"When you purchase something, most people believe that they have paid for the item. Rarely do they think ahead and consider if that item will cost them more money in the future. These are hidden costs that come back to bite people's budget because the true cost of the item purchased was never considered. There are a surprising number of these hidden costs and a lot of the products we purchase have them. Even worse, we rarely consider this when we make the purchase."

Have you ever bought an item and found yourself surprised at the list of costs that came after?

I find buying a new computer (in 1986) turned out to be a never ending expense. We got the internet, then we had to make repairs, then we bought another computer and internet line and a printer that needed ink and paper and more repairs and then we needed faster internet and newer computers.

A stone tablet or fire and a blanket would have been much cheaper, LOL!

Brandy:

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A stone tablet or fire and a blanket would have been much cheaper, LOL!

 

But think of the cost of shipping letters!! E-mails are much lighter... and more frugal!

Supposedly the reason printers are relatively cheap is because the company knows there will be an ongoing expense of buying ink and paper and that is where they are making their money.  Ever notice how many service fees there are associated with a cell/camera phone or or cable service?  On a cell phone if you want to use providers picture website service, that is a fee, if you want connection to the internet that is a fee. With cable premium channels and movie channels are extra and not worth it in my opinion. We don't have any of these services beyond basic.  However my husband, who is a Nascar and other race fan, misses out on some important races because these races are only broadcast on a channel that is an additional fee to our basic cable.  When big events only exclusive broadcast that way alot of fans miss out.  I think that is a shame and in a sense the companies doing it are spiting themselves by ignoring their largest group of fans.  I guess it is a matter or providing for a few wealthy fans and not caring about the rest. 

 Here are 2 other examples of hidden costs that I got hit with:  A year ago in April I decided to see if I could find cheaper car insurance rates, as the company we had been with for 28 years kept raising our rates each year even though we had made no claims and our driving circumstances had not changed. I switched to Mercury and saved about $300.00 for the year.  A year later when the policy renewed it went up almost $300! I feel they scammed us into changing and let them know about it, then went looking again to change.  I changed to AAA, because they gave us a slight discount and we already had their road service. Because I had already paid one installment on the Mercury insurance for the year when I switched to AAA, when I called Mercury to cancel and get a refund they withheld $60.00 beyond the prorated refund because I canceled in the middle of a policy.  That stinks!  When I set up the policy with AAA I had to do it in monthly installments (10) and understood there would be a service charge for doing so, but they also are charging me 12% monthly interest on the unpaid balance!  Each months bill has almost $18.00 added to it. This was never told to us by the agent and I didn't think anything like that would happen, so didn't think to ask.  All in all, I probably should have stayed with the first company, but I was just trying to save us some money on our fixed income, and didn't have much experience with other insurance companies.  Now I think they are all crooks.  E 

My dh has been into computers since the 70's and I used to work in the early 90's at  a computer store. With computers you just have to accept that you are not going to get any money back in resale value unless you change over computers each year. you may make a couple of dollars but since it changes so fast, stuff becomes worthless for resale fast.

Actually one thing comes to mind. I bought my husband a woodworking lathe (he wanted it) one year for his birthday and said go use it. He said no I need a $200 chuck plus plus etc before I can use it.  The lathe was  $150 on sale!  I said the difference between boys and girl toys! Boys toys always need more expensive addons to make them usefull and then the actual materials to use and girls don't. A sewing machine, just need a pattern and materials and you are set.  I am not staying we don't spend as much on our toys lol.

For all my complaining about computer use, my activities online cover the cost of the internet and some of our computer expenses are tax deductible. It's still pricey but this helps.

I try to look at the hidden costs, but sometimes there really isn't a way around them. That's the ones you need, like a car.

Did you all know that Walgreens refills ink cartriges now? I had it done recently. I only paid $15 dollars total for both to be filled. It's about half of what it costs to buy brand new. Nice thing is they can be refilled over and over again as long as the little communication parts keep working. Sorry, can't think of what they're called.

We have a chain here called Island inkjet that does that for you. I think it costs half the price of a refill.  They have kiosks or there in one in the local Walmart.

Up here we have a place called Cartridge World that will do refils and recycle. When my ink runs out, I will be going to be going up and buying a recycled cartridge (otherwise I spent $35!), and have one refilled at Walgreens. That way I have a backup.