car about $200. For what? 2,000 miles per year on each?

Furnace inspection... $89 plus he sells expensive filters... and always, always finds something to replace. Total cost, usually about $200/yr. Haven't used him for three years. No Problems... yet.

Carpet cleaning... $150. Just had our carpet cleaned on our 14 year schedule. Works for us.... Vac/steam cleaner for $149 15 years ago works.

Window washing, gutter cleaning, house wash... provided by nature or our HOA.

Annual subscriptions? Just $15 for AARP. and Chicago Trib... $20 for Sun, Tues Wed Fri issues....26 weeks. Offer comes up at one month after subscription ends.

Regular gas... both cars are supposed to take premium... : they've never tasted hi-test.

Coupons... DW likes the challenge of Kohl's $10 plus 30% off offers. Otherwise... no.
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Indulgences?... Amazon Prime. avacados, oysters, 1.75 Seagram's gin every three months, and toys.

Anyway, I saved about $75,000 with Insurance during my in and out hospital visits and interrment, ummm internment this year.

Current internal turmoil... Know I can save about $700/yr. on Plan D supplement, by going to GoodRX, but don't really understand it yet.

You... without spending vices may post here.

 

[Amethyst]

I just wore a red-satin-lined black cape to the theater today. My Mother made that cape for me in 1985.

I got 2 compliments on it from complete strangers in the theater.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Im a little afraid to participate lest a "car person" reads it, but we don't do preventative maintenance. We do oil changes every 5 or 6k whether it needs it or not. But if it pops we fix it. and if the tires seem sketch we replace them. Other than that, Ler'er ride. and We buy low end used cars normally at around 15-20k. I say we do. Weve purchase 1 total during our marriage. I drove my college car until DH's car had to go to Jesus and then I sold it to him and bought myself a new used replacement. Then college car was sold when we retired bc we didn't need 2 cars for a couple of years. Just saw it for sale online again the same place we sold it last year around this time to a young married couple with a STACK of little children that needed the husband a car to drive only on a sleepy military base. 185k and still rolling. They were very proud of their "new tire" in the ad! hahah. Im tempted to buy it back for DH. Had the best A/C Ive ever had in a car.

 

[Jerry1]

Im a little afraid to participate lest a "car person" reads it, but we don't do preventative maintenance. We do oil changes every 5 or 6k whether it needs it or not. But if it pops we fix it. and if the tires seem sketch we replace them. Other than that, Ler'er ride. and We buy low end used cars normally at around 15-20k. I say we do. Weve purchase 1 total during our marriage. I drove my college car until DH's car had to go to Jesus and then I sold it to him and bought myself a new used replacement. Then college car was sold when we retired bc we didn't need 2 cars for a couple of years. Just saw it for sale online again the same place we sold it last year around this time to a young married couple with a STACK of little children that needed the husband a car to drive only on a sleepy military base. 185k and still rolling. They were very proud of their "new tire" in the ad! hahah. Im tempted to buy it back for DH. Had the best A/C Ive ever had in a car.

I could see how that could work with a car as long as you’re not going on long distance trips without a safety check.

In a similar vein, I worked with a guy who didn’t do any maintenance on his lawn mower. He wasn’t mechanically inclined. He took his mower in once for a tune up and paid something like $50 -$75. He figured after 3 to 5 years of doing that, he could just buy a new mower. Except for blade sharpening, if you can’t do the work yourself, I guess he’s right.

 

[JoeWras]

I just went through a similar scenario as OP. Every year my TV/Internet/Voice combo comes up for renewal (AT&T). They jack the price. So, I compare. Call AT&T and ask them to be competitive with other providers. That's all I ask. They usually are within, oh $10 or so. Actually, this year they matched Google exactly, although Google has a slightly higher speed on internet which I won't reach since I have a 100Mb router anyway.

So, for $120 a year, do I go through the hassle of digging up the yard, drilling walls, and rearranging my inside stuff which I currently have as a nice CAT6 connection all around? Nope, not as long as I can get AT&T to match. BTW, the process is simple. Call them. The robot answers and I just yell "retention." They immediately put me through to US based agents who actually know the story. IF you have STRONG competition, they will match. If you don't have other service providers, you may be SOL.

Now, as for "maintenance contracts..." Oh boy, most of these are bogus. Pure profit. The "inspections" I've seen done on cars and furnaces are sketchy as best. Much can be done yourself if you have good common sense.

Of course, you do have to follow the required maintenance schedule for any warranty enforced items. I'm speaking about beyond that.

One more thing, even for a new car, you don't have to use the dealer for that service. You don't have to blindly follow their "recommended" service either, which is usually packed with junk. Just follow what is in the book to enforce the warranty.

The Magnusson-Moss warranty act gives us a lot of rights that dealers fail to mention.

 

[easysurfer]

....
Indulgences?... Amazon Prime. avacados, oysters, 1.75 Seagram's gin every three months, and toys.

...

So, I see someone else also has an avocado a day habit .

 

[Scuba]

For me, cleaning our own home is not worth the aggravation and time. I’m not referring to day-to-day cleaning up, but I’d much rather have a housekeeper every 2 weeks to vacuum, dust, deep clean our bathrooms, mop our tile floor, etc.

Also we do not shop around for groceries on sale. We buy what we like/need at our regular stores whenever we need it. We live in a 1,600 sq ft condo so we only have one fridge/freezer and not a lot of room for stocking up. We stopped buying paper towels and toilet paper at Costco as the packages are far too big.

Also we like Amazon Prime. Can’t beat the convenience.

We do not take advantage of the promotions to open new bank or credit card accounts in exchange for various bonuses. I’m sure we’re missing out on some points or free money, but not worth the hassle to us. We charge everything in the US to our Elan 2% cash back card, except we do use the Amazon Prime VISA on their site for 5% off and the Target Red Card for 5% off. Overseas we used Capital One Venture since it has no foreign transaction fees.