Cheapskates - what's the most money you've lost trying to save a buck or two?

[LeeH]

I am about as frugal as they come. I spend so much time in Goodwill that I get serious sticker shock in Target and Wal-mart.

Recently, my daughter outgrew her Karate gi. Sensei says that will be $80 for a new one. I checked the brand and ordered (what I thought was) the same one online for about $50. After washing it dozens of times it was still as stiff as cardboard. Turns out the one I ordered was something extra heavy duty. $50 lost trying to save $30.

[Rick Lee]

Well, one such case happened to me just yesterday.

To save the $25 checked baggage fee, I left my $4k guitar home and a friend in Pittsburgh loaned me his Peavey Wolfgang for my gig there Sat. night. While changing the strings Sat. morning, a bolt broke off of one of the bridge saddles. It's about a $10 part, but it was a show stopper, since you can only order them online. Another guitar I had mailed him years ago had an acceptable part I could use to get through the night. See missing tooth-like photo below.



Though the broken part was a ticking time bomb and would have happened on my friend's watch, had he changed the strings before I did, I felt obligated to fix it before I left town. To get the broken bolt drilled out we tried a Midas, a Meineke, a welding shop, a transmission shop and the local Guitar Center before finally finding a machine shop that said they could do it. Yesterday they called to ask me to bring down a good bolt so they'd know the correct size and pitch of what they were drilling out. We probably drove 50 miles, spent three hours and the bill was $50 to replace what I probably could have ordered online and had overnighted for less. But I got it reinstalled yesterday before I went back home.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I bought a "cheap Porsche".

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

To save the $25 checked baggage fee, I left my $4k guitar home ......

You may have saved yourself a $4K guitar being turned into kindling!

[MarkRobinson]

Had a friend (no deceased) who'd travel 60 miles round-trip to fill his V6 Isuzu truck, because gas was .10c cheaper in another town. How much is his time worth as well???

:/

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I bought a "cheap Porsche".

Yeah, I got a deal on a 914...

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

You may have saved yourself a $4K guitar being turned into kindling!

+1!! Or from being seized as non-certified "once-living material".

[Laneco]

I bought a used 3.0 911 engine off ebay. Well, let me rephrase that. I gave some one $3,500 for an engine they didn't have and that I never got.

Wire transfer from bank to bank is a one-way ticket (away from you). Throw-away cell phones suck. If the law enforcement cyber crime unit in your town has only one guy, he'll tell you he's too busy stopping kiddie porn to deal with your trivial little problem. Besides, if you can afford a Porsche, then $3,500 probably isn't a big deal for you (according to the officer who took my complaint).

Lessons learned.

angela

[john70t]

Bought a cheap condo with low association fees to have as my home. The place had real potential.

Years later, after dealing with:
1). Flooded basements (sewer main and other maintinence never performed, despite board votes)...
2). A personally leaking roof for many years (the evidence pointing directly to deliberate sabotage)...
3). The majority owner/president ignoring unanimous Board and owner votes/decisions, as well as violating virtually every single corporate By-Law recorded...
4). The Condominium records and all known information known showing obvious evidence of FELONY EMBEZZLEMENT, etc, etc...
5) Being harassed and publically called a liar. Time and time again for years:
(Apparently "defamation" only applies to certain people.)
6). All the majority owners and fellow Board members(who demanded the original lawsuit) dissapearing once the process started.
7). Two lawsuits: Where two judges ignored both the "spirit" and "line-item" of both CIVIL LAW and CORPORATE LAW......ruling both times in favor of this believed felony embezzeller.
(The only distinction I could discern between "indemnity of volunteer directors" was this person's ethnicity.)
8). Having a lean with foreclosure notice filed against my unit by this same felony embezzler.

Years later, a criminal was stopped, at my expense.
I lost many thousands in rent and otherwise because of it.
I'd do it again. This time better.

[legion]

I usually by the cheapest tool for a job. I have lots of Harbor Freight stuff. Most of the time I operate under the theory that I will only use the tool once every five years or so. Most of the time I'm right. I have however had the cheap tools fail many times when I discover I use them frequently. I end up buying a better version, and being out the cost of the cheap tool.

[LeeH]

Every time I mention working on cars to a friend of mine, he brings up that a friend of his only hand tightened the drain plug after changing his own oil and that cost him an engine. Can't imagine the pain of that experience.