Prices You'd Never Pay for Items (sale, money)

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by Coolhand68

Paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket to a single sporting event. A friend of mine will think nothing of spending hundreds (even thousands) to sit in the front row of major sporting events, yet he will break out his tip calculator at restaurants. I refuse to throw away that sort of money for sporting events.

Vacations are often overrated to me as well. Spending thousands of dollars to fly to some touristy, overcrowded theme park or resort for a week or so is a waste of money. The aggravation that comes with air travel, crowds, sleeping in strange beds, eating at mediocre restaurants, and paying nearly double for everything detracts from the experience. Then you get home you are drained and need a mini-vacation to recover from the vacation you just spent thousands on with nothing to show for it.

It's perfectly fine not to spend money on seats at sporting events or vacations because you're not willing to pay the price. That just means that you don't value those items or services as much as you value your money. However your friends clearly value those things more than they value their money; thus they are willing to pay for them. There's no need to judge them and say they are "throwing away" money because, to them, they probably don't feel like they are throwing it away.

[swgirl926]

I won't always choose the least expensive option. I'd pay more for a house to live in a neighborhood where I don't constantly fear getting shot. I'll spend more on clothing that won't fall apart after a few washes, or on furniture that I know I will have for a while.

At some point though, I think there's a threshold where the extra $$$ isn't providing any additional quality or benefit. After, that, to me, it's more about snob appeal. Maybe I'm unrefined, or maybe it's because I'm not in a position where I can just spend spend spend without a second thought. But, I can't help but think to myself, "Somebody saw them coming."

For example:

$15,000 for a Birkin bag. My car cost less than that.

$1000 for a sundae at Serendipity 3.

$1000 for a caviar pizza.

And, not all of the people spending money on these things have it to burn.

I went to a mall outside of Philly with a friend of mine a while ago, and she was looking at spending $800 on a pair of Jimmy Choos. Which would have eaten up her whole bi-weekly paycheck.

Seriously?

Penn and Teller actually did an episode about "having the best" on the show "Bullsh*t". They did an experiment where they had a trailer behind a fancy restaurant, in which this guy, cigarette hanging out of his mouth, was preparing food with the use of a microwave, a toaster oven, and a blowtorch. The waiter, who was a BS artist or epic proportions, was going on and on about how the ingredients were so rare and of the finest quality, hand-picked this, artisan that, when in fact everything was out of a can or from a gas station. I thought it was hilarious.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Coolhand68

Paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket to a single sporting event. A friend of mine will think nothing of spending hundreds (even thousands) to sit in the front row of major sporting events, yet he will break out his tip calculator at restaurants. I refuse to throw away that sort of money for sporting events.

Vacations are often overrated to me as well. Spending thousands of dollars to fly to some touristy, overcrowded theme park or resort for a week or so is a waste of money. The aggravation that comes with air travel, crowds, sleeping in strange beds, eating at mediocre restaurants, and paying nearly double for everything detracts from the experience. Then you get home you are drained and need a mini-vacation to recover from the vacation you just spent thousands on with nothing to show for it.

Sporting/concert events I agree 100%! Blue collar guys giving their hard earned money to billionaire owners who then give it to millionaire players that will be broke after retirement anyway kills me! Same goes for aging rockstar types!

[Osito]

I know one thing; I'd never pay three bucks for a tiny little carton of V8 vegetable soup. No thanks.

[Tober138]

Originally Posted by Coolhand68

Vacations are often overrated to me as well. Spending thousands of dollars to fly to some touristy, overcrowded theme park or resort for a week or so is a waste of money. The aggravation that comes with air travel, crowds, sleeping in strange beds, eating at mediocre restaurants, and paying nearly double for everything detracts from the experience. Then you get home you are drained and need a mini-vacation to recover from the vacation you just spent thousands on with nothing to show for it.

To each their own. We love to travel (in fact, we cut costs in other areas of our life just so we can afford to go places) and, while we will do the occasional resort somewhere, who says one has to go to a some over-corwded tourist trap or a theme park? We usually try our best to get away from the crowds. For example, hitting a few of the Greek islands is on our list at some point in the near future - we'll probably hit the big touristy areas in Mykonos for a few days (just to check it out) but the bulk of our trip will be in quieter places away from the crowds like Naxos and Santorini.


There world is a pretty big place, it can be fun to see different parts of it and to soak up the local culture in different parts of the globe. We've been to some cool places, met a lot of great people and (while it is possible to eat at "mediocre restaurants" anywhere, even at home), we have also had some damn fine meals, both at low-key local spots and at some more upscale places (our dinner at Marmalade in San Juan is still probably the best meal we have ever had anywhere in the world).


But..hey..different strokes and all of that. You don't find any value in it and that's cool...but that does not mean that someone else cannot.

[Tober138]

Originally Posted by NJBest

It's perfectly fine not to spend money on seats at sporting events or vacations because you're not willing to pay the price. That just means that you don't value those items or services as much as you value your money. However your friends clearly value those things more than they value their money; thus they are willing to pay for them. There's no need to judge them and say they are "throwing away" money because, to them, they probably don't feel like they are throwing it away.

Exactly. Yet there are plenty of people on this forum who like to belittle those who don't think the exact same way that they do. Or at least get on their soapbox and go on and on about how other people "waste" their money.


Case in point:

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

I think women pay way to much on makeup ...I also think people spend too much money on their homes (buying more home than they really need), and on their cars (buying new ones; not keeping them for very long).

Ok...so what? If these are not things you would spend your money on - totally cool. But why do you give a hoot about how other people choose to spend their money?

Originally Posted by swgirl926

I went to a mall outside of Philly with a friend of mine a while ago, and she was looking at spending $800 on a pair of Jimmy Choos. Which would have eaten up her whole bi-weekly paycheck.

Totally get your point swgirl296. But at the same time, if there is another person looking to buy these shoes for whom $800 is not a bi-weekly paycheck but maybe only a few days pay, then possibly the expense is not overly extravagant for them. In some respects, frugality is relative to one's income. What may seem outrageous to someone who makes $50k per year and supports a family of 4 may not seem that way to a single perosn who makes over $100k per year.

[stan4]

Purchase for quality. Cheap products can cost you more in the long run.

Not much of a brand name person myself, but I can see what lasts and works well.

[eofelis]

Originally Posted by Bakeneko

I get my eye exams at our local shop (but order my glasses online from Zenni). My husband and I have both noticed they have gotten a little more pushy with their frames... they stock Cartier and Tiffany and other really high end stuff. I glanced at some while waiting for the dr - frames in the 750.00 range and up

I just couldn't see paying that much for frames. I do only wear my glasses at home, in the evenings and morning (wear contacts the rest of the time) so I'm not too concerned about style.

But I don't run with a crowd that would be impressed (or likely even notice) expensive frames

I do have a really nice brown Coach purse (bought at the Outlet) and a nice black Brighton purse (bought at GoodWill for $3) that I carry but I'm not sure I'd pay full price for either

I won't pay for eye glasses at the local shops either. Last year I ordered several pairs of eyeglasses from zenni. Prices ranged from $7-15 each. The one I like the best are the $7 ones. The ones I like the least are still good enough to wear around the house.

My boyf didn't like any of the frames at zenni but he did like some at 39dollarglasses. If you Like their FB page you can get a $15 off coupon code. (You can unlike it and relike to use it again.)

I really like high end hiking clothes, like The North Face, Marmot, etc. But I would never pay retail price. I do find clothes like that at goodwill and yard sales and have nice collection at $1-5 each.

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by eofelis

I won't pay for eye glasses at the local shops either. Last year I ordered several pairs of eyeglasses from zenni. Prices ranged from $7-15 each. The one I like the best are the $7 ones. The ones I like the least are still good enough to wear around the house.

My boyf didn't like any of the frames at zenni but he did like some at 39dollarglasses. If you Like their FB page you can get a $15 off coupon code. (You can unlike it and relike to use it again.)

I really like high end hiking clothes, like The North Face, Marmot, etc. But I would never pay retail price. I do find clothes like that at goodwill and yard sales and have nice collection at $1-5 each.

Yea, those glasses are cheap. To the point where you can get a new one every month and it will still end up cheaper. The only downside is that you're supporting China instead of the US and small business owners. But that's your choice.

[swgirl926]

Originally Posted by Tober138

Totally get your point swgirl296. But at the same time, if there is another person looking to buy these shoes for whom $800 is not a bi-weekly paycheck but maybe only a few days pay, then possibly the expense is not overly extravagant for them. In some respects, frugality is relative to one's income. What may seem outrageous to someone who makes $50k per year and supports a family of 4 may not seem that way to a single perosn who makes over $100k per year.

I understand that. There are probably people that think I am nuts for spending the money I have on certain things that I've bought. But a.) I can afford what I buy, and b.) I feel that the cost per use justifies the sticker price. For the people for whom money is no object, if they want to spend $1800 on face cream or thousands of dollars on something that's going to be consumed immediately, more power to them. They're probably making someone a handsome commission.

When I replied to this thread, though, those aren't the people whom I had in mind. I'm talking to people who are close enough to me for me to know that they can't really afford some of these things. I don't think that any of us are policing other people's purchases, or going around ripping items out of people's hands at the department store. I couldn't really care less of some celebrity whom I don't know wants to buy 500 pairs of shoes. But, when I'm standing there with my friend, who wants to blow her paycheck on a single pair of shoes, am I supposed to act like that's a great idea? What if, and I am totally speculating here, the people upthread whose friends are blowing thousands of dollars on sporting events and rock concerts and everything else, what if these friends are driving themselves into financial ruin? Like I said, I'm just speculating, but if that were the case, should we just stand by and say nothing?

I've seen many people really eff up their financial lives trying to achieve the skewed standard of living that we all see played out on TV and in the magazines. And I'm not condemning anyone, just stating my opinions.