Irrationally Cheap

Irrationally Cheap

Today’s blog is a totally fun one to write.  I’ve often written about how everyone has their “category” of what they spend on.  For instance, my family spends money on restaurants at an alarming clip.  We are foodies and I simply love eating out.  If you took a look at my credit card statements, it would be astounding how disproportional restaurants and eating out are to the rest of my spending.

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the other side of spending.  I find we are humans, and are pretty funny, and sometimes irrational when it comes to money, or more specifically what we will and won’t spend it on.  That said let’s go down the rabbit hole of what are some of the items or categories we simply are cheap on.  I’ll mention a handful of things I know my wife rolls her eyes at me because I won’t buck up on.  I’ve also informally polled friends, clients, and colleagues to get a sense of areas they feel similarly on.

Cheap A$$

Parking– The top of my irrational cheapness list is parking.  I hate paying $20 plus to park, especially in a city lot.  It drives my wife crazy, although by now she knows I’m a lost cause, as I’d rather drive around for 20 minutes looking for a free or metered spot than pay some attendant to park.  I’ll be late for an event, spend almost as much at a meter, or even waste an extra $5 in gas all to simply avoid those parking lots. 

Shipping– Ever spend an hour online filling your basket full of some company’s awesome clothes?  Then you go to the checkout, put in all your info, and the next thing you know it takes you to shipping.  You’ve now spent $800 on 12 pieces of their finest haberdashery and get to the payment screen.  Then you notice they have the audacity to charge an extra $20 for shipping?  That is where I’ll click that little X in the top right corner and cancel my entire order. 

Returns– What is worse than charging for shipping you may ask?  I’ll tell you what, charging to return an item.  Are you freaking kidding me, your product is flawed or doesn’t fit, and I must pay to send it back to you.  I’d rather drive it directly to your store 3 hours away, and pay $50 in tolls, and $75 in gas simply out of principle. 

Stupid Restaurant Charges– As much as I spend on restaurants the stupid ways some of, they nickel and dime you drive me bonkers.  Here are a few that I’ve encountered recently that I simply refuse to pay for.  Extra $.50 to slice my bagel, $1 more to have my tuna and cheese hoagie heated, charging me to split my salad with my wife, charging for water or bread, extra sauces for my food or pizza sauce to be added to that delicious white slice you have in the window (next to a red slice) that just needs some good marinara to make it perfect.  Anyway you can see this struck a nerve with me. 

Warranties– I am extremely jaded in this category, to say the least, but I hate paying for warranties.  Now granted I’ve been suckered into it a few times, and truthfully it has probably saved me a few times.  That said it chaps my you know what to have to pay to protect an item that shouldn’t break.  For whatever reason, I can’t ever feel good, and more times than not skip, paying for a warranty.

Cover Charge– Yup I don’t do it anymore.  It could literally cost $2 to get in somewhere, but I won’t pay it.  Again, I’d rather get back in my car and drive somewhere else than cough up $2 to enter a venue.  Call me ignorant if you will, but I’m simply being honest that I don’t like it and can’t tell you the last time I’ve done it.

Apps– I rarely ever pay for online apps.  I’ll take the free version of music streaming and don’t mind listening to a million ads, instead of $2 a month to avoid them.  Or some of these app games for $1, and I literally mean $1, you can play ad-free.  Doesn’t matter I’ll avoid paying it at all costs and instead watch hours of pointless ads rather than paying that hard-earned $1.

Gas– Now obviously we all need gas to put in our cars and that works for me.  That said, paying for premium gas seems like a scam to me.  I’m sure it isn’t but telling me my car “runs” better with $4 gas than $3.50 gas seems absurd if you ask me. 

Question

Here comes the million-dollar question for all of you.  What are you cheap about?  Honestly, I’d love to hear it A. so I don’t feel so alone, and B. as I’m genuinely curious as I do find it funny what we are irrationally cheap about.

Hope you enjoyed this dive into my psyche and as always stay wealthy, healthy, and happy.