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December 2011 Moms
Happily Overwhelmed
member
What do you consider "outrageous"?
Happily Overwhelmed
member
I think we're all falling off the pregnancy related wagon!
It really is so interesting to learn about everyone's different lifestyles though. I think a lot of it has to do with the areas we're living in.
My sister lives in Chicago. DH and I live 3 hours south in a small rural community. Obviously things are going to be black and white. There's no way I'd pay $5 for a cup of coffee and there's no way she'd bat an eye at paying that price.
So this being said...what are things some people pay amounts for you find "outrageous"?
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Re: What do you consider "outrageous"?
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
My Blog
Dream of a better world...where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.
While I certainly have paid $5 for my favorite chai tea lattes, I don't understand paying more than $20 for a pair of sunglasses. I'm all for the designer look and love all the fun styles available, but I tend to lose sunglasses fairly easily and always just throw them in my purse so I've also broken quite a few pairs. I always just buy mine at Target and love the ones I have!
Also, some of the baby stuff out there is soooooo expensive! Like PnPs. I can't imagine spending over $100 on one. We bought ours for around $55 at BBB and it has worked just fine for us!
Oh, and I live in Chicago
. Well, the suburbs, anyways.
BFP #2: 8.31.16 Dx w/ GD @ 28w DD Born @ 36w: 4.21.17
I will spend $5 on a fancy coffee and $50 on a special wine.
BUT I won't spend over $70 on jeans.
I live in Canada...
I will pay $5.50 for a starbucks once a week (not everyday), I have paid $400 for a pair of designer sunglasses (that lasted me 4 years until I dropped them over the boat), but I do find it outrageous that child care costs here are $750-$1150 a month!
Haha, I just had a $5 cup of coffee. I don't really think about it as outrageous, but it is a bit expensive isn't it?
This is a tough question to answer, there are a lot of things. Pretty much anything Tori Spelling does comes to mind. LOL. Spending thousands on a kids bday party, clothing, etc.
On the other hand I'm sure some people think I'm outrageous for things I spend money on. It's all perspective.
I'm pretty sure we are fairly close to each other, based on some of your other posts I've read. I'm about 3 hr south of Chicago as well, not so much a rural community though.
I understand 5 dollars for Starbucks because it's not just a cup of coffee but a personalised and hand crafted beverage. I worked there though so I might be biased
I'm also really picky about my drinks because I know how I want it made and I expect it to be made that way for that price.
Anything more than 100 dollars for a diaper bag, more than a few hundred for a stroller or a crib is insane. Someone mentioned on here that they bought a 3000 dollar crib and I couldn't believe it!
I've become pretty cheap over certain things in recent times due to our financial issues this year, I used to blow money on random useless crap all the time. The only thing I can see myself really splurging on is for glasses, because I will use them and wear them daily or anything else that you shouldn't cheap out on where the quality really matters.
I totally would of said the same thing until I got my first pair of Maui Jim sunglasses last year. The lenses are amazing! At first I was very careful but now I find myself throwing them into my purse way too often!
I'm pretty cheap...I don't mind a $5 coffee every once in a while but I couldn't do it every day. I also don't mind splurging on fancy dinners...I guess I am a bit more lenient on food related things.
I buy cheap clothes when I buy clothes at all. H has to beg me to go shopping...he pretty much drug me to the store to buy anything maternity related-I don't see the point in buying something I will only wear for a short time! I do buy expensive-ish sunglasses-the pair I have now were $65. I find that I take better care of them. I used to buy the cheap ones and was always breaking them or leaving them where the pups would chew them up.
Wow I am cheap...all this sounds like to much........
I bet we are close to each other!
BTW---I drive by Maui Jim's offices all the time;)
I might have such an issue with this because I HATE coffee. lol!
I ran into Tori Spelling on tv yesterday... I'm not sure there's a star out there that drives me more insane!
Hahaha I am guilty of getting a $5 coffee....usually once a week (Saturdays or Sundays) as a treat to myself when I run out to do all my errands. Other than that I'm totally happy making it at home, or if I'm at work, spending the $1 for a nice cup of hot coffee to start my work day LoL
But I live in the DC area and cost of living is relatively high (I say "relatively" cuz I think cities like NYC is worse...)....which is why most people I know live faaaar out and decide to take a hideous 2+ hr commute each way, each day. I couldn't take it...I did the 1.5 hr commute for a while and couldn't stand it. I live closer to work now and it's not MUCH better commute-wise, but at least I'm in the general "metro" area as we call it.
I dunno if this is "outrageous", but I pay more and probably live in a much smaller place than my coworkers, but I'd rather be closer to everything and have a shorter commute.
On another note...I do find it outrageous to spend hundreds on clothes/shoes/etc, especially if they are only trends. I understand spending a good amount of money on a high quality, key/basic pieces that you'll have and wear for years to come (such a really good boot, bag or coat)...but why waste money on fads? If I want trendy clothing, I'll shop at stores like F21, H&M, etc..I don't feel guilty. If I want a boot that will last me years and years and not go out of style...I'll buy from a quality brand like Frye.
?Little Love of my Life?
Well honestly I think it's outrageous to spend more than $20 on a shirt but when I was working was more than willing to drop $60+ on jeans. HOWEVER I also work with horses and shirts needed to be disposable between horse snot and whatever else I got on them and jeans had to be able to deal with the stretching and pulling that comes from riding.
That said at this point everything seems outrageous. I had to stop buying coffee grounds (folgers) because I couldn't justify $10 for something I'd blow through in a week. I just about have a nervous breakdown shopping anyway though lol plus in our circumstances anything thats not edible or used for hygiene is an unecessary expense o.o;;
Yes, we are VERY close to each other then!!! You mentioned a couple things about your BF class and it sounded quite similar to the BF class I was in on the same days...
I think it's outrageous to pay someone $500 to put up your Christmas lights for you. (I really hope my SIL doesn't lurk here because that's what she pays.)
I think I have a wonky perspective on spending. I had no issue with dropping money on a big wedding or an organic turkey for Thanksgiving, but I'm a total cheapo about other things to the point of doing my own canning vs. paying $3.50 for a big can of diced tomatoes. To each their own though - I don't begrudge my SIL - I just couldn't stomach dropping $500 every year for some rube to string lights on my house.
I lived in Chicago for many years, and now am living in the suburbs, so the prices of things don't really phase me anymore, until I visit another part of the country and learn how much cheaper things are there. That doesn't mean I personally will purchase those things myself, just that I'm used to seeing high prices.
The one thing that still gets me around here is how much people spend on children's clothing/shoes. I just don't understand how you can shell out several hundreds of dollars for a pair of shoes for your kid when they are going to outgrow them in a matter of months.
But the $5 latte? Totally guilty of that (though I try to limit myself to once a week).
Ella born 12/21/11
i go to SBUX 2-3x/week, but i refuse to buy stylish clothes. all of mine are very plain, classic clothes.
i refuse to buy most things new for the baby. with the exception of our first splurge of $100, all of his clothes that we have bought are from garage sales or consignment sales.
i use coupons and shop sales until my eyes cross.
I'm kind of like this as well living in a suburb of Vancouver Canada. The cost of living here is STUPID high (example: an 800 sq foot condo sells for $350,000...in the burbs..downtown $500K +...or rental of the same suite would be about $1200/month).
However I do think it is outrageous what some ladies will spend on trendy "organic/fair trade" etc. baby gear... there's this little shop downtown that sells all the enviro-stuff and a onesie is $25+, a stroller is close to $1000, little simple wooden toys $50+... but moms there yum them up because they're "the thing to do"! I'm all for organic products and the like but I'm sorry if I bought only that sort of thing for a baby that is going to grow out of it in a month...we'd be broke!
I thought baby raybans for $70 was outrageous! I spend on a lot of things, but no way am I spending $70 for some little pair of sunglasses that would most likely get chucked out of the stroller! I ended up getting DD a pair for $10 at Nordstroms that will work just as well.
I'm in TN and from GA so we definitely don't have a high cost of living (unless you choose it anyway). I find the housing prices in NY/CA and other places outrageous. $2000 rent? No ma'am!
I would buy Starbucks 3-4 times a week if there was one close by and I wasn't pregnant. I like just going there and having my "me time" though. I have a Coach diaper bag and brand new baby everything; but that's because we are really blessed with our families. (DH's aunt won the lottery a couple of years back). I cringe at spending more than $30 on a pair of pants or a shirt and I always hit the clearance rack first.
BFP #2 - MC Aug 2012 - D&C w/ complications
No kidding. This is how I feel. Our mortgage is $800 a month for a 2,500 sq. ft house on 2 acres with 3 outbuildings. I can't imagine paying that much for something and it not count towards something in the end. I know rent has it's advantages...but that seems like theft to me.
We paid $2400 for rent in Orange County CA before moving here. It was painful. We now own a home and pay less for our mortgage than that. Oh and the place was only 1000 SF vs the 2,900 we have now!
I'm a complete cheapskate. Hearing what others pay for manicures, hair color/cuts, clothes, shoes, bags, spa trips, sunglasses, baby gear, sposie diapers, travel, eating out, rent, etc, etc, etc, all makes my head spin. Even if these are so called "good prices." I guess it comes with the territory of being a low income family.
I will spend money on my pets--high quality food, preventatives, and a veterinarian with a good reputation. I will also spend money on DS but not outrageous amounts. Car seats are one thing I have no upper spending limit on.
Breastfeeding and pregnant!
I'm a pretty cheap person. Most of my clothes come from Target or Old Navy. I don't have many expensive purses or shoes. The ones I do have were usually bought discounted (thank God my sister works at Macy's). DH and I only go on vacation every 2 years.
My only splurge is usually buying many boxes of K-cups for my Keurig.
At the end of February I moved from Burnaby to Prince George and it is sooooooo much cheaper! We paid 1350 rent because we lucked out, and that was a two bedroom quadruplex. We now have a 3 bedroom rancher with our own front and back yard and it is only 790! I made 20 bucks an hour and my husband was a carpenter and we struggled with the cost of living.
The trendy Vancouver yoga moms are crazy. Lulu Lemon has great work out clothes, but who can spend 106 dollars on a pair of yoga pants and another 50 for the top? I splurged on a pair once and they made my butt look good but I could never bring myself to do it again. TNA is just as bad but more for skanky teens.
The weird thing is PG girls up here wear Lulu Lemon headbands like they are going out of style, they must go down there or order them online! I didn't think I'd see that kind of trendiness reach here. The odd thing is PG fashion is two years behind Vancouver so all my old clothes make me look super trendy, haha. And stuff is way cheaper up here. I love it!
The nice thing about those Maui Jim's is if anything happens to them in your purse, you can send them back to the company and they will replace them no questions asked....
I'm not cheap, but I am frugal. I have no problems spending the extra money on something of quality - Oakley sunglasses, Keen or Born shoes, TNF, Spyder, or Mountain Hardwear coats, good coffee beans, etc. I would much rather have one good pair of UA or Brooks running pants than a couple pair of Adidas that will fall apart after a month. If I'm going to spend the money on something I want it to be worth my while.
Haha nice! That's a great deal... $790 for a 3 bdrm... Our 1200 sq foot, 2 bdrm and den condo (about a 45 min drive from downtown Van) is $1400/month and we thought that was a steal! I am finding the older I get the more I *hate* Vancouver/GVRD lol. I mean it's a beautiful city but just the impatient attitude a lot of people have here, all the silliness with things like those riots (which by the way would have happened win OR lose...the people that started it just wanted to start something IMO) and the cost.. I don't know I feel depressed about it some days! As a SAHM I've found it really tough to even make other mom friends, everyone is so closed and almost paranoid about branching out.
DH and my families both live around here though so we don't want to move too far away, however I think eventually we *will* be moving further out of town. We're both just finding it too stressful. Maybe I'm just officially getting "old" haha!
My whole family lives down there and I've lived there my whole life. The thing that got us to move is we both wanted a change and my husband is from PG and his daughter lives here. I'm really glad now though, life is simpler, more casual, things are cheaper. The friends I had back home were lifelong friends, but I found it hard to make new friends because of the way other women are down there.
The bus drivers here will call ahead to your transferring bus and have them wait for you! I love the small town attitude, and though the women here can still be cliquey like they are in Vancouver it's still not as bad. The riots made me sad, I was down there still when we won the gold in hockey for the Olympics and the celebrating in the street was the most beautiful and amazing thing to be a part of.
Jan17 Sept Sig: Pumpkin Spice gone too far
The one thing I won't really spend money on are handbags and shoes. Anything over $150 for either is just too much for me.
Other than that, I don't really have a limit on how much I will pay for things, but I ALWAYS shop with coupons, even for high end stores.
I hear you! I lived in Belmont, MA for just over 5 years before moving to NC. The only thing I considered outrageous was how much cheaper everything was once I came south.