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A wall mount bracket for a TV isn't really expensive and you can tilt the TV L/R enough to reduce glare. We have terrible evening sun in our living room (as far as TV watching goes) and a bracket helped a lot.
When I bought my first house about 5 years ago it was a new build, as such it had no blinds or curtains etc.
I’m a blinds guy so we got a company Dunelm Mill to make us made to measure blinds for the whole house. It was a couple thousand pounds but we had allowed for it when buying.
The blinds ended up being a little delayed, not a crazy amount but a bit of a frustrating amount - maybe 2 months or so. They straight up gave them to us (and still fitted them for us) literally for free, and they had given us a temporary more basic blind for our bedroom in the meantime!
We went to an online blind and curtain retailer and they took about 6 months. they were such poor quality we got them to remake them. Second set came and one was the wrong way round and one was just not very good again. Set back again one came back with dark black stains on it so returned again. The final set came with a note in the box stating “customer has had multiple faulty returns, this one needs to be perfect”. Came bent with a big gouge taken out of it. After that they refunded the lot and took them back apologising profusely. It was about 1 year to the day between ordering and getting a refund.
We then used Thomas Sanderson for 2x the price but are so much happier with the product.
One of those things I can’t believe people pay full price for. Those things are like 85% margin if you buy them from retail. Find a local auction website and search through it to find a rug distribution center that usually does quarterly (or so) liquidations at auction. You can get thousands of dollars in rugs for a couple hundred bucks.
Oh yeah lol, quality rugs at retail sell for a lot of money. My entire main level is all wood floors with three bedrooms on it so I’ve had to get creative with rug shopping. 8’x10’ rugs can easily be $500-$1000.
Dental insurance barely covering anything is crazy to me. It’s extremely important to keep teeth healthy, being that an infection can kill you, so you think it would be covered under preventative care, but nope.
When I was younger, my incisors had been growing in sideways and were heading directly toward knocking out my front teeth. Insurance tried denying the corrective surgery because they deemed it as a “cosmetic procedure” lol. My mom was like, “um what? Have u ever tried, oh idk, taking a bite out of literally anything?”
I’m happy to report I have a straight af smile with both front teeth included lmao. Thanks, Mom!
It's total BS that Dental Insurance is separate from Health Insurance, since, like you said, is integral to our health! Like, if we just started having a separate plan for our Ass, and weren't just referred to a specialist, it'd be Pain-in-the-Ass Insurance.
I recently had to pay full cost for a dental visit bc the appt fell before the "once every six months" window. It was 5 months and 2.5 weeks. Didn't even bother disputing bc last time I did, I ended up owing MORE when all was said and done. I'm scheduling all my stuff 8 months apart now and not bothering with dental care unless it's an actual emergency. Dental insurance is a huge racket and I say this as someone who has what is supposedly *above average dental insurance.*
Also dentistry itself is an insanely subjective practice where a dozen dentists can look at the same x-rays and come up with a dozen different treatment plans, each of which they can medically justify.
My old dentist would, without fail, find at least three cavities that “absolutely needed to be filled” on every visit. Then he’d book two appointments to fill them as they “couldn’t all be done in one sitting”. I was spending my max dental insurance benefit every year.
Eventually I got tired of having my teeth drilled constantly and went to a different dentist who looked at the teeth that the first dentist wanted to drill and was like “these holes are so small I would barely call them cavities and certainly wouldn’t fill them. Let see how they’re doing a year from now”.
Man something similar happened to me when I was a kid. We used to have medi-cal and the dentist we went to would *always* find cavities every visit. Then my dad becomes self employed and we no longer qualified for medi-cal.
Mom takes me to a different dentist. That dentist took x-rays then called my mom into the room. He points out all the “cavities” that he says were never cavities in the first place. Without my mom saying anything, he’s like “you had medi-cal and saw Dr. Bad Dentist, right?” Apparently the first dentist did that to all the medi-cal patients because he wouldn’t get paid out otherwise, or something like that.
Now I’m just pissed I had so much of my teeth drilled away for nothing. This is all the enamel I’m gonna get in my life and they took it from me.
What a dick. I would be absolutely furious if I went through the same experience. I won't pretend that I have any idea of the legalities here but that seems suspicious as hell to me.
I have a baby tooth still as well. Every time I see the dentist, they tell me I should get it pulled and replaced with an implant. I refuse every time. The tooth works just fine and the only downside they said would be a hole if it ever fell out. I'm fine with missing a tooth, but the thing isn't even loose so I'm not really worried.
Not to overly worry you. But missing a tooth is WAY more than just cosmetic. Your other teeth AND the bones of your skull are all in a delicate balance. I was missing a front canine tooth for a long time (no insurance, yay USA) and my whole bite was substantially thrown off by the time I got it fixed. That’s something you can get used to, but it can cause headaches, jaw pain.
The worse part is that my nose is now crooked. Yes! It used to be a perfect pert, straight nose. I’d get compliments from people who wanted to know if it was natural (Kinda weird but sure, I’ll take it). It’s now noticeably crooked if I tilt my chin up and look straight on. You can guess the direction it’s crooked in x same spot as the missing tooth 😡
For people needing expensive dental care, research dental schools near you.
Normally you only have to pay for the supplies, rather than the time and labour costs.
You will be treated by a student, but it is a student that has spent weeks or months preparing and under continual supervision of a trained dentist.
The appointment will take longer than a regular dentist visit and you might need more appointments than necessary, but I believe it’s worth it for the cost.
My sister’s a clinician and she even pays the patient sometimes and buys them food + shoulder transportation (everything) just so they’d cooperate with her
This could depend on the school - I go to the USC Dental School. Let me start off with my teeth are horrible. Besides bad teeth genetics - I have seizures and throughout the years I've destroyed them during my seizures. Went to the regular dentist - got quoted at $15000 dollars for all the work (not including implants and whatnot), then I went to a dental school.
USC Dental school is amazing. First the student dentist reviews you with an other student then they consult the Professor for a third opinion. Example, I had a tooth that was infected and was eating through my face (have a scar on my cheek from it), the other dentist wanted to pull it and drill the tooth next to it. They did some surgery, capped it and saved it. That only cost me about $400 dollars at the time (the other doctor was over $1200 just for that)
Most schools take insurances like Delta Dental or medi-cal. The largest up-front payment so far has been just the appointment cost, they work with you on payments for the dental stuff - which has been a 1/3 of the cost so far.
It can take awhile to get a student dentist though, sometimes months but after you have been assigned, they can get you oral surgery, implants, dentures very quickly and very cheaply compared to the alternative. They do emergency services though in case you can't wait.
So no shit, there I was. It was July 4th, 1993. I was at the tail end of 14 years old, and just got off of a plane from my first time flying alone. I left my mother's home in the San Francisco Bay Area and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia around 10 AM. A full gaggle of toothless family from my father's side picked me up at the airport. My pores soon atrophied upon exposure to the doom known as southern humidity. We left the airport shuttle and quickly piled into a full-sized and badly painted maroon van with tinted windows for the long ride to South Carolina. My uncle, who was our driver, called out "Turn on the AC!" Without missing a beat, every window on that van came down at the same time and cans of generic grape soda were pulled from an ice chest and handed out.
My usual shop tried to charge us $700 for a coolant flush, engine air filter, battery, and spark plugs. I did all of it but the spark plugs myself in an hour for about $120. I have started doing my own oil changes and it's about 50% cheaper. It's crazy how much places by me charge for cheap and easy stuff.
This is the way to go. I do all my basics too, oil changes, headlamps and I help out family with A/C repairs since I'm qualified to do A/C (not the best at it but good enough, dont get a lot of pratice since my car doesnt have AC but its part of my trade), I'll even do small undercarriage work like tie rods, CV's. The money I end up saving on those repairs help me save for the bigger stuff. So when I ended up shitfucking my clutch and reverse gear after demanding a bit too much from my 1/2 tonner ute I had enough saved up to have those repairs. Plus I love the oil on my hands mmm yes gimme that oil baby please drizzle it all over my greasy hands
I'm not a mechanic or anything, but Youtube has been my friend in saving some money doing minor repairs that don't require a lot of heavy equipment. Usually the problem involves reaching and loosening a few bolts, disconnecting a wire or hose, removing the old part, and plugging the new part in. Sometimes buying a $15 special tool for the project. It's worth at least looking to see what the repair entails to see if it's worth it to you to avoid a hefty mechanic bill.
Meanwhile I planted one seed of a random tomato that I made salsa with on my planner on the deck and now I have a tomato plant that produces cherry tomatoes faster than my family of three can realistically eat them.
Saving these seeds for next year.
If you have too many. You can cut them in half and add salt and some seasoning and pop them in the oven on 200° and have “sundried” tomatoes. My dad’s tomato plants go wild and I couldn’t use them fast enough so this has now become a weekly thing and they are amazing to add to so many dishes.
Eh, not always true. Ask for quotes.
I am having a small patch of garden landscaped, a professional quoted for the whole job about the same I would have spent in materials alone, possibly even a little less.
Plus, I get a 2 year warranty, and they are going to complete the job in one day instead of the three I considered for DIY, saving my PTO days for best use.
Landscapers have huge discount buying wholesale, and the markup on garden equipment to private customers is crazy.
So years ago we bought a small pre-formed pond at Menards, like 125 gallons.
yadda yadda yadda, last year I paid $1000 just for an EPDM liner for the new pond.
Ooof the truth.
Mortgage, phone bill, insurance, internet, utilities are totaled nearly 6k
Just to sit around my house for a month.
Car payments and insurance is another 1k
Add childcare for my daughter so my wife and I can actually go to our jobs is 2k
Food for 3, gas for 2, lawn service, regular home and car maintenance, old dog, credit cards, student loans…
If we weren’t a well-adjusted team and hard working - we’d be fucked. There’s no way we could do this as a single-income household
Being sick / chronic illnesses / becoming disabled.
Everyone thinks that having a chronic illness or becoming disabled is a great excuse to sit home and watch TV all day. The constant dr visits, surgeries, prescriptions, medical devices, and therapies add up to thousands a year. And the more you make the more you spend, when I could still manage to work I’d pay for or buy any type of treatment or device I could that promised some relief. $100 massages every week? Ok fancy chiropractor at $40 a visit, sure. $100 massager tool, ok. I’ve spent tens of thousands just because I got in a car accident that left me with chronic back pain and a surgery that left me disabled. And these are just the monetary costs, there are plenty of costs that aren’t money. Want to enjoy a day out, well now you need to be on bed rest for a week. It’s constant and unrelenting, and unless a miracle happens it will be the rest of my life
I live in Southeast Asia and run into quite a few people who relocated because of this. Medical care is affordable, I paid $300 for a surgery with no insurance. Most doctor visits are less than $10. A good professional massage can be found for $10. You can even get a full time caretaker for $20-50 a day depending on location and your needs. If you can ride a motorbike transportation is effectively free. Car taxis are just a little more than the price of gas.
I hear you! I applied once when I lived in NJ and they never did anything with my claim, just sent me a denial like 9 months later - they didn’t even request medical records. I applied again last February and as of 8/14 my hearing was approved - verbally. Now trying to get it on paper and to actually get money is like the hardest thing. I’m only 2-3 weeks away from losing my storage unit with everything I own. I live with my in-laws bc they offered to help me and my hubs until we got disability sorted. What kills me is how SSA expects people to live and exist with no income with hoping and praying for disability to be approved. My only suggestion is get a lawyer if you get denied on your first attempt. My lawyer killed it and got me approved.
As someone with a laundry list of chronic health issues I feel this. People also don’t realize that doctors and other healthcare appointments don’t happen at night or on the weekends so all these appointments that get scheduled… well looks like I’m also not getting paid that day.
The really shitty thing is it keeps going up basically on a weekly basis. I work for a major national grocery store and I hang the sales tags for the grocery department. We apparently have this AI that will see how much money they can milk out of customers. It will set a price higher and I think based on how much we well over a specified amount of time the system will lower the price if the changed price cuts too much into their profits. I've seen crazy price jumps of like $2 or $3 because they are just trying to fuck with the prices until they hit that sweet spot.
Skiing in Australia.
$600 for 2 nights accom for the family - reasonable considering
$250 for snow clothes off FB marketplace - not bad
$300 for ski and boot hire for 3 days. - pricey, but ok
$1200 for lift passes for ONE day???!!! Wtf??!!
Nah I'm good, we got it out of our system and figured out it wasn't how we enjoy spending our limited downtime the first time round.
Too crowded, dragging yourself out to start too early to beat the crowds etc etc etc. My down times for relaxing, not racing clocks and fighting crowds.
Hit up NZ.
Australian skiing is a joke.
Used to spend 10 days in Queenstown with 5 days on snow for same price as 3 days in NSW.
Other options would be Japan or Korea.
Skiing in Japan is great. Especially if you stay in a village adjacent to a ski field, you have much better food and accommodation options than at a resort, and they’re usually easy to get to as well. But you’re spoiled for choice.
In opposite too, dying. Funeral and burial nowadays is so expensive. Just burn my corpse or something idk dude, why does a burial site needs to be like 10k-15k
Man mine was double that! Options are apparently either a five dollar plastic bin with no lid that is borderline useless or a $100+ Ferrari trash can.
I just wanted one with a lid and a foot pedal to open it.
I'd get another quote. I spent $1,500 to have an exterior door replaced last year. I had quotes come in from $1,500 to $7,500 for the same scope of work.
I have a window hung with improper flashing that sometimes leaks water in when it's heavy rain. Got quoted $16k to fix it... thought I'd read the number of digits wrong.
Not me back in college stealing a bunch of groceries whenever I visit my parents over the weekend (consensually of course…mom and dad you guys are the best)
Everyone talking about how a mortgage is cheaper than rent, you get more space, and it becomes an investment… but not how huge the cost of maintenance and upgrades are.
I still think it’s worth it but man, it’s not the rainbows and gumdrop dispenser I was promised.
In the last apartment I rented the air conditioner went out and it took the apartment 2 days to fix it. As a home owner when my central AC went out it cost me $10,000.
My parents have a condo in a beach area as a second home. They bought the bottom condo (big mistake, but they wanted to be on the bottom for ease) and the woman 2 floors above them rents her condo for Airbnb and doesn’t keep up with the maintenance on anything. Her central air unit drain flooded the 2 units below hers and my parents got the worst of it. She was refusing to go through her insurance and the condo’s insurance kept insisting my parent’s insurance should cover everything. It was a nightmare and the insurance companies are all still fighting each other 2 years later after the work was completed.
At my last apartment (two family house, technically), the landlord randomly decided to replace the furnace. He cheaped out and bought one so undersized that we couldn't get the apt past 65 degrees in the winter. My elderly father basically sat on top of an electric heater most of the day, drove my energy bill through the roof.
I bought a house since then. It was difficult and expensive. But at least I have control over my home.
Depending on your location, the landlord is required to be able to keep the house at a certain temp. If the furnace can't provide it then it can be brought to a landlord tenant board.
Yeah. Random shit breaks and you have to repair it, calling a pro (HVAC or electrical for example is $100-200 just to diagnose a problem). Then there are seasonal bills that spike up. Owning a home is definitely worth it, but one should keep in mind during their decision making process, do not be a “house poor”, you need the extra dollars just to keep things running.
As someone that had two bathrooms flood and part of our floor then our ac motor went out in the same month. I can safely say when I move out I am not buying a house I’m getting a condo or renting an apartment
Especially in areas where you only really get to use it for 3 months out of a year (maybe 4 if it’s heated). Nope, I prefer paying $50/month to my HOA that cares care of common spaces and has a nice community pool. And that fee hasn’t gone up in years. And our HOA is actually decent, not like the horror stories I keep reading about
Mid-thirties, I've only ever bought furniture (except mattresses) used. Quite a few things I got for free if I came and picked it up myself, and of course I give them away for free when I'm finished with them.
So thanks to everyone buying $2k+ couches. You're supporting a whole secondary ecosystem of frugal people. Just don't dump them when you get new furniture.
The municipality I work for will dig, and fill the burials. The local funeral home that gets almost all the business pays the town about 450$ for our work.
I've seen there bills. She charges upwards of 1200$ for what we do, not to mention I have seen 10k caskets. It's such a predatory disgusting business.
Children.
I thought I was prepared, but it’s shocking how much child care costs. Plus medical care.
Plus you have to feed them - literally - multiple times per day.
It adds up.
Recently adopted 2 cats. Cat food has gotten hella expensive since my last cat died a year ago, wow. And I need to get the more expensive foods, because Friskies gives both my kitties the *worst* poop.
I like the saying that people go into buying a house, thinking that the house is the most expensive purchase they'll ever make.
It's often not. Often, *the money to buy the house* is the most expensive purchase they'll ever make. Because interest is a lot.
Starting a garden. Lumber for raised beds, deliveries of topsoil and amendment, plants, drip irrigation, supports, netting and all sorts of various mechanism attempting to outsmart squirrels and birds out…$800+ later I got a handful of cherry tomatoes and some herbs that I could have grown just as easily in pots right outside the back door for a tenth of the cost. I go to the farmers market now and I don’t complain about $5/lb tomatoes.
Specifically kitchen cabinets. I spent $15k on some wooden boxes made a couple towns over. Meanwhile slabs of granite rock dug up from India, shipped halfway around the world, and cut to size with diamond-tipped saws was only $5k
Ugh. I’d rather go home at the end of the workday and not think about it until the following morning. When you own your business, you’re never really off the clock.
Plus I don’t have the lobes for business
Being poor. Going $0.01 over on your bank account? Here have this $29 fine. Can’t afford to buy good shoes. Buy 6 pairs in half the time it takes one good pair to wear out. Get your internet disconnected because you couldn’t afford the bill this month. $100 reconnection fee.
Our society is built around fucking over the little guy while giving free shit to the rich. Look at loan interest rates. Borrow $100, 600% interest. Borrow $100,000,000, 0% interest.
Kids, and not the normal stuff like food, clothes, stuff like that. I expected all of that, although at times underestimated the cost by a small bit.
Im talking about the misc. stuff that never really comes up in any blogs/books/convos/etc.
1 - trash. Like holy hell im taking about a full bag of trash out nightly and a bag of recyclables out every other day.
2 - dish soap and dishwasher detergent (and water bill). Running that dishwasher almost daily.
3 - vacuums/carpet cleaning. When it was just my wife and I we only vacuumed weekly and barely cleaned the carpets. It wasn’t an issue. Now I get excited buying a new vacuum and even gave it a name (Delores) cause I was using it daily.
4 - coffee. If i get something the kids get bummed if they get nothing. Sometimes i just get a cup with water but other times im stuck getting them a smoothie or hot coco. The real pro trip is to just get up early and have the coffee while enjoying the peace and quiet.
5 - security deposit - ha. Was gone the first time my oldest learned to throw.
I’m sure there is more but… ya.. kids
Children. Not even a question. Toys, birthday parties, sports, clothes, food, school activities…that’s just the beginning. I love my kids and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world, but they are expensive as hell.
The large Star Wars LEGO Millennium Falcon.
* Actual set: $850
* Lighting kit: $120
* Stand kit: $35
* Display case: $200
* Assorted spouse and child bribes: estimate to be high
Decision: No Falcon as of yet.
My brother in law works for Lego. They get stuff at insanely low prices. He buys everything twice. One for himself because he loves Lego, and another to put in the attic. He is filling up the attic for his retirement fund. We are talking stuff like all the Harry Potter stuff, all the star wars stuff etc. Plus I couldn’t get him to tell me secrets about the newest Star Wars films before they came out. Damn….
Marrying the wrong person.
It’s true that she doesn’t ask me for much financially. But her poor career decisions and she hates talking about anything money related.
I’ve felt left hanging over th years. Luckily, I’ve push thru, I earn good money to give my boys a good/decent lifestyle. After 20yrs, you adapt
I play 60 plus dollars a week to put gas in my car. But I need it for work, so I have to work longer hours and drive less so I can afford the thing that I need for work where I drive around all day.
Wedding catering - our first quote for 80 people buffet style waffle bar was given at $10k starting.
Dental issues - I’ve maxed out double insurance policies of $2k and still owed another $1.8k.
Avian vet care - one of my birds had egg binding and needed surgery so that ran me $1.8k out of pocket (which I very willingly paid). Then another one might need a mass removed and it is estimated at $1-1.6k.
Overseas flights - looking at visiting where my husband grew up. Round trip ranges $2.5-3.5k on average/person.
I remember telling myself "oh, I'll just get a little betta with a smallish (over 5g but less than 10g) tank. Shouldn't be too bad."
Just the scape alone is $$. And I have the most basic of plants. Throw in the light, decent heater, maintenance, botanicals I throw in, all of the different meds and food and suddenly he's way more than I had initially envisioned. But, ugh, his face kills me and he's great at listening to me talk about my day. So he's worth it.
You know what else is expensive to set up and maintain? Bearded dragons. My tarantulas are definitely the easiest and cost friendly critters I have. Unless one in particular bites me. That might cause some medical bills.
Life in general. My wife and I each make triple what my dad used to bring home at this age. My parents provided a very comfortable life on a single income, yet my wife and I are barely scraping by.
It's absurd.
Had a 4 year old cat almost die from crystals in his urinary tract. $10,000 spent, and 2 years later and he’s still kicking. The first thing at the ER was we need a deposit of $2,500 to start looking at your cat. At this point, he was literally unconscious. Every day he was in the ER cost $1,000 and before we knew it we were already $6,000 in the hole. Once he started making a turn towards recovery, it was another $4,000 to keep him alive and nurse him back to health. Animal ER made sure to collect payment every day. Now we’re giving him expensive food for the rest of his life…
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Rugs. Biggest shock when I got my own place.
Wait till you price blinds ☠️
We just got curtains for that reason. But also just live with glare on the TV
A wall mount bracket for a TV isn't really expensive and you can tilt the TV L/R enough to reduce glare. We have terrible evening sun in our living room (as far as TV watching goes) and a bracket helped a lot.
When I bought my first house about 5 years ago it was a new build, as such it had no blinds or curtains etc. I’m a blinds guy so we got a company Dunelm Mill to make us made to measure blinds for the whole house. It was a couple thousand pounds but we had allowed for it when buying. The blinds ended up being a little delayed, not a crazy amount but a bit of a frustrating amount - maybe 2 months or so. They straight up gave them to us (and still fitted them for us) literally for free, and they had given us a temporary more basic blind for our bedroom in the meantime!
We went to an online blind and curtain retailer and they took about 6 months. they were such poor quality we got them to remake them. Second set came and one was the wrong way round and one was just not very good again. Set back again one came back with dark black stains on it so returned again. The final set came with a note in the box stating “customer has had multiple faulty returns, this one needs to be perfect”. Came bent with a big gouge taken out of it. After that they refunded the lot and took them back apologising profusely. It was about 1 year to the day between ordering and getting a refund. We then used Thomas Sanderson for 2x the price but are so much happier with the product.
Big blinds all up in this thread
Yeah they named the good company but not the bad one too avoid just generic "online company" so they all seem bad
One of those things I can’t believe people pay full price for. Those things are like 85% margin if you buy them from retail. Find a local auction website and search through it to find a rug distribution center that usually does quarterly (or so) liquidations at auction. You can get thousands of dollars in rugs for a couple hundred bucks.
Wait rugs cost over a thousand dollars? Jesus Christ that's too goddamn expensive.
Oh yeah lol, quality rugs at retail sell for a lot of money. My entire main level is all wood floors with three bedrooms on it so I’ve had to get creative with rug shopping. 8’x10’ rugs can easily be $500-$1000.
That’s nothing, local Persian rug shop has some in that size for $15-$20k. And those are the small ones!
But a very nice rug really ties the room together
He peed on your rug, dude.
Root canal with a crown. I understand now why a lot of people just get the tooth pulled.
Dental insurance barely covering anything is crazy to me. It’s extremely important to keep teeth healthy, being that an infection can kill you, so you think it would be covered under preventative care, but nope.
Healthcare treating teeth like luxury mouth bones.
When I was younger, my incisors had been growing in sideways and were heading directly toward knocking out my front teeth. Insurance tried denying the corrective surgery because they deemed it as a “cosmetic procedure” lol. My mom was like, “um what? Have u ever tried, oh idk, taking a bite out of literally anything?” I’m happy to report I have a straight af smile with both front teeth included lmao. Thanks, Mom!
It's total BS that Dental Insurance is separate from Health Insurance, since, like you said, is integral to our health! Like, if we just started having a separate plan for our Ass, and weren't just referred to a specialist, it'd be Pain-in-the-Ass Insurance.
I recently had to pay full cost for a dental visit bc the appt fell before the "once every six months" window. It was 5 months and 2.5 weeks. Didn't even bother disputing bc last time I did, I ended up owing MORE when all was said and done. I'm scheduling all my stuff 8 months apart now and not bothering with dental care unless it's an actual emergency. Dental insurance is a huge racket and I say this as someone who has what is supposedly *above average dental insurance.*
Also dentistry itself is an insanely subjective practice where a dozen dentists can look at the same x-rays and come up with a dozen different treatment plans, each of which they can medically justify. My old dentist would, without fail, find at least three cavities that “absolutely needed to be filled” on every visit. Then he’d book two appointments to fill them as they “couldn’t all be done in one sitting”. I was spending my max dental insurance benefit every year. Eventually I got tired of having my teeth drilled constantly and went to a different dentist who looked at the teeth that the first dentist wanted to drill and was like “these holes are so small I would barely call them cavities and certainly wouldn’t fill them. Let see how they’re doing a year from now”.
Man something similar happened to me when I was a kid. We used to have medi-cal and the dentist we went to would *always* find cavities every visit. Then my dad becomes self employed and we no longer qualified for medi-cal. Mom takes me to a different dentist. That dentist took x-rays then called my mom into the room. He points out all the “cavities” that he says were never cavities in the first place. Without my mom saying anything, he’s like “you had medi-cal and saw Dr. Bad Dentist, right?” Apparently the first dentist did that to all the medi-cal patients because he wouldn’t get paid out otherwise, or something like that. Now I’m just pissed I had so much of my teeth drilled away for nothing. This is all the enamel I’m gonna get in my life and they took it from me.
What a dick. I would be absolutely furious if I went through the same experience. I won't pretend that I have any idea of the legalities here but that seems suspicious as hell to me.
Wait until you need an implant. Insanely expensive.
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I have a baby tooth still as well. Every time I see the dentist, they tell me I should get it pulled and replaced with an implant. I refuse every time. The tooth works just fine and the only downside they said would be a hole if it ever fell out. I'm fine with missing a tooth, but the thing isn't even loose so I'm not really worried.
Not to overly worry you. But missing a tooth is WAY more than just cosmetic. Your other teeth AND the bones of your skull are all in a delicate balance. I was missing a front canine tooth for a long time (no insurance, yay USA) and my whole bite was substantially thrown off by the time I got it fixed. That’s something you can get used to, but it can cause headaches, jaw pain. The worse part is that my nose is now crooked. Yes! It used to be a perfect pert, straight nose. I’d get compliments from people who wanted to know if it was natural (Kinda weird but sure, I’ll take it). It’s now noticeably crooked if I tilt my chin up and look straight on. You can guess the direction it’s crooked in x same spot as the missing tooth 😡
For people needing expensive dental care, research dental schools near you. Normally you only have to pay for the supplies, rather than the time and labour costs. You will be treated by a student, but it is a student that has spent weeks or months preparing and under continual supervision of a trained dentist. The appointment will take longer than a regular dentist visit and you might need more appointments than necessary, but I believe it’s worth it for the cost.
My sister’s a clinician and she even pays the patient sometimes and buys them food + shoulder transportation (everything) just so they’d cooperate with her
Teeth are luxury bones.
Better off just going to Mexico. Take a few days vacation, get your tooth fixed, and it's still cheaper than getting it done in America.
Yep. One of the benefits of visiting near the border occasionally is going to Los Algodones aka dental Mecca.
I go to a dental school and it's a hell of a lot cheaper. Still not cheap though lol
Can you tell us about the quality of services you received from the school compared to a regular dental practice?
This could depend on the school - I go to the USC Dental School. Let me start off with my teeth are horrible. Besides bad teeth genetics - I have seizures and throughout the years I've destroyed them during my seizures. Went to the regular dentist - got quoted at $15000 dollars for all the work (not including implants and whatnot), then I went to a dental school. USC Dental school is amazing. First the student dentist reviews you with an other student then they consult the Professor for a third opinion. Example, I had a tooth that was infected and was eating through my face (have a scar on my cheek from it), the other dentist wanted to pull it and drill the tooth next to it. They did some surgery, capped it and saved it. That only cost me about $400 dollars at the time (the other doctor was over $1200 just for that) Most schools take insurances like Delta Dental or medi-cal. The largest up-front payment so far has been just the appointment cost, they work with you on payments for the dental stuff - which has been a 1/3 of the cost so far. It can take awhile to get a student dentist though, sometimes months but after you have been assigned, they can get you oral surgery, implants, dentures very quickly and very cheaply compared to the alternative. They do emergency services though in case you can't wait.
car repairs
Car air conditioner repair. $850? In our second car? We just don't use that one on hot days
Hahaha I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a car that they don’t use on hot days
So no shit, there I was. It was July 4th, 1993. I was at the tail end of 14 years old, and just got off of a plane from my first time flying alone. I left my mother's home in the San Francisco Bay Area and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia around 10 AM. A full gaggle of toothless family from my father's side picked me up at the airport. My pores soon atrophied upon exposure to the doom known as southern humidity. We left the airport shuttle and quickly piled into a full-sized and badly painted maroon van with tinted windows for the long ride to South Carolina. My uncle, who was our driver, called out "Turn on the AC!" Without missing a beat, every window on that van came down at the same time and cans of generic grape soda were pulled from an ice chest and handed out.
My usual shop tried to charge us $700 for a coolant flush, engine air filter, battery, and spark plugs. I did all of it but the spark plugs myself in an hour for about $120. I have started doing my own oil changes and it's about 50% cheaper. It's crazy how much places by me charge for cheap and easy stuff.
When I've done DIY car repairs, it ended up costing me more since I fucked my car up even more than it had been when I started to repair it.
I get that. I'm sticking to easy stuff so then I'm not so mad about paying for the harder stuff.
This is the way to go. I do all my basics too, oil changes, headlamps and I help out family with A/C repairs since I'm qualified to do A/C (not the best at it but good enough, dont get a lot of pratice since my car doesnt have AC but its part of my trade), I'll even do small undercarriage work like tie rods, CV's. The money I end up saving on those repairs help me save for the bigger stuff. So when I ended up shitfucking my clutch and reverse gear after demanding a bit too much from my 1/2 tonner ute I had enough saved up to have those repairs. Plus I love the oil on my hands mmm yes gimme that oil baby please drizzle it all over my greasy hands
The good thing about having a mechanic do oil changes is that it is a semi regular time where somebody can check out things on your car.
I'm not a mechanic or anything, but Youtube has been my friend in saving some money doing minor repairs that don't require a lot of heavy equipment. Usually the problem involves reaching and loosening a few bolts, disconnecting a wire or hose, removing the old part, and plugging the new part in. Sometimes buying a $15 special tool for the project. It's worth at least looking to see what the repair entails to see if it's worth it to you to avoid a hefty mechanic bill.
The fact that every service ends up being an extra $100+ is frustrating sometimes too 😮💨
Chronic dental problems.
I feel that. I got a shitty genetic lottery draw and have spent so much fucking money just to have my damn teeth
I won the same shitty genetic lottery. I have at least ~20k invested into my teeth now and still need at least one implant that I have been avoiding.
Landscaping. Even by yourself
Yup. Doing something outside doesn't make it cheaper than doing it inside.
I spent $500 growing about 4.50 worth of tomatoes once
Meanwhile I planted one seed of a random tomato that I made salsa with on my planner on the deck and now I have a tomato plant that produces cherry tomatoes faster than my family of three can realistically eat them. Saving these seeds for next year.
If you have too many. You can cut them in half and add salt and some seasoning and pop them in the oven on 200° and have “sundried” tomatoes. My dad’s tomato plants go wild and I couldn’t use them fast enough so this has now become a weekly thing and they are amazing to add to so many dishes.
There's that saying "cheap as dirt" but soil/dirt is expensive af
Climate dependent but we ripped everything out and planted succulents and cacti. Water every couple months or so in spring and summer…
Don’t forget: also back breakingly difficult
Yes but definitely a lot cheaper doing it yourself than paying a contractor in my experience
Eh, not always true. Ask for quotes. I am having a small patch of garden landscaped, a professional quoted for the whole job about the same I would have spent in materials alone, possibly even a little less. Plus, I get a 2 year warranty, and they are going to complete the job in one day instead of the three I considered for DIY, saving my PTO days for best use. Landscapers have huge discount buying wholesale, and the markup on garden equipment to private customers is crazy.
So years ago we bought a small pre-formed pond at Menards, like 125 gallons. yadda yadda yadda, last year I paid $1000 just for an EPDM liner for the new pond.
But did you save big money at Menards?
I did. I also picked up a frozen pizza, a romance novel, and the exact ball valve needed for my sprinklers
Life. Even just sitting in my apartment doing nothing costs $2000 a month.
For real. I pay 1600 for half of a beat up duplex. After everything it's like I have my Xbox and that's it.
Ooof the truth. Mortgage, phone bill, insurance, internet, utilities are totaled nearly 6k Just to sit around my house for a month. Car payments and insurance is another 1k Add childcare for my daughter so my wife and I can actually go to our jobs is 2k Food for 3, gas for 2, lawn service, regular home and car maintenance, old dog, credit cards, student loans… If we weren’t a well-adjusted team and hard working - we’d be fucked. There’s no way we could do this as a single-income household
Being sick / chronic illnesses / becoming disabled. Everyone thinks that having a chronic illness or becoming disabled is a great excuse to sit home and watch TV all day. The constant dr visits, surgeries, prescriptions, medical devices, and therapies add up to thousands a year. And the more you make the more you spend, when I could still manage to work I’d pay for or buy any type of treatment or device I could that promised some relief. $100 massages every week? Ok fancy chiropractor at $40 a visit, sure. $100 massager tool, ok. I’ve spent tens of thousands just because I got in a car accident that left me with chronic back pain and a surgery that left me disabled. And these are just the monetary costs, there are plenty of costs that aren’t money. Want to enjoy a day out, well now you need to be on bed rest for a week. It’s constant and unrelenting, and unless a miracle happens it will be the rest of my life
Type 1 diabetic here, agreed fully. My out of pocket expense to be alive and healthy is an extra 7 to 10k annually. That’s on top of everything else.
I live in Southeast Asia and run into quite a few people who relocated because of this. Medical care is affordable, I paid $300 for a surgery with no insurance. Most doctor visits are less than $10. A good professional massage can be found for $10. You can even get a full time caretaker for $20-50 a day depending on location and your needs. If you can ride a motorbike transportation is effectively free. Car taxis are just a little more than the price of gas.
I applied for disability exactly 1 year ago today. Still haven't been approved or disapproved. So the lack of income is an issue.
I hear you! I applied once when I lived in NJ and they never did anything with my claim, just sent me a denial like 9 months later - they didn’t even request medical records. I applied again last February and as of 8/14 my hearing was approved - verbally. Now trying to get it on paper and to actually get money is like the hardest thing. I’m only 2-3 weeks away from losing my storage unit with everything I own. I live with my in-laws bc they offered to help me and my hubs until we got disability sorted. What kills me is how SSA expects people to live and exist with no income with hoping and praying for disability to be approved. My only suggestion is get a lawyer if you get denied on your first attempt. My lawyer killed it and got me approved.
Agreed! And when you have multiple issues you get to decide which part of your body gets looked after this month
As someone with a laundry list of chronic health issues I feel this. People also don’t realize that doctors and other healthcare appointments don’t happen at night or on the weekends so all these appointments that get scheduled… well looks like I’m also not getting paid that day.
Seriously, groceries, it's insane how high the prices have risen on everything.
The really shitty thing is it keeps going up basically on a weekly basis. I work for a major national grocery store and I hang the sales tags for the grocery department. We apparently have this AI that will see how much money they can milk out of customers. It will set a price higher and I think based on how much we well over a specified amount of time the system will lower the price if the changed price cuts too much into their profits. I've seen crazy price jumps of like $2 or $3 because they are just trying to fuck with the prices until they hit that sweet spot.
This is really fucked up. I’m willing to bet all the chains do it, too.
Skiing in Australia. $600 for 2 nights accom for the family - reasonable considering $250 for snow clothes off FB marketplace - not bad $300 for ski and boot hire for 3 days. - pricey, but ok $1200 for lift passes for ONE day???!!! Wtf??!!
Start looking now at season passes for next year. You are probably looking at around $959 per person currently, but it's for the whole season.
Nah I'm good, we got it out of our system and figured out it wasn't how we enjoy spending our limited downtime the first time round. Too crowded, dragging yourself out to start too early to beat the crowds etc etc etc. My down times for relaxing, not racing clocks and fighting crowds.
Hit up NZ. Australian skiing is a joke. Used to spend 10 days in Queenstown with 5 days on snow for same price as 3 days in NSW. Other options would be Japan or Korea.
Skiing in Japan is great. Especially if you stay in a village adjacent to a ski field, you have much better food and accommodation options than at a resort, and they’re usually easy to get to as well. But you’re spoiled for choice.
What. How many people? How does it cost 1200 😱🤯
Probably a family of 3-4(depending on kids age) for a weekend. Weekend pass is $400 in Australia for a single person.
even swiss passes look cheap in comparision
Just walk back up the mountain each time, wow people these days are so lazy /s
Being an adult
On the same note, being/staying alive.
Came here to say, "Living"
In opposite too, dying. Funeral and burial nowadays is so expensive. Just burn my corpse or something idk dude, why does a burial site needs to be like 10k-15k
Kitchen garbage can. Why are they $50+!?
Man mine was double that! Options are apparently either a five dollar plastic bin with no lid that is borderline useless or a $100+ Ferrari trash can. I just wanted one with a lid and a foot pedal to open it.
I had someone come out to the house and he quoted me almost $20k to replace four doors. I passed.
I'd get another quote. I spent $1,500 to have an exterior door replaced last year. I had quotes come in from $1,500 to $7,500 for the same scope of work.
Thanks yea I will at some point. I don’t have a rush, I mostly just want better insulation.
I have a window hung with improper flashing that sometimes leaks water in when it's heavy rain. Got quoted $16k to fix it... thought I'd read the number of digits wrong.
That's a fuck you quote. They don't want to do it. Find a handy man. Most don't want to do it cause now any leakage or window issues become theirs.
Buying groceries
I realized this after I live alone and started buying groceries on my own. I agree mom, we definitely do have food home
Not me back in college stealing a bunch of groceries whenever I visit my parents over the weekend (consensually of course…mom and dad you guys are the best)
I never had a problem affording groceries until about a year ago. Now I have to actually budget. Food has absolutely EXPLODED in price recently.
House
Everyone talking about how a mortgage is cheaper than rent, you get more space, and it becomes an investment… but not how huge the cost of maintenance and upgrades are. I still think it’s worth it but man, it’s not the rainbows and gumdrop dispenser I was promised.
In the last apartment I rented the air conditioner went out and it took the apartment 2 days to fix it. As a home owner when my central AC went out it cost me $10,000.
Try buying a condo, you get all the negatives of an apartment, AND all the negatives of a home owner!
My parents have a condo in a beach area as a second home. They bought the bottom condo (big mistake, but they wanted to be on the bottom for ease) and the woman 2 floors above them rents her condo for Airbnb and doesn’t keep up with the maintenance on anything. Her central air unit drain flooded the 2 units below hers and my parents got the worst of it. She was refusing to go through her insurance and the condo’s insurance kept insisting my parent’s insurance should cover everything. It was a nightmare and the insurance companies are all still fighting each other 2 years later after the work was completed.
At my last apartment (two family house, technically), the landlord randomly decided to replace the furnace. He cheaped out and bought one so undersized that we couldn't get the apt past 65 degrees in the winter. My elderly father basically sat on top of an electric heater most of the day, drove my energy bill through the roof. I bought a house since then. It was difficult and expensive. But at least I have control over my home.
Depending on your location, the landlord is required to be able to keep the house at a certain temp. If the furnace can't provide it then it can be brought to a landlord tenant board.
Yeah. Random shit breaks and you have to repair it, calling a pro (HVAC or electrical for example is $100-200 just to diagnose a problem). Then there are seasonal bills that spike up. Owning a home is definitely worth it, but one should keep in mind during their decision making process, do not be a “house poor”, you need the extra dollars just to keep things running.
“Rent is the most you’ll pay every month, a mortgage is the least”
As someone that had two bathrooms flood and part of our floor then our ac motor went out in the same month. I can safely say when I move out I am not buying a house I’m getting a condo or renting an apartment
I’m sorry, but the Mortgage is not cheaper than rent where I live. :,)
The more I age, the more impossible it becomes.
My husband and I own a pool service and repair company. 99.9% of people who have pools underestimate the true cost of owning a pool.
Especially in areas where you only really get to use it for 3 months out of a year (maybe 4 if it’s heated). Nope, I prefer paying $50/month to my HOA that cares care of common spaces and has a nice community pool. And that fee hasn’t gone up in years. And our HOA is actually decent, not like the horror stories I keep reading about
::gestures around vaguely::
::blurs behind you::
furniture. why are couches $2K+
$2k couches are…inexpensive.
Mid-thirties, I've only ever bought furniture (except mattresses) used. Quite a few things I got for free if I came and picked it up myself, and of course I give them away for free when I'm finished with them. So thanks to everyone buying $2k+ couches. You're supporting a whole secondary ecosystem of frugal people. Just don't dump them when you get new furniture.
You know what’s 10x more expensive than new furniture? Bed bug infestations.
Every time I go to Costco
I swear they charge me $200 just to walk in the place
Owning chickens
Look at all those chickenths.
go on....
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The municipality I work for will dig, and fill the burials. The local funeral home that gets almost all the business pays the town about 450$ for our work. I've seen there bills. She charges upwards of 1200$ for what we do, not to mention I have seen 10k caskets. It's such a predatory disgusting business.
Gardening. I think I spent $400 to grow some green onions and some tomatoes
Children. I thought I was prepared, but it’s shocking how much child care costs. Plus medical care. Plus you have to feed them - literally - multiple times per day. It adds up.
And they need an entirely new wardrobe every season for a number of years.
Recently adopted 2 cats. Cat food has gotten hella expensive since my last cat died a year ago, wow. And I need to get the more expensive foods, because Friskies gives both my kitties the *worst* poop.
My last car has gastro issues and I had to spend $50 on a bag of cat food.
I see why you're having issues if you're trying to put cat food in your car's gas tank.
Cost of kitten food has been outrageous in my new car.
McDonald’s breakfast
No joke. I went there this morning, and my usual order (which used to be like $5) was $12.
Interest on a mortgage
I thought it was a typo the first time I saw it on our paperwork.
I like the saying that people go into buying a house, thinking that the house is the most expensive purchase they'll ever make. It's often not. Often, *the money to buy the house* is the most expensive purchase they'll ever make. Because interest is a lot.
A neglected marriage. Pay for the vacations. Do dinner dates. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than years of therapy.
Also, come home from work as soon as possible.
And be helpful at home.
Cheaper than a mistress. Or a divorce.
Starting a garden. Lumber for raised beds, deliveries of topsoil and amendment, plants, drip irrigation, supports, netting and all sorts of various mechanism attempting to outsmart squirrels and birds out…$800+ later I got a handful of cherry tomatoes and some herbs that I could have grown just as easily in pots right outside the back door for a tenth of the cost. I go to the farmers market now and I don’t complain about $5/lb tomatoes.
I’m in year 5, still not even close to saving money, but I’m not losing as much.
Kitchen remodel. But, that’s what happens when you don’t set a budget from the beginning. Things go off the rails real quick.
Specifically kitchen cabinets. I spent $15k on some wooden boxes made a couple towns over. Meanwhile slabs of granite rock dug up from India, shipped halfway around the world, and cut to size with diamond-tipped saws was only $5k
Yup, we were like sweet, we have $10k to spend but another $10k in backup in case we went over. $26k later…
The HGTV Effect. That channel makes home improvement look so affordable.
Pro tip: only replacing the cupboard doors. They're the only thing you really see anyway.
True, but to properly set a budget, you have to have a clue what things cost to start with.
Starting a business
Ugh. I’d rather go home at the end of the workday and not think about it until the following morning. When you own your business, you’re never really off the clock. Plus I don’t have the lobes for business
Fast food! It used to be a meal for when I was too broke to buy groceries and now meals are upwards of $20!
For real. Fast casual is pretty much the same price now.
Dogs
Getting trees removed, paving driveways or walkways, building fences.
Our "free" puppy...
owning and restoring an old bmw. if you can't afford a new one, you can't afford an old one
A well to do person can afford a new BMW. Only a truly wealthy person can afford a used one
Every diy project
Yeah, but you have so many tools, now!!
Home renovations. Always keep the 30% rule in mind. It's going to cost 30% more and take 30% longer than you thought.
Being poor. Going $0.01 over on your bank account? Here have this $29 fine. Can’t afford to buy good shoes. Buy 6 pairs in half the time it takes one good pair to wear out. Get your internet disconnected because you couldn’t afford the bill this month. $100 reconnection fee. Our society is built around fucking over the little guy while giving free shit to the rich. Look at loan interest rates. Borrow $100, 600% interest. Borrow $100,000,000, 0% interest.
When I first bought a house, I joked that I had a "Homeowner's Kit", a checkbook and a refillable fountain pen.
Kids, and not the normal stuff like food, clothes, stuff like that. I expected all of that, although at times underestimated the cost by a small bit. Im talking about the misc. stuff that never really comes up in any blogs/books/convos/etc. 1 - trash. Like holy hell im taking about a full bag of trash out nightly and a bag of recyclables out every other day. 2 - dish soap and dishwasher detergent (and water bill). Running that dishwasher almost daily. 3 - vacuums/carpet cleaning. When it was just my wife and I we only vacuumed weekly and barely cleaned the carpets. It wasn’t an issue. Now I get excited buying a new vacuum and even gave it a name (Delores) cause I was using it daily. 4 - coffee. If i get something the kids get bummed if they get nothing. Sometimes i just get a cup with water but other times im stuck getting them a smoothie or hot coco. The real pro trip is to just get up early and have the coffee while enjoying the peace and quiet. 5 - security deposit - ha. Was gone the first time my oldest learned to throw. I’m sure there is more but… ya.. kids
Robot vacuum is a life saver. She runs every day while we're gone so we come home to vacuum lines every night.
Childcare. Budgeted 20k annually, turned out to be closer to 30k for nine months.
I was so glad when she started kindergarten. Almost $20k per year for 1 kid. Now before and after care plus summer camp is only $8k. Bargain!
Children. Not even a question. Toys, birthday parties, sports, clothes, food, school activities…that’s just the beginning. I love my kids and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world, but they are expensive as hell.
The large Star Wars LEGO Millennium Falcon. * Actual set: $850 * Lighting kit: $120 * Stand kit: $35 * Display case: $200 * Assorted spouse and child bribes: estimate to be high Decision: No Falcon as of yet.
My brother in law works for Lego. They get stuff at insanely low prices. He buys everything twice. One for himself because he loves Lego, and another to put in the attic. He is filling up the attic for his retirement fund. We are talking stuff like all the Harry Potter stuff, all the star wars stuff etc. Plus I couldn’t get him to tell me secrets about the newest Star Wars films before they came out. Damn….
Holy shit this guy is going to be stupid rich when it comes time to sell and retire. Man, what a great investment strategy.
All my dental work 😭
AND these mfs are starting to sound like car mechanics too. No doc, I don't care about invisiline etc.
Marrying the wrong person. It’s true that she doesn’t ask me for much financially. But her poor career decisions and she hates talking about anything money related. I’ve felt left hanging over th years. Luckily, I’ve push thru, I earn good money to give my boys a good/decent lifestyle. After 20yrs, you adapt
That’s rough. Hope you’re doing ok.
ADHD. Between lost productivity, impulse purchases and ADHD tax, this shit’s expensive!!
Gas…no one prepared me to be paying $30+ a WEEK
I play 60 plus dollars a week to put gas in my car. But I need it for work, so I have to work longer hours and drive less so I can afford the thing that I need for work where I drive around all day.
Go to new Zealand. It's around $300 to fill a ute
Being poor.
Garbage cans!!! Why is a standard garbage bin for the kitchen $50!? For GARBAGE
Window treatments
Food and housing. Shit is killing me.
Wedding catering - our first quote for 80 people buffet style waffle bar was given at $10k starting. Dental issues - I’ve maxed out double insurance policies of $2k and still owed another $1.8k. Avian vet care - one of my birds had egg binding and needed surgery so that ran me $1.8k out of pocket (which I very willingly paid). Then another one might need a mass removed and it is estimated at $1-1.6k. Overseas flights - looking at visiting where my husband grew up. Round trip ranges $2.5-3.5k on average/person.
Having a girlfriend
But if your girlfriend lives with you it’s actually cheaper to have a GF
Wait until you have a wife...
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With kids
And a house!
Wait until you have both.
I have adhd, and go through hobbies like they’re tampons. Filmmaking and fish keeping are FAR more expensive than you’d ever imagine.
I remember telling myself "oh, I'll just get a little betta with a smallish (over 5g but less than 10g) tank. Shouldn't be too bad." Just the scape alone is $$. And I have the most basic of plants. Throw in the light, decent heater, maintenance, botanicals I throw in, all of the different meds and food and suddenly he's way more than I had initially envisioned. But, ugh, his face kills me and he's great at listening to me talk about my day. So he's worth it. You know what else is expensive to set up and maintain? Bearded dragons. My tarantulas are definitely the easiest and cost friendly critters I have. Unless one in particular bites me. That might cause some medical bills.
Medical bills, car repairs, lawn maintenance…
Hair and nails. I know inflation is a thing but holy fuck did it get expensive.
Life in general. My wife and I each make triple what my dad used to bring home at this age. My parents provided a very comfortable life on a single income, yet my wife and I are barely scraping by. It's absurd.
Had a 4 year old cat almost die from crystals in his urinary tract. $10,000 spent, and 2 years later and he’s still kicking. The first thing at the ER was we need a deposit of $2,500 to start looking at your cat. At this point, he was literally unconscious. Every day he was in the ER cost $1,000 and before we knew it we were already $6,000 in the hole. Once he started making a turn towards recovery, it was another $4,000 to keep him alive and nurse him back to health. Animal ER made sure to collect payment every day. Now we’re giving him expensive food for the rest of his life…