How cheap are you outside investing?

[hyten1]

i think some people would consider me cheap, but i see it as getting my moneys worth

 

also i have realize over time with the power of diminishing returns there are only so much you can save. time is better spent (pass a point) thinking of how to make more money.

 

hy

[ASTA]

I got my saving gene from child hood :D

 

I spend about 27% on cleaning lady and trips the rests general stuff but those are my big items.

I read every label before I buy. I am surprised not more people compare water bottle costs per liter/gallon :D

 

I will probably spend more once i have $200,000 per child for their collage. after that I will spend more on my self.

 

Hate loans's and will probably never have a loan in my life. 

 

Cleaning lady the best luxury one can get.

[ZenaidaMacroura]

When I was in school I worked 2 part time jobs and saved every penny.  I subsisted on mostly canned Tuna and Pasta.  Eventually I started working for the dorm I was staying and and fulfilled my daily calorie requirement with my complimentary employee meal.  This frugalness was not motivated by necessity as my tuition and living expenses along with a hefty allowance were paid in full by doting parents.  I think I had one of the most miserable college experiences imaginable (for which I hold myself responsible)!

 

My college career started in 2008 and ended in 2011 and coincided with my investing the money I saved from my income/allowance.  Due in no part to astute timing (it was all luck) I hit 2009 perfectly - at times leveraging to the hilt.  When I started working in 2011, I think I spent just about everything I brought in in terms of my working income.  Looking back it seems silly but I spent money on extravagant things such as bespoke clothing (cifonelli suit, hamilton bespoke shirts etc), St Crispins/Corthay/John Lobb shoes, and a similar calibre car.  Along with the usual young adult expenditures on weekend outings etc.  I can't say it wasn't a blast.

 

The (poorly conceived) rationale was that if I could compound the windfall derived from the finacial crisis at a moderate rate (leaving the principle and appreciation untouched)  then the annual appreciation would eclipse my regular income.  For the most part this has proven true to date.

 

But since early 2013 or so I have come back full circle.  Although I have kept and continue to enjoy my previously acquired material possessions I think if I had a do-over I would opt to save the money.  It's very easy to get lost indulging in the finest of the finer things in life.  It is definitely worth aspiring towards and I think in a strange way the experience helped to redouble my efforts in investing/work...

[ZenaidaMacroura]

I think a lot of high end labels - especially in fashion/clothing are not worth the price.  They are just marked up more to create a perceived exclusiveness or veblen goods essentially.

 

But there is a certain genteel allure picking the exact fabric from which a suit will be cut - and for the finished product to fit perfectly as only something made specifically for you can.  Ditto for the footwear.

 

[muscleman]

I'm pretty cheap for most things, but not with others.  I guess you could say my wife and I pick what is important to us and we're cheap about everything else.  I live in a 3900 sqft house with a 3 story barn that is bigger than the house, we put in Viking, sub-zero appliances, marble counters,  (not cheap), but my wife makes her own curtains, decorates with yard sale finds, some of our furniture is second hand and even a few pieces from IKEA.  We grow a lot of our own food, we have a huge vegetable garden (45ft by 45ft), we have 18 chickens (we eat a lot of eggs), but we also spend a lot on things like grass fed beef, grass fed butter, pastured heritage breed pork, wild caught salmon, etc.    We never go out to eat, I mean almost never.  My kids ask to go out to eat as part of their birthday presents, because it's something they almost never get to do.  If I eat lunch at all during the week, I pack it.  I never even buy coffee outside the house.  When we go away, we use the camper, so that we can stay cheaply and bring our own food.  I drive older cars (a Hyundai and a Toyota), I've never owned anything like a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc.  Our main TV is still a 32" tube TV.  I have computers that are close to state of the art, but I build them myself and upgrade them a component at a time.  My wife is actually much cheaper than I am, and will keep me in line if I suggest buying some kind of electronic device or something.  We have tracphones. My current phone I paid $149 for the phone and a year of minutes, my wife's phone was even cheaper it's a flip phone with no touch screen.  If I ever did something stupid, like buying her roses for valentines day, I'd get holy-hell for it.  I bought her a potted plant (tulips) and she was even happier when I told her I paid $4 for it.

 

It is better to trade in your Hyundai and Toyota to something like a Volvo. It is really unsafe, especially Toyota. I would never put my own life at risk. :)

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/toyota/camry/2013

 

Volvo is the only car in the small overlap test that didn't collapse the passenger structure.

 

 

I only drive used cars, but I buy a 1-2 year old certified pre-owned Volvo and intend to drive it for the next 200k miles. A one year old certified pre-owned Volvo is just 60-70% of the price of a new, but it has 10 year 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty. I think it is a very good deal.

[rkbabang]

I'm pretty cheap for most things, but not with others.  I guess you could say my wife and I pick what is important to us and we're cheap about everything else.  I live in a 3900 sqft house with a 3 story barn that is bigger than the house, we put in Viking, sub-zero appliances, marble counters,  (not cheap), but my wife makes her own curtains, decorates with yard sale finds, some of our furniture is second hand and even a few pieces from IKEA.  We grow a lot of our own food, we have a huge vegetable garden (45ft by 45ft), we have 18 chickens (we eat a lot of eggs), but we also spend a lot on things like grass fed beef, grass fed butter, pastured heritage breed pork, wild caught salmon, etc.    We never go out to eat, I mean almost never.  My kids ask to go out to eat as part of their birthday presents, because it's something they almost never get to do.  If I eat lunch at all during the week, I pack it.  I never even buy coffee outside the house.  When we go away, we use the camper, so that we can stay cheaply and bring our own food.  I drive older cars (a Hyundai and a Toyota), I've never owned anything like a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc.  Our main TV is still a 32" tube TV.  I have computers that are close to state of the art, but I build them myself and upgrade them a component at a time.  My wife is actually much cheaper than I am, and will keep me in line if I suggest buying some kind of electronic device or something.  We have tracphones. My current phone I paid $149 for the phone and a year of minutes, my wife's phone was even cheaper it's a flip phone with no touch screen.  If I ever did something stupid, like buying her roses for valentines day, I'd get holy-hell for it.  I bought her a potted plant (tulips) and she was even happier when I told her I paid $4 for it.

 

It is better to trade in your Hyundai and Toyota to something like a Volvo. It is really unsafe, especially Toyota. I would never put my own life at risk. :)

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/toyota/camry/2013

 

Volvo is the only car in the small overlap test that didn't collapse the passenger structure.

 

 

I only drive used cars, but I buy a 1-2 year old certified pre-owned Volvo and intend to drive it for the next 200k miles. A one year old certified pre-owned Volvo is just 60-70% of the price of a new, but it has 10 year 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty. I think it is a very good deal.

 

My Toyota is a Sequoia SUV.  Does Volvo make something that can seat 7 and pull a 5500lb camper?

 

[ukvalueinvestment]

I don't know if this is "cheap", but once I have sold my current apartment, I don't think I will ever own property again.  Reason?  Over the long term, I target 12% + from my portfolio.  Why own property when (long term) it can't return much more than nominal GDP plus a bit.  In the UK, as of last week, a married couple can invest £30k tax free, it was around £22k. 

 

Thoughts?  Does anyone else have this attitude.

[SharperDingaan]

Ah ... but when we drink that wine it will only cost us 375 (US) cash/bottle (the value side), & that isn't bad for one of the top 10 in the world. No way we would pay 1000 for a bottle as an individual, but were a company buying it - we wouldn't hesitate. If it is to celebrate a major deal, there is going to be a chef prepared meal to go with it, & the government is going to pick up 40% of the bill. That 1000 bottle becomes 600 after tax - & cheap at the price  ;)

 

SD

[no_thanks]

I just asked my CEO's secretary for the company's WSJ login  8)

[Gamecock-YT]

Foundation of Dave Ramsey with a shot of early retirement extreme. Don't eat out, live close to work, etc. Current problem is trying to figure of if it's time to replace my 175k mile 16 year old SUV that needs some TLC with a Scion/Honda Fit or keep driving it into the ground and hope to get another 25k out of her. Pay for experiences, not things.

[Palantir]

I just asked my CEO's secretary for the company's WSJ login  8)

 

Surely you must be aware that you can google the article titles and you can get around the paywall? Works really well when you use Chrome.

[muscleman]

I'm pretty cheap for most things, but not with others.  I guess you could say my wife and I pick what is important to us and we're cheap about everything else.  I live in a 3900 sqft house with a 3 story barn that is bigger than the house, we put in Viking, sub-zero appliances, marble counters,  (not cheap), but my wife makes her own curtains, decorates with yard sale finds, some of our furniture is second hand and even a few pieces from IKEA.  We grow a lot of our own food, we have a huge vegetable garden (45ft by 45ft), we have 18 chickens (we eat a lot of eggs), but we also spend a lot on things like grass fed beef, grass fed butter, pastured heritage breed pork, wild caught salmon, etc.    We never go out to eat, I mean almost never.  My kids ask to go out to eat as part of their birthday presents, because it's something they almost never get to do.  If I eat lunch at all during the week, I pack it.  I never even buy coffee outside the house.  When we go away, we use the camper, so that we can stay cheaply and bring our own food.  I drive older cars (a Hyundai and a Toyota), I've never owned anything like a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc.  Our main TV is still a 32" tube TV.  I have computers that are close to state of the art, but I build them myself and upgrade them a component at a time.  My wife is actually much cheaper than I am, and will keep me in line if I suggest buying some kind of electronic device or something.  We have tracphones. My current phone I paid $149 for the phone and a year of minutes, my wife's phone was even cheaper it's a flip phone with no touch screen.  If I ever did something stupid, like buying her roses for valentines day, I'd get holy-hell for it.  I bought her a potted plant (tulips) and she was even happier when I told her I paid $4 for it.

 

It is better to trade in your Hyundai and Toyota to something like a Volvo. It is really unsafe, especially Toyota. I would never put my own life at risk. :)

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/toyota/camry/2013

 

Volvo is the only car in the small overlap test that didn't collapse the passenger structure.

 

 

I only drive used cars, but I buy a 1-2 year old certified pre-owned Volvo and intend to drive it for the next 200k miles. A one year old certified pre-owned Volvo is just 60-70% of the price of a new, but it has 10 year 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty. I think it is a very good deal.

 

My Toyota is a Sequoia SUV.  Does Volvo make something that can seat 7 and pull a 5500lb camper?

 

Yeah. Volvo XC 90 does that. I wouldn't recommend buying XC 90 though. The technology is way out of date.

I am not sure about Sequoia's safety, so I can't comment on that.

What is your MPG when towing? I bet it is like 5-7 MPG?

I think it is best to use a diesel SUV for towing because that can increase your MPG to 15 or more.

[rkbabang]

I'm pretty cheap for most things, but not with others.  I guess you could say my wife and I pick what is important to us and we're cheap about everything else.  I live in a 3900 sqft house with a 3 story barn that is bigger than the house, we put in Viking, sub-zero appliances, marble counters,  (not cheap), but my wife makes her own curtains, decorates with yard sale finds, some of our furniture is second hand and even a few pieces from IKEA.  We grow a lot of our own food, we have a huge vegetable garden (45ft by 45ft), we have 18 chickens (we eat a lot of eggs), but we also spend a lot on things like grass fed beef, grass fed butter, pastured heritage breed pork, wild caught salmon, etc.    We never go out to eat, I mean almost never.  My kids ask to go out to eat as part of their birthday presents, because it's something they almost never get to do.  If I eat lunch at all during the week, I pack it.  I never even buy coffee outside the house.  When we go away, we use the camper, so that we can stay cheaply and bring our own food.  I drive older cars (a Hyundai and a Toyota), I've never owned anything like a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc.  Our main TV is still a 32" tube TV.  I have computers that are close to state of the art, but I build them myself and upgrade them a component at a time.  My wife is actually much cheaper than I am, and will keep me in line if I suggest buying some kind of electronic device or something.  We have tracphones. My current phone I paid $149 for the phone and a year of minutes, my wife's phone was even cheaper it's a flip phone with no touch screen.  If I ever did something stupid, like buying her roses for valentines day, I'd get holy-hell for it.  I bought her a potted plant (tulips) and she was even happier when I told her I paid $4 for it.

 

It is better to trade in your Hyundai and Toyota to something like a Volvo. It is really unsafe, especially Toyota. I would never put my own life at risk. :)

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/toyota/camry/2013

 

Volvo is the only car in the small overlap test that didn't collapse the passenger structure.

 

 

I only drive used cars, but I buy a 1-2 year old certified pre-owned Volvo and intend to drive it for the next 200k miles. A one year old certified pre-owned Volvo is just 60-70% of the price of a new, but it has 10 year 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty. I think it is a very good deal.

 

My Toyota is a Sequoia SUV.  Does Volvo make something that can seat 7 and pull a 5500lb camper?

 

Yeah. Volvo XC 90 does that. I wouldn't recommend buying XC 90 though. The technology is way out of date.

I am not sure about Sequoia's safety, so I can't comment on that.

What is your MPG when towing? I bet it is like 5-7 MPG?

I think it is best to use a diesel SUV for towing because that can increase your MPG to 15 or more.

 

No XC90 max towing capacity 3790lbs.  I wish there was a large diesel SUV available in the US.  I don't want a pickup truck, because it has to double as a family car for around town.  My Hyundai Elantra is my commuting car that gets the miles put on it.  And yes, my mileage is horrible when towing, somewhere well bellow 10mpg and only about 15-16mpg highway when not towing.  I'd love something the size of a Sequoia or Chevy Suburban with a massive amount of seating and towing capacity with a diesel engine.  I don't know of one, but it has been a few years since I've shopped for a vehicle, so maybe there is one now.

 

 

[no_thanks]

I just asked my CEO's secretary for the company's WSJ login  8)

 

Surely you must be aware that you can google the article titles and you can get around the paywall? Works really well when you use Chrome.

 

Yea, I have been using chrome and doing that for a while.  I just have been running into more and more article that it does not work for.  Not sure what I am doing wrong.  I even try and slightly change the words so that I am not searching for the title exactly, which I think may trigger the paywall. 

[Mikenhe]

I don't know if this is "cheap", but once I have sold my current apartment, I don't think I will ever own property again.  Reason?  Over the long term, I target 12% + from my portfolio.  Why own property when (long term) it can't return much more than nominal GDP plus a bit.  In the UK, as of last week, a married couple can invest £30k tax free, it was around £22k. 

 

Thoughts?  Does anyone else have this attitude.

 

I have a wife and kids. Owning our own house give my wife peace of mind. Wanna put a value on that return???

 

 

and I hate cheap people. Frugal is a far nicer term to use...

[rmitz]

I don't know if this is "cheap", but once I have sold my current apartment, I don't think I will ever own property again.  Reason?  Over the long term, I target 12% + from my portfolio.  Why own property when (long term) it can't return much more than nominal GDP plus a bit.  In the UK, as of last week, a married couple can invest £30k tax free, it was around £22k. 

 

Thoughts?  Does anyone else have this attitude.

 

If you get no extra utility from owning a home, then yes, that's the right decision for you. My home is not an investment.

[randomep]

I don't know if this is "cheap", but once I have sold my current apartment, I don't think I will ever own property again.  Reason?  Over the long term, I target 12% + from my portfolio.  Why own property when (long term) it can't return much more than nominal GDP plus a bit.  In the UK, as of last week, a married couple can invest £30k tax free, it was around £22k. 

 

Thoughts?  Does anyone else have this attitude.

 

Absolutely. I did not buy a house in silicon valley for 14yrs, I was sick watching people buy houses and double their money. But I couldn't see the value and kept my money in stocks.  At the ridiculous rate they were running in this area, I was seriously willing to move to Idaho or Manitoba if I had to.

 

Well, turns out I was right, things can change fast. And then 14yrs after moving here, I bought a house that was foreclosed on. I am kicking myself for not buying it at auction though. I got it after someone flipped and make 100k off me, but fortunately, the house values have continued climbing. Also my mortgage interest rate is 2.75%, it is like the government is helping me live in the house for free if inflation can run at that rate. The financial crisis and all the money printing is just creating a crazy redistribution of wealth.

[StubbleJumper]

I'm pretty cheap for most things, but not with others.  I guess you could say my wife and I pick what is important to us and we're cheap about everything else.  I live in a 3900 sqft house with a 3 story barn that is bigger than the house, we put in Viking, sub-zero appliances, marble counters,  (not cheap), but my wife makes her own curtains, decorates with yard sale finds, some of our furniture is second hand and even a few pieces from IKEA.  We grow a lot of our own food, we have a huge vegetable garden (45ft by 45ft), we have 18 chickens (we eat a lot of eggs), but we also spend a lot on things like grass fed beef, grass fed butter, pastured heritage breed pork, wild caught salmon, etc.    We never go out to eat, I mean almost never.  My kids ask to go out to eat as part of their birthday presents, because it's something they almost never get to do.  If I eat lunch at all during the week, I pack it.  I never even buy coffee outside the house.  When we go away, we use the camper, so that we can stay cheaply and bring our own food.  I drive older cars (a Hyundai and a Toyota), I've never owned anything like a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc.  Our main TV is still a 32" tube TV.  I have computers that are close to state of the art, but I build them myself and upgrade them a component at a time.  My wife is actually much cheaper than I am, and will keep me in line if I suggest buying some kind of electronic device or something.  We have tracphones. My current phone I paid $149 for the phone and a year of minutes, my wife's phone was even cheaper it's a flip phone with no touch screen.  If I ever did something stupid, like buying her roses for valentines day, I'd get holy-hell for it.  I bought her a potted plant (tulips) and she was even happier when I told her I paid $4 for it.

 

It is better to trade in your Hyundai and Toyota to something like a Volvo. It is really unsafe, especially Toyota. I would never put my own life at risk. :)

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/toyota/camry/2013

 

Volvo is the only car in the small overlap test that didn't collapse the passenger structure.

 

 

I only drive used cars, but I buy a 1-2 year old certified pre-owned Volvo and intend to drive it for the next 200k miles. A one year old certified pre-owned Volvo is just 60-70% of the price of a new, but it has 10 year 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty. I think it is a very good deal.

 

 

But you *do* put your life at risk every time you get behind the wheel.  The safest thing to do would be to take public transit, but obviously we all prefer to accept a little bit of risk for the convenience of owning a car.  For anyone who cares, the following link characterises the actual risk of death in various makes and models of car:

 

http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4605.pdf

 

Ignoring the cars for which sales numbers are so small that statistics are meaningless, what this shows is that a Toyota Sienna or a Honda CRV are among the safest.  This is probably due to the size effect (ie, laws of physics dictate that being the heavier vehicle in a collision is a good thing more often than not) and perhaps a driver selection factor (people who buy boring cars are boring drivers...and from a risk of death perspective, boring is a good thing!).

 

In the end, I would draw people's attention to the fact that even the worst vehicles have a probability of a driver fatality of about 1 in every 10,000 years.  Given my annual likelihood of croaking from cancer or a heart attack, I'm quite happy to take my chances every year with a 1-in-10,000 risk, particularly when driving improves my life so greatly.  I'm not sure that I'd spend much additional money to reduce my risk to 1-in-15,000 or 1-in-20,000 annually.  All of us gotta die from something...so I'd rather spend my money on something that gives me positive utility while I am still living rather than spending it on something that reduces the tail-risk of my dying in a car crash (spend it on wine, women and song rather than protecting against a tail-risk).

 

 

SJ

[StubbleJumper]

On the way back from the airport I once asked the cab driver to pull over, still a mile away from my house. I couldn't stand watching the meter rise anymore.

 

 

We have a winner for the cheapest guy on the COBAF message board.  After reading your message, I feel like I'm not worthy!

 

 

SJ

[Parsad]

On the way back from the airport I once asked the cab driver to pull over, still a mile away from my house. I couldn't stand watching the meter rise anymore.

 

LOL!  That's hilarious.  Cheers!

[Uccmal]

On the way back from the airport I once asked the cab driver to pull over, still a mile away from my house. I couldn't stand watching the meter rise anymore.

 

 

We have a winner for the cheapest guy on the COBAF message board.  After reading your message, I feel like I'm not worthy!

 

 

SJ

 

Yeah, if only.  I live 8 km from Pearson (Toronto International) and the flat rate for coming home is like $45.00.  I jave thought of walking many times but 8 km without sidewalks is a bit much.

 

I had a room mate in university who has everyone I have ever met beat on cheapness.  All year he ate pork pot roast, with boiled cabbage, and potatoes.  He would cook it one day and make it last a week at a stretch.  He would only get water at fast food places to save money.  Pancakes for b-fast day after day.  One day some pals got back at him by putting beer in his pancake mix. Whenever I went anywhere I really had to watch that he didn't stick me with a bill.  At a certain point its a pathology. 

[Parsad]

Absolutely!  When it comes to marriage you want to get it right the first time, no 20 punch cards.

 

 

I don't know.  Other than the mental anguish and financial damage of divorce, that kinda sounds fun!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

This thread resonates with me.  I was born with the cheap gene.  I have been known to go into clothing stores and go straight for the clearance racks.  It's as if nothing else exists; no bargains and I walk out.

 

I do a lot of value arbitrage.  For example if cheap fireplace tools are $20 and expensive ones $100 I'll figure that five cheap sets will last longer than one expensive set.  But I'll go the opposite if things are weighed the other way.  If the higher quality item is $100 and the cheap one $80 I will go for the more expensive item if I know it's higher quality.  I buy high quality skis, backpacking and hiking gear.  We have camping gear that's lasted for 15 years without an issue.

 

We live in a smaller house with an extremely low payment.  I finished the basement on my own for about $4k, it would have cost close to $20k if we paid someone.  I'll probably end up re-doing some bathrooms and our living room this summer.  I'll do everything, refinish floors, tile etc.  I've been tossing around the idea of re-roofing our house on my own, I'm not sure if this is feasible though.

 

Like rkbabank we have a camper we use for vacations.  It's easier to load up the camper and setup for a few days verses spending the time at a hotel.  Plus areas with campgrounds are usually cheaper, and my kids like the freedom.  At a hotel they're confined, at a campground they can ride their bikes or roam around in general, it's easier for everyone.

 

My expensive addiction is skiing, but I've found ways to make it cheap.  I travel to Salt Lake each year for a trip.  I stay for free with my cousin, shop for cheap flights, skip on hill meals etc.  Around here I purchased a season pass at a resort four hours away because I get half price lift tickets at the place an hour away with it, plus a handful of free tickets at other local resorts.  I'll make my money back on that quickly.

 

I even do stupid things like change my own oil to save a few bucks.

 

Almost everything I've done in investing has been driven by my cheapness and desire to figure things out on my own.  In my mind if someone else can do or figure something out then I can as well.  I guess I'm stubborn and probably stupid and waste my own time, but I've learned a ton and started my blog and a few businesses along the way from this mentality.

 

And yes, I'm married and my wife not only tolerates this, but is similar.  She's told me in the past she'd be mad if I bought her roses on Valentines, or even waste money on cards for events.  She says it's crazy to pay $4 or $5 for a piece of paper that's thrown away.

 

Everything you just said. +1.  My wife feels the same way about cards.  When she buys someone a gift, she'll spend an extra $4 or $5 on the gift and skip the useless card (price is what you spend, value is what you get, or give in this case).  And when sending someone a card is necessary, a $0.99 card gets the job done just as well as a $4.50 card.  Every store has a $0.99 card section if you look.

 

Yes, this is something I don't understand.  People have been brainwashed into buying cards thanks to Carlton and Hallmark!  I never buy cards...just a waste of money.  I figure a better gift is better than a card. 

 

Then again, when I do receive a card from friend and family out of the blue or at Christmas, I do put them on my desk or mantle.  Maybe I am cheap!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

You have to be careful with frugality, and weigh it against the income you would make with the time spent saving money. 

 

For example, a lot of these behaviors have become habit for me over two decades, such as cutting coupons when I buy groceries every week.  But as time went buy, I realized that if I spend half an hour cutting coupons that will save me $5, but in that half hour I earn $100, it's probably not the best use of my time.

 

So a lot of frugal behaviors that I carry out now, I always weigh them against the value of that time.  If I'm not doing anything, then sure I'll save that $5, or research that discount on phones, cars, furniture, etc.  I'm not the most handy of individuals, so I'm never going to spend hours remodelling my kitchen myself.  So I'll seek out deals, haggle, etc and get great work for a fair or cheap price.   

 

What I've found is that I can get better discounts by simply calling up the retailer and haggling with them on the phone.  That's what I do for my smartphone, computers, furniture, cars...just about most things.  If you ask or haggle, generally you will save a fair amount of money without wasting too much time.  Any fee or bill I receive that I don't like...I phone them up and seek a reduction or haggle for a fee removal.  Cheers!   

[yadayada]

why get married at all. I dont understand this. You have the wedding which is expensive, and then when your other half gets sick of it, she gets to have half your shit. Even with a prenup you probably end up bleeding. It is this ridicilous contract that adds really no value to the relationship at all.