Wastes Of Money

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Besides owning and paying for the maintenance on a Rolls Royce...

A friends Dad said, "The best is not always the best." I agree on household appliances like Refergrators, TV sets and Washing Machines and Dryers...the Heavy Duty simple model with the least bells and whistles is the one I want..Good quality machine but not top Ohhh the line...

My Ford F150 falls into that catagory...relativily trouble free for over a decade now..Also my Toaster is the $7.50 Sunbeam Wally world special...it does the job.

What brings this up is the discussion about Espresso Machines...I fully admit I bought an expensive high end machine and Burr Grinder that could be considered to be a semi-commericial models. I feel that purchase was very worthwhile, because it is something that I use virutally everyday...not only am I getting my money out of it, it is getting used...

Rather than something that you buy and it just sits...

Some have suggested that there is a learning curve attached to using the cheaper to more expensive Espresso machines. I have bin down that road with BBQ's...

I started out with a Weber Kettle 29 years ago...and still am using that $39 Weber...I eventually when to a 35 Gallon Drum for $115 bought by a friend down on Century Blvd in LA...or is it Inglewood. Had that for 13 years beofre retiring it...and buying a New Braunfels Bandera for $259 at Wally World...finally got $175 out of it...I found the metal was too thin for consistent heat retention...moved to a Big Green Egg..which has a rather small capacity...and then finally to a David Klose 1/4 - 1/2 inch steel plate model that can be considered to be a home/pro style unit...

If memory serves that 35 gallon drum made some great Q....

So I would go with the..Weber for the Grilling..and the Klose for the real deal BBQing...if your a serious Qer the Klose is worth the dinero..even though its use is probably not going to be every weekend.

But what have been wastes of money...got all night...

1. About 10 years ago I bought a bunch of All Clad Pots and Pans..they are the snot...but I don't use very many of em...they just sit...What I do use just about everyday is a 12 inch Griswald Cast Iron Fry Pan...paid alot... $150..on the Bay...the key is I use it...I would say buy a coupla of the All Clads that you might use frequently..but skip the rest.

2. The Henckles Pro-line Kithchen Knifes..can't keep em sharp, use em but the cheaper ones work as well..why pay the dinero? Wouldn't mind trying one of those Jap hari kari models...though..you see here it is..its worth buying one to see how it is...to say yeah I have the experience of using one...in life its the experience of it that counts...

3. Furniture..if I told U how much I spent..20 years ago on that stuff I would have you try and commit me...First of all I woulda bought either second hand or antique..don't get me worng it is nice..but worth the extra dinero..not really. If I wanted to deck my house out I would hit the CONSIGNMENT SHOPS....and Auctions. Bought a $600 meat slicer for $100....and 3 Bougeat Copper Pans for $30 each.... I use that slicer just about every day to slice cheese....thats what makes that deal worthwhile...

4. Pouring untold $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ into a house to decorate or lanscape...NOPE..U don't get anymore than what the neighborhood goes per square foot...I owuld say a modest amount for paint etc is OK though, to make it a pleasant atomsphere. A POOL is the height of folly...you can spend 100's of thosuands and get 25K for it....ask me how I know?

5. Restoring a car....better to buy someone elses completed toy thats not wanted anymore..but U Boyz know about that one.....the reason I never did my 911S is that I had let me see now...a 69 Mach 1 428 Super Cobra Jet (still got that one), A 1970 Dodge Challenger 440 6 Pack, a 66 427/425 hp matching number Vette, and that eat me out of house and home RR....I simply got tired of writng the checks before I got to it....to be smart I shoulda just stuck with the 911..it would have bin cheaper....

6. Spoons...never buy NEW...always second hand. If you buy the right collectable spoons over time you can do real well. Especially if you get them right in the first place. The key here is getting them for the right price...never chase unless what your buying is super rare and super desirable. Ask me how I know...

[Embraer]

I've always bought used, quality exercise equipment. Most people buy it, and then use it a couple of times and then it sits.

I broke my own rule when I bought a brand-new Concept 2 rower this fall. ...then again, i use it 45 minutes each and every day, so the purchase was easier to swallow....

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Figure this into your equation..how often will you see a used Concept 2 rower? And U use it EVERYDAY...so t was worth the money

[Embraer]

....that figured into me buying it new...it was impossible to find a used one!

[herr_oberst]

Swimming pools - hell, they can even reduce the value of a home, or at least increase the number of days that the house is on the market.

Luxury cars, especially top of the line Benzes and Bimmers - once the warranty is expired, that 500 series is going to be a gigantic money pit, and talk about pennies on the dollar in used vehicle prices.

(For that matter, any new car or motorcycle is foolish, but realistically, you should do it at least once, there is something satisfying about it, no matter how wrong your head tells you it is!)

Electronics - NEVER buy the latest thing.

Sports cars. "What do you mean, you have over thirty thousand dollars in a 1988 911?" (okay, that's a lot of us on this board.)

[Dottore]

I've been told that Rancho Mirage and similar places to which rich old people go to die are the places to check out the second hand stores. I was told this by a guy from Chicago with a very large Penske truck, who I met at a truck stop in Arizona, and who appeared to be doing very well from this second-hand arbitrage.

[jyl]

If I'm going to use it a lot, enough to have a personal feeling for it, I'll pay up for good stuff.

Like, my saucepans are heavy French copper, 10 or 12 pieces. We bought them in France for a lot less than they'd be today, before the euro and copper went up and not from Sur La Table. I think they'd be $300-400 each today.

But when I can, I'll buy it used. I don't mind secondhand, wear, or scrounging to save money.

And I love it when you get something for cheap that is great. My 12" sauté pan is an old KitchenAid, $150 new but I got it at a flea market for $15. Anodized aluminium lined with stainless steel. I use Wenol's and polish that surface until it is slicker than any non-stick pan.

I won't pay for a brand if the product doesn't back it up. I wouldn't buy $150 Henckels knives, not when you can buy a $35 Victorinox Forschner that can be sharpened to 15 degrees and scarily sharp. But I'd pay $300 for a handmade Japanese knife, because those are worth it.

[Hugh R]

My wife bought me some Cutco knives 12 years ago. Expensive but not bad. I found that I can buy them on flebay for a decent price. Some people run them down, but they hold an edge and sharpen up very well.

[WolfeMacleod]

Believe it or not, the Miracle Blade knives we bought back around 2003 are still sharp as hell and cut great.

[wdfifteen]

[QUOTE=herr_oberst;5199980
Luxury cars, especially top of the line Benzes and Bimmers - once the warranty is expired, that 500 series is going to be a gigantic money pit, and talk about pennies on the dollar in used vehicle prices.

(For that matter, any new car or motorcycle is foolish, but realistically, you should do it at least once, there is something satisfying about it, no matter how wrong your head te. [/QUOTE]

+1 on that!

[Scuba Steve]

I've managed to do pretty well buying houses that have good architecture and structure, but where a previous owner had bad taste so long as they're priced accordingly.

If it's a purchase for something I'm going to use a lot, especially something like a tool where if it's inadequate it will either ruin material, frustrate me or both I'll try and go at least middle of the road. Actually since I'm young and buying most everything for the first time that's what I've been doing with nearly everything. Passing up both the cheaply-constructed bottom end model as well as something at the top that could be more trouble in the long run.

That said, expect a thread on wet saws soon because I'm rebuilding a main bathroom and kitchen later this spring and I'll need to cut some stone and tile.

[azasadny]

Whenever I try to "save" money by buying the cheaper item, I ALWAYS end up regretting it, but some times I've paid a lot ($1000 for a GE Adora washing machine) that is absolute crap and I end up frustrated, too.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I typically only buy assets, not expenses, and go used when I want very high quality at a lower price, my stereo system (Halfter, Rotel, B&W) is probably the best example. After listening to $5k - $10K systems, I pieced mine together from CL for $900 (got lucky on the B&W speakers more than anything) and it sounds like a $5K system and noticeably better than my friends brand new $3.5K Rotel-B&W...she's mad.

Model B erg, $300 on CL 3 weeks ago and it will last forever and I get to relive some of the best years in college.

[vwbobd]

Originally Posted by Embraer

I've always bought used, quality exercise equipment. Most people buy it, and then use it a couple of times and then it sits.

I broke my own rule when I bought a brand-new Concept 2 rower this fall. ...then again, i use it 45 minutes each and every day, so the purchase was easier to swallow....

True that. I bought 2 sets of olympic weights with bar, curl bar, bench, leg press, squat rack, and a full set of hexagon iron dumb bells for 500 bones from a failed gym on CL this past summer. This was well over 4 grand worth of stull!! the press , bench and rack were all Hammer Strength brand!!

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I bought McIntosh stereo equipment used back in 1979...3 pieces MR78 tuner, C27 pre amp and a MC2125...I can still get what I paid outa them...and they still work great...

Those Bourgeat Copper pans for $30 each (they came with the lids) ...are worth...at least $200 apiece...and I tend to use them

I even have a coupla Victorix kitchen knives...bought them for less than $20 in Canada back in the mid 80's.

As you get older you find that you have just about everything you need, so you find yourself buying less.