Dealing with On-Going Costs

Here are a few things I own that cost me more than what I simply paid for the item in the first place:

• Humidifier/air purifier/water purifier -- Have you seen the cost of filters lately?!
• Car -- If buying the car was your only expense, it would be a great deal. But you need to pay to insure, drive, and maintain it. Bummer.
• Anything electronic -- You need electricity to power these things, right?
• Video game console -- The hardware is just step #1. Then, come the games you have to buy for it...
• Doll -- My daughter has one particular doll she loves to dress up. They should give me the doll for free for what the clothes cost!
• Printer -- Our computer printer at home DRINKS ink like it's on a drunken binge.

Anyway, you get my point -- many items we buy have on-going costs associated with them. These are simply things we need to buy to keep the original purchase working or to add more value/please to it. MSN

Money has a list of these. They call them hidden costs and include the following items:

• A silk blouse
• A puppy
• A sporty car
• A bigger house

A few thoughts from me on these:

1. I'm a cotton sort of guy and my wife does very little silk.

2. Ha! I had to laugh to see a puppy mentioned (check out #2 on my list of The 10 Most-Hated Money Saving Tips.) It's interesting to note that MSN lists the low-end costs of a medium-sized dog as almost $10k for 15 years. If they bumped it up to "average", they'd be right in line with my estimate of $1,000 a year for the cost of a pet.

3. I'm really not interested in sporty cars. I'm too tall to fit into most of them and I'd rather have a truck anyway.

4. Ouch! This one hurt. As many of you know, we're looking for a new home -- hoping to save a bundle with the recent downturn of the market. And we're well aware that costs for a ton of items will go up if and when we decide to move. These extra costs will be a major factor in us deciding on buying any particular home.

How about you? What on-going costs do you have to deal with?

Comments

[Free From Broke]

Know what just hit us? Our vacuum cleaner. We just had to buy a new hepa filter for it. That meant driving out to Best Buy and spending $30+. And while I was there I needed a new ink cartridge too. Little expenses like that drive me nuts!

[Mark]

It is always something, and these are the things that I find derail my best laid plans to pay off debt and start saving. I make a budget that allows an extra $300 toward debt each month, but then an ink cartridge, lawnmower blade, and basement leak leave me with nothing extra.

November was a "3 paycheck month" so I though I would have some extra cash for debt payment, then, wham, I get hit with a $500 repair for a laundry pump.

[CF]

For anything that requires continuous additional cost, I always look for a cheaper alternative or try to buy in bulk (eBay is great for this). Examples in our household - I buy water filters and razor blades on eBay in bulk - not only saves you tons of money, but lots of trips to the store. Obviously this works best with smaller items that can be shipped relatively inexpensively. For ink cartridges, I bought (again on eBay) a kit that includes ink and syringes to refill the cartridges. Spent $20 on ink that will give me 20+ refills. Doesn't work for everything, but bulk buying and alternative solutions can save you quite a bit.

[mk]

I thought of this when I saw the mention of the printer. Laser printers are often cheaper in the long run, since the cost per page is MUCH lower than with inkjets. And face it, most of the time, you don't need color printing capability. I've had a black-and-white laser printer as the only printer for the last two and a half years and I don't miss color printing much. And the cost per page, all things considered, is about 1/10 of that for the inkjet, which was still not too bad for an inkjet printer of decent quality.

Sure, there is a cost up front for the printer, toner is generally more expensive to buy, you may need to factor in replacement of the drum, but when you split it out per page you get out of it, it's a bargain.

[Lord]

Anything with a subscription. I avoid them like the plague.

[Toby]

I second the laser printer recommendation. A most than adequate printer can be had for less than $200 (Brother sells a nice multi-function laser unit which includes a scanner/fax/copier for roughly $150). Toner lasts *much* longer than ink cartridges and, if you print infrequently, toner never "dries up" like ink cartridges have done to me in the past.

My previous printer lasted 6 years on the original toner cartridge that came with the printer (printed about 5000 pages before needing to be replaced).

Unless I suddenly go into a field where I need high-quality color printing (photography), I don't think I will ever buy an inkjet again.

[Roger]

Printers ongoing cost go up with wear and tear on the machine...paper jams, bad print jobs, and ripped paper.
jojogetbk ...456-098

[bill]

jojogetbk 789
How about boats as a cost that never end... gas, oil, and boy toys