Cheap but it costs them in the end?

[mariec99]

Do you know people who are so cheap that it actually costs them money in the end? I.e. not repairing something immediately that ends up leading to a costlier repair than if they woudl have fixed it in the first place?

[boefixepa]

Oh yes, you can see this all the time. I think this goes back to one thread we had that was cheap vs. frugal. Is more fugal to get the best pricing on repair and maintenance than it is to just hord your money and let car/house/personal apperance/health you name it, go down the drain!

[Ima saver]

I have a problem with cars. I have seen so many people buy cars cheaply but they only run for a short time. We bought a used van for $10,000 cash. It lasted less than 10 months and we paid to get it fixed several times. We paid $22,000 for a new one and it is still going at 6 years old. My husband does a lot of heavy hauling and needs a van.

[rob62521]

I did this with a VCR. It was a good VCR, not a cheap one, but we paid to have it repaired instead of thinking about buying a new one. In less than three months the same problem cropped up. We decided it was throwing money out the window to continue to repair it.

I had the experience with the car thing also. When I was younger I had bought a used car, that was sucking the life out of me with the constant repairs. When it finally left me stranded and had to be towed to the shop, then to the transmission place, I decided I would get a new car. It was bare bones and the cheapest model - Toyota. I am driving it almost 17 years now, and including the rebuilt transmission I put in last year, has cost me probably only about $4,000 in repairs all these years. I know I lost value the minute I drove it off the lot, but there was something satisfying about not having to buy someone else's problems.

[PrincessPerky]

My MIL is fond of cheap clothes, I shouldn't complain since my children are often recipients (hence my zero clothing budget) she buys them I wash them half a dozen times then we ditch them, whereas when I do buy someting it tends to be higher quality, and my third is wearing the items form my first..I prefer quality, she figures no one is going to keep it...but since she is going to keep buying I suppose I should be happy they wear out, other wise I wouldn't have room for all the stuff!