My List of Stupid Money Spent: 2009
Posted on | December 30, 2009 | 7 Comments
As 2009 draws to a close, I feel reflective. This year has been quite the experience in my life; Paul and I are engaged, we bought our first home, and I started Frugal Confessions. Since I all ready provided you with my list of savings and extra earnings from this year, I am now taking the opportunity to list out all of the money that, in my eyes, we wasted in 2009. Let’s hope the two lists do not cancel one another out.
- Seeds and soil purchase when we got the crazy idea to start seeds in the dead of summer in Houston, and they all took turns sprouting and abruptly dying in the intense heat. Cost: $18.39
- Paying an insurance broker a fee, who we later learned makes commission from selling us homeowner’s insurance. Cost: $195
- Parking ticket. Cost: $60
- Speeding ticket in the little town of Bonita, Louisiana (in our defense, we were going six miles over the speed limit, which I consider not to be reckless). Cost: $220.50
- Car Registration fee right before my Chevy cavalier broke down (received the non-refundable stickers in the mail the week after): Cost: $54.00
- Repairs (gave it a tune-up) put into my broken down car before the mechanic realized it wasn’t worth it. Cost: $212
- After being delayed at an airport until 3:00 a.m., we had to rent a vehicle for one night to get us home, and then my parents drove us back to a drop-off point the next day. (The waste is in the high cost of renting a car at an airport versus at another location). Cost: $191
- In reference to the above delay at the airport, we bought a deck of cards for an outrageous price. Cost: $4.50
- Paying for a premium dental plan, which you need to be apart of for 3 years in order for your most basic dental care needs to be substantially covered, when I could have been a part of another plan that covers both your basics and other dental needs. (My last cleaning was $7). Cost: $117.00 (9 months at $13 extra dollars per month)
- Paying a serviceman when our dishwasher stopped working. It ended up being a switch that somehow had turned off by itself…(Lyla? We’re so embarrassed). Cost: $60.
Total: $1132.39
What are some things that you feel you wasted money on this year?
- My List of Stupid Money Spent: 2010
- The High Cost of Fear and Responsibility: How to Cut Down on Insurance Costs
- Frugal Confessions – Frugal Living
- Waste Not Want Not: Baking Catastrophes and Food Waste in Our Household
- Our Vehicle Breakdown Story: Thank You Roadside Assistance!
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December 30th, 2009 @ 9:39 am
I feel your pain. We paid a plumber install new heating elements in our water heater. The only thing we ended up needing him for was to remove the old elements since they were stuck in place.
Cost of plumber – $135
Cost of giant wrench that was used – $30
Total wasted – $105
Oh well, at least I learned how to fix our water heater for the future…I’ll think of it as a $105 plumbing class for water heaters.
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December 30th, 2009 @ 9:42 am
Oh, and about 6 years ago we got a speeding ticket in a tiny town in Louisiana for going 3 MILES AN HOUR over the speed limit. We were being passed by every car and truck on the road, but we didn’t have Louisiana license plates. It cost $199. Tiny Louisiana towns have sucky speed traps.
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December 30th, 2009 @ 11:59 am
Car repairs, insurance and fines seem to be the biggest wasted expense of all time. Sometimes I wonder if it would be worth the savings to go to automotive school!
My car has been acting up and smelling of antifreeze…funny since we just had the radiator flushed in August. So thinking of how not to get stuck with some ridiculous repair we didn’t need, we took it to the place that did the flush. Seems my car will cost more to repair than it’s worth. It’s time to think about getting another car. So…to answer your previous blog…my goal for 2010 is to make enough money with my new at-home business to make the car payments on a new car that gets at least 35 mpg!
Best to you and Paul in 2010!
Momma J
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December 30th, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
Ah yes, car repairs are always painful. Scott has made the argument to only buy one brand of car (his choice would be subaru) because he is learning how to do basic things on mine, and therefore he could become proficient with subarus and would be able to do small fixes on our cars. I have been wanting a toyota for our next car, but I have to say, he has a good point! We’ll see. Anyway, for my own money-wasting story, there have been times when I’ve gotten amazing deals on items that I ordered online, only to realize when they arrived that they weren’t what I was expecting (two tops for work and a pair of shoes I can think of in particular) but then because it was such a great deal, and I would have to pay return shipping, its not worth it to return either! bummer!
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December 31st, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
Holy cow. Boy could I put a list on here. Whew could I. Just what pops right into mind is the set of tires and new windshield I put on my old pathfinder right before someone totaled it: cost $665, the auger I bought at Lowe’s for $396 so I wouldn’t have to manually dig 4 post holes, I bought 7 pairs of shoes for about $700 and only wear two of them now because I decided I don’t like the rest…..I could go on but I actually try to block that stuff out.
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December 31st, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Most recently I know you feel is a waste…..$60 on 7 pieces of Cheesecake….OH SO YUMMY!!!
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January 27th, 2011 @ 5:03 am
[...] is the great news about all of this? In my first ever “Stupid Money Spent” list I made in 2009, I wasted a huge total of $1,132.39. This year, I managed to waste much [...]