The "That cost how much??" game!

[barkley]

Higher eduction is beyond outrageous. There has to be a less expensive way to educate people in a meaningful way that will put them into a career . . . not into debt!

there is a way-but not all states do it.

here a kid can do their junior and senior year of high school through a college or university. they receive dual credit with the only cost being their text books and supplies, so when they graduate from high school they've completed their general education requirements which equates to 2 years of tuition saved. kids who don't necessarily want to go to college/do the 4 year college route can participate in skill centers where they receive the identical career education and training they would receive at community colleges or vocational schools (along with certifications) in a variety of programs, and they can additionally earn in some up to 38 transferable college credits-again at no charge, with the public schools even providing transportation for the partial day classes. the cost of comparable post high school programs is astronomical.

 

[aprilchem]

I was just quoted $4k - $6k depending on unit & any duct work that might need to be done. That vs $400 for replacement of the dual capacitor. We went with the repair (for now).

Our capacitor blows every single year (usually on the first really hot day) and now we replace it ourselves. It costs $18.99 and takes me about 15 minutes.

 

[DisMomme]

DS(18) window broke in his car. Just fell down. Cost $800 for new window, track and motor. Ouch! Still cheaper than a new car but that hurt

 

[matdamom]

Gas prices always get me.. Bessie is a gas hog and it can easily cost us almost $100 to fill her up!

Anything home improvement related.. I wanted to get new pulls for my kitchen cabinets and drawers.. YIKES!! Paint is insanely expensive also.. And FLOORING! Ugh!

Car repairs.. school pictures.. food.. going to the movies.. ticket prices to the parks.. parking fees.. it all blows me away!

I haven't bought school pictures in years. Spent $200 in yearbooks for 3 kids this year. Haven't seen a movie since last summer. And we rarely go out to eat, even fast food, unless we have coupons/gift cards.

 

[ceemys]

clothes

$40 for a tee shirt. $100 for ripped jeans, $100 for shoes that my son will outgrow in 6 months, and you want how much for a bathing suit that won't cover my teenager's butt????

I totally agree!! SO annoying!

 

[barkley]

Room and Board for ONE semester for my daughter's college...$5800!

I know-seriously????

what gets me is on dd's university dorm website there's this big page with a 'cost comparison' that supposedly shows what a 'great deal' living in the dorms is as compared to privately renting in close proximity. they contend that month to month it's much less expensive to live in the dorms


what they don't say in the comparison is how few actual months the kids are in the dorms. with school not starting until the end of September, and the month long break from mid December-January before the next term begins (during which you can't stay in your dorm) the total amount of time a person is paying for is only 7 1/2 months that works out to over $1500 a month

dd was going to do the dorms but she's got a very bright friend who crunched the numbers and realized she could rent a newer townhouse within easy distance at less than the dorm cost. the young lady figure that even if she couldn't find roommates and paid the whole rent herself she would end up ahead. as it stands she's found eager roommates and none of them will be paying more than $300 a month including all their utilities, cable and internet

 

[Disneytam]

I see a lot of shock on here over food prices and I have to agree with everyone. But with that said my family owns a small organic dairy farm and we have only seen one small raise in our price in three years so please direct that anger towards the grocery stores! Just the other day my husband handed me the bill for one set of tires for one tractor (4 tires). It was almost $6,000!!! They are made of rubber right? These were the inexpensive ones! That wasn't my biggest oh my god moment, National Grid takes the cake for that one. Our winter electric bill runs monthly about $700 or so(we heat with an outside wood stove) but my Feb. bill was $2,300 and the March one was $2,150. When I astound idly called and inquired I was informed "don't you watch the news" we have been talking about large increases and nothing they could do. Ok lots of help there. Got to love living in the state of NY.

 

[Mirax]

DS had to have an ekg and a echocardiogram @ $3200.00 insurance only paid $800.00.
Had to go to a pediatric specialist for a second opinion at the same hospital. He ordered a second ekg. We said no way we already paid for one. Made the office track down the results of the first ekg.
DS#2 had an ear infection today. $110.00 with insurance discount for the new and improved antibiotic. I promptly said no way, called the doctor and had her change to the $10.00 generic amoxicillin.

Wanted to rent points for a possible stay at DVC. WOW $13 a point! We need a place that sleeps 5 so we will need to rent about 200 points for the week. $2600. I'm thinking staying off property is the way to go.

 

[Iowajes]

I know-seriously????

what gets me is on dd's university dorm website there's this big page with a 'cost comparison' that supposedly shows what a 'great deal' living in the dorms is as compared to privately renting in close proximity. they contend that month to month it's much less expensive to live in the dorms

I only lived on campus one year, and off the others. We had a sorta dark, a little run down, but very safe, very close to campus, large roomed, huge closeted, two separate bathroom apartment that ranged between $630-$740 a month (because they included all bills, is why it changed) total, which I split with my roommate.

My Mom was visiting us, and we went to a family friends who was staying in a ritzy, made for being near a University complex (Melrose, if you guys have those). She was like "You know, this is a lot nicer than what you have, and it is only $500 a month." I had to explain to her that is was $500 a month per room, not including bills, and there were 4 rooms- if only 3 people lived there the complex locks off the 4th door. (Plus it was a lot further from campus.) I couldn't believe people paid those prices. Much more affordable places were available.

Of course, my apartment complex didn't have a free indoor tanning bed (which is so necessary in Texas???). But we had two nice pools, tennis courts, and beach volleyball.

 

[Hook326]

$18,000 to side 3 sides of our house...guess we will be painting every other year until we can figure out how to do it ourselves!

 

[tinatark]

ECU (computer) for my car. Navigation one, not even the main one. $2500 installed.

On the *UP* side... my car is a convertible... some rust was on the component near the ECU (I've only had it a couple of months, so don't know the history) - I called my car insurance company and made a claim - for water damage based on the rust - they COVERED IT - under comprehensive! No rate increase!

 

[irishsharon]

Good grief. You must have a huge kitchen. We got our kitchen redone in 2008. We got all new cabinets, Silestone countertops with an undermount sink, new faucet and hardware, and a bigger garbage disposal for $14k from Home Depot.

We don't that's the crazy thing! However we do have lots of cabinets for a small area. But still it was only doors! The quote included quartz counters but for $26,000 I would expect a whole new kitchen!

 

[barkley]

I only lived on campus one year, and off the others. We had a sorta dark, a little run down, but very safe, very close to campus, large roomed, huge closeted, two separate bathroom apartment that ranged between $630-$740 a month (because they included all bills, is why it changed) total, which I split with my roommate.

My Mom was visiting us, and we went to a family friends who was staying in a ritzy, made for being near a University complex (Melrose, if you guys have those). She was like "You know, this is a lot nicer than what you have, and it is only $500 a month." I had to explain to her that is was $500 a month per room, not including bills, and there were 4 rooms- if only 3 people lived there the complex locks off the 4th door. (Plus it was a lot further from campus.) I couldn't believe people paid those prices. Much more affordable places were available.

Of course, my apartment complex didn't have a free indoor tanning bed (which is so necessary in Texas???). But we had two nice pools, tennis courts, and beach volleyball.

I can relate.

in our small university town aside from the dorms there are only 2 apartment complexes that actively advertise-both are horrendously overpriced.

one is like your 'melrose'-separate bedroom/bathrooms with a shared 'living room/kitchen'. appealing to out of towners b/c each renter is only responsible for their private room lease (but it's party central, and the internet is filled with complaints about tenants being overcharged for damages to the shared living room/kitchens). the other option is an overpriced complex that student residents sign a year long lease for thinking it's a bargain until (1) they see how much other units/houses rent for, and/or (2) they get their first winter utility bill for and realize how the place cheaped out on insulation: scared: Craig's list is filled with residents begging people to buy them out of their leases at as much as 60%

 

[pfp258]

$1800 for my daughter to be in show choir last year. Three competitions and a crappy 3 night trip to Orlando that we had to pay for seperately. And it seems like I was buying a $20 t-shirt every week for one activity or another.....

 

[barkley]

$1800 for my daughter to be in show choir last year. Three competitions and a crappy 3 night trip to Orlando that we had to pay for seperately. And it seems like I was buying a $20 t-shirt every week for one activity or another.....

please explain to me-what exactly is a 'show choir'????? I read this term frequently, and I have no concept if they are school, community or private based.

I sang chorally (large and small group) between school, college, community and privately for almost 20 years-and granted, it was years ago but while there were (for some) a single concert outfit, (for others) multiple costume changes-even those that toured locally, state wide, and in one case to world fairs across the country, and competed in state wide music educator competitions, none came close to the cost I see currently associated.

what the heck do these fees go to? are the competitions (not to be rude) simply the type that whomever can pay the fee/pay the fees to enough 'preliminary competitions' to qualify for? are the conductors being paid large stipends/salaries?

it honestly just floors me when I see these costs-I don't know what the criteria is now, but when I sang depending on the type of choir (women's, mixed) the smallest we could qualify with was usually no less than 15 (even at that it was an argument over weather we were an 'ensemble'), so at $1800 each to participate that adds up to $27,000

 

[pfp258]

At the high school my daughter attended in the western suburbs of Chicago there are two show choirs, an all girls choir and a mixed choir. Try outs are very competitive as our school ranks high in the nation. Show choir is singing and dancing with costume changes. Coaches and choreographers are well paid with monies collected. Go on you tube and you can see performances from many top groups. Show choirs of America rank the groups and our school has been ranked in the top seven for the past four years. We host a competition at our school and have groups travel from all over the country to compete.
My daughter loved being in show choir but honestly I didn't like that the money taken in was never on a spreadsheet for parents to look at. We never had any real idea of where our money went. The $1800 we paid did not include all meals during competition weekends, we had to buy shoes, false eyelashes, specific make-up and hair products etc., etc. Now that she has graduated I figured I will be saving at least $3000 a year from all of her activity fees

 

[momto3gr8boys]

A driveway! We have stone right now. Got a quote for asphalt with a concrete walkway. Almost $9000 . You've got to be kidding me. Hey kids, do you want to go to Disney World this year and next year or get some asphalt?

We have an area next to our house that is too shady and the sod didn't take. We thought it would be great to put in a patio there. had three guys come and give us a quote for a brick paver patio (I don't want a slab). We had used an online calculator that supposedly quotes based on your zipcode- we were expecting $3k-5k.

Nope, the estimates were between $14,000 and $16,000.

We decided a picnic table on the grass would work just fine, and did some DIY flower beds along the house wall (where the sod didn't take) for $150. We'll put in hostas, which grow in shade.

You guys are scaring me!! We are re-doing our roof and the front of our house. That was sticker shock alone. And as with most projects, it has grown to the front walk, driveway, possibly back patio. The mason was here again the other day to do the final measurements for the estimate. I'm queasy just thinking about what that number is going to be.

Pigletto - did you guys price out any other material besides asphalt for the driveway? We were tossing up concrete, asphalt and pavers. I was led to believe that when you factor in material and labor there isn't a major difference.

Iowajes - I found that calculator. Told me between 2k-3k lol...that's less than the architectural plans lol. I would actually be happy with what your real estimate came in at at this point!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Pigletto - did you guys price out any other material besides asphalt for the driveway? We were tossing up concrete, asphalt and pavers. I was led to believe that when you factor in material and labor there isn't a major difference.

I'm not pigletto, but we just had our driveway done last year (at a total cost of $5000 for brand new asphalt) so I thought I'd chip in.

We priced out concrete as well, and it was more than double our asphalt quote ($12,000 ) . We were expecting it to be high, but for a small driveway (3 cars max, single wide) that concrete estimate was awful!!

 

[Iowajes]

Iowajes - I found that calculator. Told me between 2k-3k lol...that's less than the architectural plans lol. I would actually be happy with what your real estimate came in at at this point!

If you have architectural plans, you have a much bigger project than what we had. Ours was a 350 square foot flat patio, designed for basic outdoor furniture (not to carry much weight load). The cost really comes with the labor of preparing all the layers so that it doesn't shift in the freeze/thaw cycle. But we were not expecting upwards of $45 a square foot! (Oh, and the nice sitting walls they recommended were extra.)

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I'm not pigletto, but we just had our driveway done last year (at a total cost of $5000 for brand new asphalt) so I thought I'd chip in. We priced out concrete as well, and it was more than double our asphalt quote ($12,000 ) . We were expecting it to be high, but for a small driveway (3 cars max, single wide) that concrete estimate was awful!!

Hi Gina! Wow! I was thinking concrete was the cheaper way to go! I'm good on what interior projects cost, but I am so lost on this outdoor stuff. Our driveway can fit about 6 cars. Ugh.

If you have architectural plans, you have a much bigger project than what we had. Ours was a 350 square foot flat patio, designed for basic outdoor furniture (not to carry much weight load). The cost really comes with the labor of preparing all the layers so that it doesn't shift in the freeze/thaw cycle. But we were not expecting upwards of $45 a square foot! (Oh, and the nice sitting walls they recommended were extra.)

Well, we needed plans because most of the work is in the front so we needed them for the permits with the town. My town is a PITA when it comes to that stuff. Our patio part will be about 400 square feet. And I would love those walls . Probably not happening! The dilemma is that we really weren't planning to do the patio now, but it was suggested because after we do the front walks and driveway, they may get damaged with the heavy equipment, rip out and new installation in the back. So we either live with what we have, which is ok, or do it all at once.

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