Poor choice of spending your money?

[princessmom29]

Never, ever buy a boat. take about throwing money down a black pit.

My parents have a boat they paid cash for used, and the only expense there is gas and a few incidental maintence items. Certianly not a money pit, mabye a few hunderd a year. Dad does oil changes, ect himself, and there has only been one minor repear done in the 4 years they have had it to the tune of $200. If you care for and store them properly they are a lot fo fun for not a lot of money. We use it every weekend in the summer for basically the cost of gas.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

My parents have a boat they paid cash for used, and the only expense there is gas and a few incidental maintence items. Certianly not a money pit, mabye a few hunderd a year. Dad does oil changes, ect himself, and there has only been one minor repear done in the 4 years they have had it to the tune of $200. If you care for and store them properly they are a lot fo fun for not a lot of money. We use it every weekend in the summer for basically the cost of gas.

We also use our boat every weekend from mid May to mid Sept. We have made some great family memories on our boat, fishing, water skiing, and just hanging out. I agree with princessmom, for the cost of gas, we have a ton of fun every weekend! It is surely not a money pit!!!!!

 

[eliza61]

My parents have a boat they paid cash for used, and the only expense there is gas and a few incidental maintence items. Certianly not a money pit, mabye a few hunderd a year. Dad does oil changes, ect himself, and there has only been one minor repear done in the 4 years they have had it to the tune of $200. If you care for and store them properly they are a lot fo fun for not a lot of money. We use it every weekend in the summer for basically the cost of gas.

what size was it? did they have to pay insurance on it? I bet that wasn't 200 bucks a year.

We had a 28 ft cruiser. So it was a bit more than changing the oil every year. Where did you store yours? must have been the garage because to slip a boat (which is what we did) was also a heck of a lot more than 200 bucks a year. Here in NJ the cost can be anywhere between 75-90 dollars a foot. so on a 30 ft boat we paid anywhere between 2700 and up bucks per year.
Now in NJ you also need a boating license, safety course (mandatory, you pay for) and some townships a yearly boat registration.

Not sure where you boated but around here, no way is 200 bucks going to cover any thing but your fuel.

My dvc is cheaper than my boat was.

 

[gillenkl]

Several thoughts:

We're considering buying a small teardrop trailer, and our tow vehicle is a concern for us too. Don't they let you hook it up and do a test drive before you buy? I just assumed that's what would happen. We're nowhere near the actual buying stage yet.

No, they aren't going to let you do a hookup test drive. It's the buyers responsibility to know how much their vehicle can tow - you need to factor in the weight of the trailer fully loaded with your stuff too and the weight of your hitch - not empty which is what the trailer catalogues will list as the campers weight. Do not go by what the car dealer tells you your vehicle will tow - make sure you research this yourself. Totally agree with you on not financing a camper. We bought our popup and and had a loan for a year before we paid it off in full. Hope we'll be seeing you at Fort Wilderness with your teardrop!

 

[Carina]

We also use our boat every weekend from mid May to mid Sept. We have made some great family memories on our boat, fishing, water skiing, and just hanging out. I agree with princessmom, for the cost of gas, we have a ton of fun every weekend! It is surely not a money pit!!!!!

Ditto ( but mid June here before we get nice enough weather)

Its an older boat, although the motor is newer. My mom calls boats money pits, which is funny because my mom has never owed a boat and we've never discussed the cost of owning our boat with her, so she would have no idea what I spend on our boat.

I LOVE my little old orange boat, and I love the experiences it opens up for our kids!

 

[Kay1]

No, they aren't going to let you do a hookup test drive. It's the buyers responsibility to know how much their vehicle can tow - you need to factor in the weight of the trailer fully loaded with your stuff too and the weight of your hitch - not empty which is what the trailer catalogues will list as the campers weight. Do not go by what the car dealer tells you your vehicle will tow - make sure you research this yourself. Totally agree with you on not financing a camper. We bought our popup and and had a loan for a year before we paid it off in full. Hope we'll be seeing you at Fort Wilderness with your teardrop!

I agree and I think you're supposed to factor in the weight of what you'll be hauling in the car as well (people included). My father gave us a cash gift one year so we could buy a camper. He gave us enough that we could have bought any one we wanted but we ended up buying the smallest on made.

Not only did we not have a towing vehicle but we needed a small enough box to fit in the garage. We had an Honda Accord EX and a Toyota Carolla at the time and I assumed we would be towing with the Honda. Wrong. You're not supposed to tow anything with an Accord so we towed with the Toyota though I'm sure we were over the limit.

Now we have an Astro Van which can haul just about anything but we're sticking with the Camplite because we're attached to it and my one son is now an adult and no longer camps with us.

It's very easy to find out the weight of the camper and the number of pounds your car can safely tow. We're looking at vans now and want something that can tow about 3,500 pounds or at least 3,000. Our camper is light in weight but we've accumulated so much gear over the years, you wouldn't believe it!

 

[bettymae1121]

My parents have a boat they paid cash for used, and the only expense there is gas and a few incidental maintence items. Certianly not a money pit, mabye a few hunderd a year. Dad does oil changes, ect himself, and there has only been one minor repear done in the 4 years they have had it to the tune of $200. If you care for and store them properly they are a lot fo fun for not a lot of money. We use it every weekend in the summer for basically the cost of gas.

I agree, boats can be money pits, but don't have to be. Growing up we had a boat. My dad paid cash using all the overtime money he earned one year, he did all the maintenance on it, and we stored it at our home. I don't think we used it quite as much as my father hoped we would (not many lakes within easy driving distance and we could only take longer trips so many times a year) but when we did use it we had a blast. I think he owned it a total of about 12 years or so before he sold it, he and my mom retired to AZ and there isn't much use for a boat in the desert!

 

[princessmom29]

what size was it? did they have to pay insurance on it? I bet that wasn't 200 bucks a year.

We had a 28 ft cruiser. So it was a bit more than changing the oil every year. Where did you store yours? must have been the garage because to slip a boat (which is what we did) was also a heck of a lot more than 200 bucks a year. Here in NJ the cost can be anywhere between 75-90 dollars a foot. so on a 30 ft boat we paid anywhere between 2700 and up bucks per year.
Now in NJ you also need a boating license, safety course (mandatory, you pay for) and some townships a yearly boat registration.

Not sure where you boated but around here, no way is 200 bucks going to cover any thing but your fuel.

My dvc is cheaper than my boat was.

18 foot saltwater boat, stored in the barn so no expense there. I wouldn't have one if I had no place to store it. We are not required to carry insurance if it was nto financed, but mom and dad do carry a small policy, and the cost is nominal. No boating liscense required here. Boater safety only need to be done once, $30 at the DMV. There is a yearly registration fee, but it is like $20 for under 20 ft.

 

[Ava]

Never, ever buy a boat. take about throwing money down a black pit.

Especially if you do what my father did - buy a boat that you take out on the water exactly TWICE and then let it sit in the backyard for 20 years. My sister & I turned it into a fort.

My poor spending is usually on smaller things. Buying cheap clothing items, kitchen utensils, etc. They always fall apart & I have to buy new, and would've spent less money if I'd just purchased something better quality in the first place. I'm trying to get better with this, and stop choosing the cheapest thing I can find. Also trying to buy end-of-season clearance clothing for DD in the size I *think* she will be next year. I just ended up with a bunch of stuff that never fit her in the correct season; she's tall & thin (for an almost-2-year-old) so now we only buy bottoms (besides leggings) if they have an adjustable waist. Lesson learned.

 

[jodifla]

My parents have a boat they paid cash for used, and the only expense there is gas and a few incidental maintence items. Certianly not a money pit, mabye a few hunderd a year. Dad does oil changes, ect himself, and there has only been one minor repear done in the 4 years they have had it to the tune of $200. If you care for and store them properly they are a lot fo fun for not a lot of money. We use it every weekend in the summer for basically the cost of gas.

We spend as much of the summer as possible in our boat on our lake! We only fill it up once in the summer....costs about 50 bucks.

We normally do one repair on it a year (it's a VERY old boat.) And we have it winterized and rent a space for it in our city lot for the winter...but we get a whole summer's worth of fun for about as much as one weekend getaway would cost -- assuming we drove to the getaway!

 

[TheRatPack]

Hmmm, lots of stuff over the years.

1) putting a down payment on a wedding reception hall to renew our vows knowing it was non-refundable and then backing out. Why back out of a renewal.....LMBO....guess after all the planning and such I just grew to think it was silly to do that and spend more money on it when we were in the process of so many other big projects. Lose 500.00 versus spending thousands more to continue with it.
2) Curriculum...that's a big money waster for me. I see something neat and I buy it...then I never ever use it and have to sell it at a loss or barely break even.
3) Vitamins and herbs....I read up on all this stuff and then buy it but end up taking it for maybe 2 weeks before I give up. I finally went through my medicine cabinet the other day and threw a bunch of it away.
4) Trading up cars when we've been upside down. For the first few years in our marriage we thought we had to have brand new cars every few years....we'd trade up even when we were barely above the water on the current loan....made for a real mess once it all caught up to us.

We've made quite a few mistakes with money over the years....and I'm sure we'll make many more.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Even if you are paying interest, don't sell your trailer now in the dead of winter. You'll get more in the spring or early summer!

 

[need2cruise]

what size was it? did they have to pay insurance on it? I bet that wasn't 200 bucks a year.

We had a 28 ft cruiser. So it was a bit more than changing the oil every year. Where did you store yours? must have been the garage because to slip a boat (which is what we did) was also a heck of a lot more than 200 bucks a year. Here in NJ the cost can be anywhere between 75-90 dollars a foot. so on a 30 ft boat we paid anywhere between 2700 and up bucks per year.
Now in NJ you also need a boating license, safety course (mandatory, you pay for) and some townships a yearly boat registration.

Not sure where you boated but around here, no way is 200 bucks going to cover any thing but your fuel.

My dvc is cheaper than my boat was.

Our boat is either 22 or 24 ft. Insurance is $100 a year on it even. We pay about $225 total each year to cover getting it ready in the spring and getting it ready for winter. Aside from that, the cost is gas, oil, and launching costs. I think we spend less than $20 for a full day of tubing and water skiing. The only other costs would be $$ for new tubes, tow ropes, various equipment that isn't "needed" but wanted. Oh, the cost of electricity to sweep it out and then wash it. But the total cost is cheap for the amount of entertainment we get out of it. Now, if we were occasional boaters who only went into the water less than 4x's in a summer, it wouldn't be worth it to keep.

 

[need2cruise]

Oh, forgot to post my budget blunders!

Insanity workout......bought it, used it for a month, didn't see any results and now it sits collecting dust.

Blackberry phone....wanted it...bought it but didn't think about the extra fee each month that is required to own it (when I bought it Sprint was charging $40 extra mth required for internet). It has become my youngests play phone.

My favorite, dh just had to have an upright piano. Found one that needed fixing up, was from early 1900's. Bought it and in the garage it went and sat for 3 years. FINALLY it is gone!

 

[Pakey]

I've had so many budget blunders that I've lost count. Even one of my tags has to do with a stupid purchase.

The biggest blunder: DVC, 500 points worth of blunder.

The most recent: I just had a $7000 tempurpedic mattress delivered last week and I hate it. It was comfortable for the 30 minutes I tested it at the store but I'm certainly not happy with it now that it's in my bedroom.

 

[eliza61]

I've had so many budget blunders that I've lost count. Even one of my tags has to do with a stupid purchase.

The biggest blunder: DVC, 500 points worth of blunder.

The most recent: I just had a $7000 tempurpedic mattress delivered last week and I hate it. It was comfortable for the 30 minutes I tested it at the store but I'm certainly not happy with it now that it's in my bedroom.

LOL. remind me to tell you the story of the high powered breast pump I purchased from sharper imagine when my first kid was born. Sucker cost me almost 700 bucks, dang near ripped off my "gals" and didn't help me express any more milk than a 19.99 version from target.

I would make Dave Ramsey faint with my horror stories. I guess that's why I lean more to the sympathetic side when people get into financial difficulties.

I always think "there by the grace of god, go I".

 

[Friendly Frog]

1.) Pretty much purchasing anything that my husband is to install.
He just " never has the time to do it" and the item is eventually lost, broken, or becomes obsolete.

2.) Purchasing an older RV when you don't know anything about RV's and your husband doesn't have time to do projects. 10 years=3 short road trips and we have an old RV that needs lots of work before it is road ready again. ( RV's and tires do not do well just sitting!)

 

[Trinity524]

Travel:

Just ask me about my Poly trip 2009 and my cruise to Bermuda. Both were with family that I felt I had to go on and pay for DH, DS and myself. I don't want to go into the kind of money I spent.