Posted on 06/06/2011 2:02:38 PM PDT by Daffynition
For most Americans, the recession hasn't ended. There are plenty of people out of work. The stock market is still a bipolar mess. Uncle Sam is up to his goatee in debt. The nation is pinching pennies to squeak by, and maybe that's a good thing?
Because last decade was a drunken orgy of a spending spree. We bought giant, expensive McMansions on credit in the suburbs because everyone in the family needed two toilets. We would eat out all the time at fancy restaurants that served "tapas," which is Spanish for "very expensive tiny plates of very little food." Americans took up golf by the millions, and that's a sport where you pay out the nose to walk around a park with a bag full of pricey toys.
Then that ended, and here we are. Hungrier, but leaner. Not completely broke, but certainly more frugal. Most Americans don't waste money the way they use to. But there are still some who insist on throwing their moolah at crapola that isn't worth the price tag. Check out our list of dumbest wastes of money! Let us know how you're saving a buck here and there.
(Excerpt) Read more at trutv.com ...
Once you start labeling recreational activities like sports as a waste of money you’re no longer giving advice you’re grinding an axe. Yes technically all recreational spending is “wasted” but you can’t spend all your life (and money) on “productive” things, relaxation is good for you. Oh and gyms are for a lot more than just jogging.
I love how the SUV gets me though in all sorts of bad weather. I’ve driven through snowstorms. One time, not too long ago, we just had a huge rainstorm. I drove in my SUV from my house to do some shopping. I went through a very large and deep rain puddle. A while later, I was driving back home, and as I approached that same rain puddle, directly in the middle of it was a tiny sports car with its owner sitting on the engine hood, talking on his cell phone. Obviosuly calling for a tow. The puddle pretty much almost came to the top of his tires. I felt guilty as I drove through that same puddle right in front of him (I was careful to do it slowly so as to not create waves or splash him)
I do take some mild issue with the casino. Since the kids grew up, my wife and I discovered Las Vegas and we plan to go back there at least once a year. If you can stick to a budget, learn which table games (and slots) to avoid and not make any sucker bets, you can hold your own in the Las Vegas casinos.
Now when the kids were growing up, we never went to a casino, ever. But we did take them to Disneyland and other similar places while spending a truckload of money. We don't even come close to spending that much in Vegas and we have a great time. So as long as you don't do anything stupid, you get a much better bang for your buck on the Vegas strip than at Disneyland or some European hellhole.
Also with golf, I have a set of golf clubs that cost me $200 and the public golf courses in my area run about $30-$40 for 18 holes, which takes at least 4 hours to play through. So not a bad way to spend a summer morning or a spring/autumn afternoon.
Finally, with the expensive cocktails. Call me a spendthrift but it's only top shelf for me. Patron Silver, Grey Goose, Maker's Mark etc. The cheap stuff just gives me hangovers. Anyway, it's not often I have cocktails as I'm more of a beer/wine guy. But when I do, I stick with the good stuff.
Paintball?
Think Skeet Shooting.
Most any van blows the doors off any SUV.
That all depends on what the water coming out of your tap smells like.
I’m in Seattle. If we don’t jog in the rain, we don’t jog.
It’s only water.
Glad those haven’t caught on around here. Have never heard of them before now.
I disagree. SOME people are indeed winning it. Maybe my chances of winning it are very small, and I'll lose alot. Perhaps all the time. But at least I wont lose because I didnt buy a ticket.
See my tagline. I like my Mark Twain quote better :>)
So long as you’re having fun casinos aren’t a waste of money. When I cut through the casinos for a concert (in Tucson our best concert venues are tied to casinos) almost none of the people I see in there are having fun. They all have that same grimly determined look you see a lot in emergency rooms, those people are definitely wasting their money, you can be unhappy for free.
Totally with you on top shelf booze. It does taste better and has fewer hangover costing impurities. Only non-drinkers and lushes think top shelf is a waste.
the gym is not a waste of money. Buying excercise equipment that you think you’ll use at home is because it will end up as a coat rack.
But I think people should spend their money how they want to as long as they’re not taking food out of their children’s mouths.
Oh, heck, kids are too fat anyway. Go ahead.
Stupid people say "you can't win it if you're not in it." Smart people say "you can't win it."
Somebody in New York won the $200 million Powerball last week.
Just sayin'.
sounds yummy.
Totally agree with one cavet. Many people are out of work and they still do stuff that costs money and makes no sense, then bitch to you about how broke they are.
My biggest complaints are
1. Every freakin member of your family has a cellphone but you are broke
2. You have all the pay packages for cable and you are broke.
3. You eat out all the time and you are broke.
4. You bitch to me all the time about being broke, yet you still piss away money like you have some.
I really don’t care how adults spend their own money, as long as they don’t bitch to me about it.
[25] Spending money on women who are gonna leave you!
When in Vegas, we might spend maybe 4-6 hours a day actually gambling. Rest of the time we are checking out the sights and sounds on the strip, sampling the restaurants or just hanging out at the pool.
I agree with you. The 2 I don’t think are stupid is the Gym and SUV’s.
$35 a month is a good deal IF you use it
SUV is bigger and needed for many familys to haul them and stuff around. You can buy one used much cheaper than new to get more bang for your buck.
That is assuming someone has the space for these things and many don’t.
Believe me, I’m as much of a proponent of power racks as anyone (today was squat day for me), but that’s not all of the equipment that a person can use that’s good for them. It’s great for the average person to get started, but there are a lot of good exercises (like dips) that can’t really be done on a power rack. Furthermore, a good dumbbell set (that goes up to over 100 lbs) is expensive and takes up a lot of room.
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