@simplersimon The answers seem pretty comprehensive. To paraphrase, "How often do you do a thing? Always/mostly/sometimes/never/huh?" What else would you say?
The thing I often fail to foresee is the cost of getting rid of something... usually just the guilt of sending it to the landfill, but still weighs on me.
Maybe not to the penny, but yeah. Car = purchase price (= down payment + payments + financing) + insurance + maintenance costs + operation costs (fuel, etc).
Bought a used pickup truck six years ago to (a) haul stuff in/out of a house we inherited and get it ready for sale and (b) haul bags of trash weekly to our rural trash/recycling drop off center, as there is no collection here. Shortly after the house sold, the truck was totaled by a deer strike. We immediately began looking at other used trucks when I realized that (a) the house was sold and (b) I haul a couple of bags of garbage and some boxes each week. So the better solution was to buy a cheap flat trailer and install a hitch on one car than own another vehicle with gas, insurance, upkeep, etc.
@radi0j0hn I know KNOW you are right, but I just can't bring myself to consider a travel trailer for vacation/retirement compared to an integrated RV. Sigh
Radio story-teller Jean Shepherd said that whenever he got the bug to buy a new car for use in NYC, he imagined what it would look like in a couple of years with dents and a wheel that a dog had "visited" repeatedly. I do (sort of) the same with some tech items.
Catshirt ... buy it printed on a cheaper blank that shrinks in warmth, fits like shit, and may bust a seam and/or swiss cheese on it's first wash? ... or spend $3 more for an USA-made shirt that personal experience shows it consistently holding up over the years?
I do this with the smallest of purchases (e.g., "okay, what's the longterm impact of this Snickers bar gonna be?"), but:
1) I often ignore my own better counsel and consideration. 2) As someone who's in a position (and/or who chooses, sometimes regardless of my actual authority and responsibility) to often do this professionally, I find both TCO and ROI to be frustratingly vague and flexible. You can pretty much rationalize any damned thing. And convincingly. And, hell, sometimes the easiest ones to lie to are ourselves. A lot of times it's just about perspective. Yeah, I'll be fat and fall victim to a sugar coma, but who can say what good that indulgence might do me and what ill it might help me avoid? Who? I can. Not that my answers are necessarily reliable. There are so many variables to take into account and we usually don't know what we've missed until it's changed everything.
At times I can go on and on wondering even about that Snickers bar. And sometimes when I'm making critical decisions about huge expensive systems, well, hey, let's be honest, I've made my mind up before the conversation even begins--and I know that just about anything be made to work, so why not, it's cool. (This isn't actually totally true, but it's true enough.)
I find most formulas for calculating TCO to be simplistic and biased.
Yes, and so I bought a car with better gas mileage instead of the more powerful one I wanted and then gas went down to $2 a gallon for premium. Moral of the story: buy what you want.
The finger-effort cost of clicking the fucking "BUY" butoon is so fucking cheap.
After it arrives, i do consider the actual $/Time cost + shipping, cost of ownership, organizing, making space, maintaining, loaning out, getting returned, keeping clean, remembering i own, remembering how to use, troubleshooting, getting pissed at, buying insurance for, documenting i own, trouble caused for others because i spent $ or because i own, other opportunities missed, etc, etc, etc.
When I purchased my car... I assumed gas was going up... I Really was hoping the price of gas would skyrocket! Not only because I have a hybrid vehicle... but it would help push electric... and my family may have some oil that may or may not be producing at this moment (when the price is too low they stop actively pulling oil out of the ground... It's not a I can quit my job amount of oil... but it's nice for my grandparents that are on a fixed income!)
Reminds me of the time I impulse bought a bonsai tree and an African Grey Parrot.
@Fish_Kungfu Both costly in different ways, no?
@Fish_Kungfu Like as a bundle?
A couple hours in and no hits on the "throw out something in the forum" answer? Interesting.
@simplersimon The answers seem pretty comprehensive. To paraphrase, "How often do you do a thing? Always/mostly/sometimes/never/huh?" What else would you say?
@lifftchi the answers often cover all the bases, yet so many hit that last answer.
@simplersimon Did that deter you? There seems to be an average amount of forum discussion even though no one said they would. Liars.
@Charcoalwolfman Liar? Did I give an alternate answer to the poll question? No, I stand by my answer.
The thing I often fail to foresee is the cost of getting rid of something... usually just the guilt of sending it to the landfill, but still weighs on me.
@pajamma Donate.
Maybe not to the penny, but yeah. Car = purchase price (= down payment + payments + financing) + insurance + maintenance costs + operation costs (fuel, etc).
It usually only comes up when I'm trying to convince my wife to let me get the more expensive gadget.
Only to the point of looking for energy star appliances, hybrid cars, electric lawn maintenance tools, etc.
I'm a tightwad. But I'm a long-term tightwad, not a short-term tightwad.
Bought a used pickup truck six years ago to (a) haul stuff in/out of a house we inherited and get it ready for sale and (b) haul bags of trash weekly to our rural trash/recycling drop off center, as there is no collection here. Shortly after the house sold, the truck was totaled by a deer strike. We immediately began looking at other used trucks when I realized that (a) the house was sold and (b) I haul a couple of bags of garbage and some boxes each week. So the better solution was to buy a cheap flat trailer and install a hitch on one car than own another vehicle with gas, insurance, upkeep, etc.
@radi0j0hn I know KNOW you are right, but I just can't bring myself to consider a travel trailer for vacation/retirement compared to an integrated RV. Sigh
@compunaut This truck/trailer thing for me is purely a utility item.
Radio story-teller Jean Shepherd said that whenever he got the bug to buy a new car for use in NYC, he imagined what it would look like in a couple of years with dents and a wheel that a dog had "visited" repeatedly. I do (sort of) the same with some tech items.
@radi0j0hn well... NYC... what do you expect.
It doesn't even have to be big purchases.
Catshirt ... buy it printed on a cheaper blank that shrinks in warmth, fits like shit, and may bust a seam and/or swiss cheese on it's first wash? ... or spend $3 more for an USA-made shirt that personal experience shows it consistently holding up over the years?
I do this with the smallest of purchases (e.g., "okay, what's the longterm impact of this Snickers bar gonna be?"), but:
1) I often ignore my own better counsel and consideration.
2) As someone who's in a position (and/or who chooses, sometimes regardless of my actual authority and responsibility) to often do this professionally, I find both TCO and ROI to be frustratingly vague and flexible. You can pretty much rationalize any damned thing. And convincingly. And, hell, sometimes the easiest ones to lie to are ourselves. A lot of times it's just about perspective. Yeah, I'll be fat and fall victim to a sugar coma, but who can say what good that indulgence might do me and what ill it might help me avoid? Who? I can. Not that my answers are necessarily reliable. There are so many variables to take into account and we usually don't know what we've missed until it's changed everything.
At times I can go on and on wondering even about that Snickers bar. And sometimes when I'm making critical decisions about huge expensive systems, well, hey, let's be honest, I've made my mind up before the conversation even begins--and I know that just about anything be made to work, so why not, it's cool. (This isn't actually totally true, but it's true enough.)
I find most formulas for calculating TCO to be simplistic and biased.
Anyway, yeah.
Not to the penny, but always when replaceable parts (batteries, filters,etc) are involved.
Yes, and so I bought a car with better gas mileage instead of the more powerful one I wanted and then gas went down to $2 a gallon for premium. Moral of the story: buy what you want.
@nunonbreak Life is too short to drive an ugly-ass car just because it gets a few more MPG
I usually consider the opportunity cost.
The finger-effort cost of clicking the fucking "BUY" butoon is so fucking cheap.
After it arrives, i do consider the actual $/Time cost + shipping, cost of ownership, organizing, making space, maintaining, loaning out, getting returned, keeping clean, remembering i own, remembering how to use, troubleshooting, getting pissed at, buying insurance for, documenting i own, trouble caused for others because i spent $ or because i own, other opportunities missed, etc, etc, etc.
Need meds.
When I purchased my car... I assumed gas was going up... I Really was hoping the price of gas would skyrocket! Not only because I have a hybrid vehicle... but it would help push electric... and my family may have some oil that may or may not be producing at this moment (when the price is too low they stop actively pulling oil out of the ground... It's not a I can quit my job amount of oil... but it's nice for my grandparents that are on a fixed income!)