Money saving move you regret the most?

[pennywise]

Yes, in reality I like my Bosch. It's very quiet. I probably just overdo the manual pre-wash because I don't like cleaning the internal filter...

I regret not replacing a broken dishwasher in our vacation home with a Bosch which is what I use in our primary home. I bought a US made model with many reviews indicating how quiet it is but I didn't really stop to consider that having lived with a truly quiet dishwasher, this lower end model would sound so noisy to me.

I'm really regretting it now as we prepare to move to the vacation home and I realize I'll be listening to that noise (kitchen and living room are open) for many years to come. My username applies here, I should have spent more initially instead of saving a few hundred dollars on something that will bother me on a daily basis for a long time.

[pennywise]

Buying in bulk things on sale ,later finding not to use them or having them being discarded.

BJ's mega box of facial tissues. False economy move since I can never possibly finish the 10-12 boxes of Kleenex sitting in our garage. Will probably donate them to a shelter or something, so silly.

Same with the BJ's size containers of Q-tips I bought, repeatedly, because I forgot I already had them.

Bandaids-not a BJ's purchase but I tend to buy a box whenever I need some specific size without checking to see what I've already got.

I could stock every minute clinic in the state with bandaids, swabs and tissues.

[stoptothink]

I cut my own hair once. Never again.

Practice makes perfect. I have been doing it for a good part of the decade. It's consistent result and all fault is yours, you can't blame it on others

That's what a wife is for. Pretty sure I've never paid for a haircut and the two pairs of clippers I've owned over the last ~20yrs were both Xmas presents. Previous to being married, I cut my own hair, which meant it was permanently shaved. My wife has gotten really good, she cuts my hair, my son's, and occasionally some neighbors/friends...I wish she could cut her own; now that would save us some serious money.

[BogleFanGal]

I'm pretty sure alcohol related deaths are due to alcoholism, drunk driving, etc., and not due to people having a beer or a glass of wine with their dinner.

Most recent research says that any alcohol consumptions (yes including your glass of red wine) is unhealthy. It is a very minor effect for the one glass/day drinker but ramps up as consumption increases.

My response was in regards to alcohol-related deaths. The long-term effects of moderate alcohol consumption are dubious at best, as are most dietary considerations in general.

Have you considered how much alcohol gets consumed if you have one drink every night, or 4 drinks on Friday and 4 drinks on Saturday? That would be the equivalent of 4.5 gallons of vodka or scotch - per year.

What's your concern? Anything that is consumed on a regular basis adds up to a lot over the course of a year. For example, if you eat a cup of oatmeal for breakfast every day, that adds up to about 70 pounds of oatmeal per year. Is this an argument against oatmeal consumption?

Exactly. I run into a lot of people who like to tout that alcohol in any mild/moderate amount is still "poison". I guarantee if I look at their shopping cart and diet, I'll find plenty that risks compromising their long term health as well. ANY meat- even white meat, but especially red meat, butter, margarine, dairy, seafood, anything with salt or sugar (even "good" things like fruit (high sugar), has been shown to be bad for your health in some way.

Unless you subsist entirely on steamed veggies and water, (which then puts you at risk of nutritional deficiencies) anything can be shown to impact your health long term.

Everything in moderation is what mom taught me - and I still believe it's the best advice.

[BogleFanGal]

My worst money saving move was letting the tax tail wag the dog. Exercised options, held onto the stock because selling would create a big tax hit that year. Stock tanked big time a couple months later and never recovered. Sure glad I saved that tax hit.

[gvsucavie03]

Buying cheap furniture. Should have gotten better items used or on clearance.

[TomatoTomahto]

My worst money saving move was letting the tax tail wag the dog. Exercised options, held onto the stock because selling would create a big tax hit that year. Stock tanked big time a couple months later and never recovered. Sure glad I saved that tax hit.

Sorry. Please pay it forward by posting an example in the constant parade of RSU/option discussions.

[bengal22]

In about year 2 of our marriage, my wife and I bought our first home. I really wish now that I would have stretched myself more and bought more house. I was concerned about paying a mortgage and after a few months and raises the mortgage was easier to pay. I think this would have ultimately given us more house now as we bought and sold our way up the ladder.

[james865]

Purchased a share of a cow--received almost 300 pounds of meat at slaughter. Cost me less than $2/lb of meat, including steaks, ground beef, and all the spare parts.

Problem is, my wife and I couldn't stand the "natural" taste. We ate on it for 6 months before finally cutting our losses and giving it away.

Make sure you like the taste before purchasing 300 pounds of meat.

The hog on the other hand--best bacon I've ever had...

[remomnyc]

The washer/dryer in the apartment we bought didn't work properly. The dryer took hours to dry anything, but I didn't think we'd break even on the cost of new machines, so I used the machines in the basement. When we were getting ready to sell, our broker convinced us to replace our w/d because it's a huge selling point. I wish I had done it when we moved in and enjoyed doing my laundry in my own home for the 12 years we lived there instead of the few months before we sold.

My parents likewise replaced the wall-to-wall carpeting in their home when they went to sell it. In the next home they bought, the first thing they did was rip up the wall-to-wall and place hardwoods.

[shell921]

A few times over the years trying to save some money on travel with inexpensive or lower cost lodging and then most of the time being very disappointed with the accommodations. Later in life I learned it was better for us, being relatively picky especially about bed quality and room noise, to spend more to get high end lodging/hotel for travel - makes for a much better and more relaxing trip.

This one!!! Yes !
Rest and relaxation in pleasant surroundings while traveling is worth it's weight in gold for me!

[stoptothink]

In about year 2 of our marriage, my wife and I bought our first home. I really wish now that I would have stretched myself more and bought more house. I was concerned about paying a mortgage and after a few months and raises the mortgage was easier to pay. I think this would have ultimately given us more house now as we bought and sold our way up the ladder.

We're kind of getting there. We purchased our first home in year three of our marriage. I thought it was perfect, 3bdr/3bt 1500sq. ft. townhome with double garage, a 7min walk from my office. Price was 1.4x HHI (current value now ~1.1x HHI). I could stay here forever, but wife very much wants a SFH, to the point where we have had to write down some compromises (ie. financial milestones we must hit before we can start looking). Our area is exploding, our home has appreciated ~25% in 3yrs, so we're going to be paying A LOT more for that "forever home" my wife is ultimately going to get in another 5yrs or so.

[LadyGeek]

I removed an off-topic interchange regarding the responsibilities of parents to teach their kids. The discussion was getting derailed.

Please stay on-topic, which are the consumer aspects.

[michaelingp]

Flying SPIRIT airlines. Departing flight was delayed 4 hours. Didn't think it could get worse until we flew home and that flight was delayed 12 hours. Wish I had just flown the big carrier that the rest of the extended family took.

Well it wasn't me, it was my wife saving money, but my first Spirit flight was a nightmare. It appeared that when the mechanics gave the wing exit seat more room, they simply moved that row backwards toward, you guessed it, my seat. In other words, the row of seats behind the exit row had decidedly less room than the other seats in the plane (which weren't very big to start with). Worse, the person in the exit seat figured out how to recline their seat which is not supposed to be possible on Spirit. My nose was about 2" from the seat back for a flight from D.C. to Seattle. I could not even reach down to get my reading material from under the seat in front of me.

Later, my wife ran out of the water she brought from the airport. I thought we could afford it after saving so much money on the flight, so I paid $3 for a bottle of water for her. When she found out she was furious at my waste of money. She made me return it, which was a bit awkward. But the nice thing about Spirit is that the flight attendants are sort of in on the misery the airline inflicts and grin and bear it. It turns out there is a loophole in the "pay for everything" business model. You can get ice for free! So they filled my wife's water bottle with ice. Then, every 15 minutes or so, they would come by and ask if she needed any more ice.

[Barefoot]

Just so you know, on June 6, 2016, the Chinese conglomerate Haier acquired GE Appliances for $5.6 billion. Under the terms of the sale, Haier has the right to use the GE brand name until 2056. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_Appliances

And part of what they got in the deal was GE's reputation, for better or for worse.

[michaeljc70]

- Used third part booking sites a while back. I Never use em anymore. You are on your own when theres an issue.

-someone mentioned flying spirit. Oh man I really dislike this airline as well and have tried to avoid at all costs BUT sometimes its so hard to justify spending 300 dollars per ticket more on a another domestic flight when your flying 3 hours away.

- I usually stick with rib eye, porterhouse, or tenderloin when I need a steak fix. Sale or no sale. No more messing around with other cuts of meat.

The last time I went to FL I flew Spirit. It was a newer plane and the seats didn't recline (and it was every row, not due to exit row or something like that). I was thinking I am never flying Spirit again. However, like you said, if it is double for every other airline I'll be on Spirit, but I will pay more to avoid them. Even 3.5 hours without a reclining seat is too much.

[pennywise]

The regrets about not buying more house reminded me of my actual biggest money saving move regret: not remodeling our kitchen for 20 years after moving into our current home.

We did stretch to buy a house that was perfect for our growing family; had right number of bedrooms/bathrooms, literally blocks away from our place of employment, large yard with space for my husband to build his dream garage. However, it was built in 1952 and had original bathrooms and kitchen. We reasoned that it made more sense to put money into new windows, new flooring etc so the kitchen and bathrooms had to wait. Bathrooms finally got redone after a leak literally eroded the wall(!) but kitchen, well that could wait as the kids got older and life got more expensive. Along the way husband the systems analyst decided that since the kitchen (ie me) was turning out perfectly adequate meals on a daily basis, no need to replace the 1952 cabinets and the 1952 tile and the 20000 vinyl flooring which was my only upgrade thus far.

I finally did a gut remodel a decade ago and man do I regret waiting so long! Though we didn't change the layout, we added more efficient cabinets/drawers and another countertop run, put in a dishwasher because I hand washed dishes for 20 years, new appliances etc. And literally every single day I am happy working in that kitchen. What a foolish money saving move not fixing the kitchen was.....even if we'd had to scrimp somewhere else I should never have let the kitchen slide to the bottom of the home improvement list.

[Xrayman69]

I'm pretty sure alcohol related deaths are due to alcoholism, drunk driving, etc., and not due to people having a beer or a glass of wine with their dinner.

Most recent research says that any alcohol consumptions (yes including your glass of red wine) is unhealthy. It is a very minor effect for the one glass/day drinker but ramps up as consumption increases.

Breathing can ultimately be deemed unhealthy. Ant level of Sun exposure can potentially be deleterious. Drinking water is potentially unhealthy even in the USA (ala Michigan experience).

The “most recent research” is equally contradicted by studies of populations in which red wine consumption has a correlation with improved cholesterol and heart health.

“Most recent research” is the absenc of reproducible long term double blinded randomized trial is a bit of a far stretch for decision making based upon science.

As with most things moderation is key. Don’t over consume alcohol, eating, dieting, sleeping, playing video games, exccersise, saving and frugality etc. anything taken to the extreme can be harmful despite best intent.

The vast majority of people are within 1 or 2 standard deviations of average (sorry snowflakes). Living to enjoy experiences with loved ones as opposed to looking around the corner for the never ending potential of the boogie man takes away from the here and now of shared experiences within ones means and control.

[Xrayman69]

Buying a “tailored made shirt” online through the M tailor app in which you use your phone to send in a video where you spin and turn. I bought one and it was laughable. I’m still getting a chuckle. Literally the collar was a few sizes to big and each sleeve was off by at least 2 inches. I called back and informed them of the misfit and they asked for video of shirt being worn so they could send another more suitable fitting shirt that would be “perfect”. They sent another shirt “free”:that was also laughable and just the opposite, both the collar and the sleeves were now short and small.

I bought the cheapest shirt for $80 to to see if it would work. I was praying for this to work out as I hate going shopping for clothes much less dress shirts. My spouse finds it funny that I hate shopping for clothes but love going shopping for other items in general. In fact she makes fun of me for this maneuver nearly every morning when i get dressed for work -“ is that the shirt you got made by spinning in front of your phone”. The shirts eventually became painting smocks for the kid when doing art projects.

Nordstrom’s is safe for now and where I get my shirts and suits tailored. Thanks for the chuckle.

[randomguy]

I'm pretty sure alcohol related deaths are due to alcoholism, drunk driving, etc., and not due to people having a beer or a glass of wine with their dinner.

Most recent research says that any alcohol consumptions (yes including your glass of red wine) is unhealthy. It is a very minor effect for the one glass/day drinker but ramps up as consumption increases.

Breathing can ultimately be deemed unhealthy. Ant level of Sun exposure can potentially be deleterious. Drinking water is potentially unhealthy even in the USA (ala Michigan experience).

The “most recent research” is equally contradicted by studies of populations in which red wine consumption has a correlation with improved cholesterol and heart health.

“Most recent research” is the absenc of reproducible long term double blinded randomized trial is a bit of a far stretch for decision making based upon science.

As with most things moderation is key. Don’t over consume alcohol, eating, dieting, sleeping, playing video games, exccersise, saving and frugality etc. anything taken to the extreme can be harmful despite best intent.

The vast majority of people are within 1 or 2 standard deviations of average (sorry snowflakes). Living to enjoy experiences with loved ones as opposed to looking around the corner for the never ending potential of the boogie man takes away from the here and now of shared experiences within ones means and control.

What water and air does has nothing to do with drinking. Just cause something is else is bad doesnt mean you should do everythong that is bad.

Yes drinking red wine improves cholestrol and heart. Great. But preventing 1 death from a heart attack but causing 2 from liver disease and breast cancer isnt a health benefit. You need to look at whole picture.

As I said 1 drink per day isnt too bad. It is like a 2%(down at the margins of measureable). By 3 you are looking at 20% increase in risks. I will let you decide what moderate drinking is and what significant increase is. And obviously if you need drugs to enjoy your loved ones, you have to figure out how to balance that out And yes if you want to do drugs and they make your life better. Go for it. I sure as heck dont care if you drink, eat a pot brownie, or any of a zillion other behaviors. Drug use has been a constant human endevour since the start of time.

[LadyGeek]

This thread has run its course and is locked (derailed, contentious).