There are a lot of things that I waste my money on, like pedicures, pre-chopped veggies, and convenience goods, but I definitely have some things that cross the proverbial line as far as what I will and will not pay for.
Looking at this list, I can totally understand why some people would pay to have these services done for them. It’s a convenience thing. Plus, I don’t hate any of these tasks; if I hated doing something, it wouldn’t be worth, in my mind, paying for.
As much as doing the following list of things isn’t exactly a picnic, the stubbornness in me refuses to let myself pay for them. So here we go!
1. Tire Changing
Let’s be honest, changing a tire is damn easy. People that don’t know how just haven’t learned yet. You only need one tool, and the tire that you’re changing. I can’t fathom paying $25/tire for somebody to change mine over.
The only exception is if the tire that I’m changing is not already on it’s rim. I don’t have the right tools to put a tire onto it’s rim, so that needs to be done by the professionals.
2. House cleaning
I’m sure that one day, I will change my mind about this, but as of right now, I’m a young able bodied individual. I can clean my own bathroom, put my own dishes in the dishwasher, and dust all by myself.
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I can’t imagine shelling out $50-$60/hr (or even $20-$30 if you have connections) just to avoid cleaning my windows. Plus, cleaning can be a great workout, and there are few things as satisfying as having a spotless house that you worked hard to scrub.
3. Hair removal
I can also see why some people go to the professionals for hair removal, but it’s not something I require. I’m blond. Even if I let my eyebrows go untouched for two months, you wouldn’t be able to notice that much, unless you were hanging out a foot from my face, and I would then kindly ask you to get the $%^* out of my bubble.
As demonstrated above, I also don’t like people being all up in my business. Even though salons only charge like $8 for eye brow threading, plucking, or waxing (and, of course, more for leg and.. um.. other waxing), it’s just not worth it to me.
4. Banking
Well, I think by now anyone whose ever read this blog knows that I’m a big fan of ING. ING is great for many reasons, but one of those is that they don’t charge banking fees on a chequing account. Why should you have to pay to access your money?
I cheat the system a bit by keeping my TD Canada Trust account open. Since I’m a student, I can have a free account with TD, but as soon as I’m not a student and therefore have to pay chequing fees, I’ll be out of there like my dog when threatened with a bath.
I also try not to pay interest fees or overdraft fees, but sometimes it happens so I can’t say that I refuse to pay them.
5. Full Cable
I’m not a huge TV fan, because everything I need to or want to watch can be found commercial free either online or on Netflix. I don’t even pay for basic cable right now, because the only time we ever turned on the TV when we did have it was on a rainy or cold Saturday afternoon, and at that time nothing is on.
I’m spoiled though, because at the gym they have HGTV, so I watch it while I’m on the treadmill.
6. Renovations
Well, okay, I’m a little bias on this one because I have carpenters as a father, boyfriend, and step dad. Why would I need to pay for renovations?
But, even if I didn’t have all of these talented family members at my disposal, there are a few renovation items that I would never pay for.
a) Painting
Why would you pay somebody to paint your house when you can do it yourself? It can even be fun! Then again, if you have a monstrosity as a house, I can sort of understand.
b) Demolition
Unless we’re talking ripping up concrete (which requires some serious tools and safety precautions), I can do a demo. All you need is a hard hat, safety glasses, and a grow bar, or a hammer. Drywall is easy to bust through, and it’s seriously pretty stress relieving.
Just be careful that you’re not demolishing a load bearing wall. That would suck.
7. Moving
Once again, my circumstances allow me to not ever have to pay for moving trucks or services, but I find this a total waste of money if you know somebody – anybody – with a truck and a few hours.
Boyfriend has an SUV and my dad has a truck, so in two loads, all of our furniture is at the new place. Boxes can come with me.
However, once we start getting bigger places with more stuff, and we don’t want to totally waste a full weekend and several tanks of gas to go back and forth, I might change my mind on this. In fact, I know I will.
What are some things that you refuse to pay for?
I actually kind of get the painting thing, especially if you’re not good at it. Even though it seems like a really simple task, it can be really time consuming, and you can definitely tell the difference in quality between a professional and some university kid who painted his dorm room. (Not always, but often.) Plus, I would just be way too anxious about getting paint on the floor, ceiling and baseboards, and taping is a pain. My stepdad is a contractor, so I’ve been lucky enough that he’s been willing to paint rooms for me when I need/want them done. And honestly? He makes it look really good, and he’s fast. Like, he painted my entire bedroom in an hour and a half, including time in between two coats to let the paint dry.
I’d totally pay for someone to do that, if he wasn’t able to help me out.
I could definitely see why. I actually painted as a job last year, so by now I’m pretty quick and I really don’t mind doing it. Plus, my type A self loves to tape the ceiling and baseboards and seeing that nice little neat line separating the two (Yup, I’m neurotic).
I like your new layout!!!! You are so lucky you have a ton of people that will help you with renos and building, etc. My BF is amazing at repairs, car stuff, electric, plumbing and handiwork but not so much with renovations. We are looking to expand our place right now so I may be coming back here to ask you for some tips:)
I don’t pay for a lot of the same stuff you do especially any car stuff. I once paid to get my car washed and I felt guilty and they didn’t even do a good job.
Hope everything is going well and you are starting to bring lunch to work again!
Great post. You are lucky you have blonde hair. I don’t and have to pay for hair removal. It isn’t fun. As far as house cleaning goes, we hired a service a number of months ago and it has been awesome. It has freed us up to work on more important things and it really hasn’t cost that much money. We worked it into our budget. I would say it has been a blessing and we can make money now that we have more time.
Oh, how funny! I was just thinking about doing a post on this exact topic the other day.
I’ve moved almost every year since leaving home, and the first few moves were free as I didn’t have much stuff (especially large stuff) so friends’ wagons/utes/vans did the job. Now I am happy to pay the $75 to hire a proper truck for a couple of hours now that we have more furniture. If the timing works, I can also borrow the courier van from work to use after hours.
LOL! Well, if you still want to go ahead! It’s interesting to see everyones point of view as to what they’ll pay for.
I can definitely see the necessity of paying for a moving truck. We live in a 480 sq foot apartment right now, so we can’t have a lot of stuff!
I am so with you on the ING thing. Now that I can see how much I’ve saved in fees ($85) since I switched over, I can’t believe I was wasting that much money just accessing my account! I also have really light eyebrows and leg hair, so I save that way too. I used to get my brows done (waxed & tinted), but couldn’t shell out the $20-30 it costs here to do it every few weeks.
After moving 14 times in the past 8 years, I’ve gotten pretty good at packing up my stuff and getting it from point A to point B. However, this year, I’m paying people to move it all for me. I’ll pack everything up (using empty boxes hoarded from work) and rent a vehicle, but there’s no way I’m doing any of the heavy lifting this time, and to me, that’s worth the money! I also live on a very steep hill, so loading up is going to be a bitch – I’ll leave it to the professionals.
I love your new layout! 🙂
I do pay for tire change, but it’s only $5/tire 🙂
I agree with you for bank fees. 2012 is the year of $0 bank fees!
I jump on ING wagon a long time ago for savings, and once their chequing account hit the ground, I go to TD Bank and tell the Teller I want to close my chequing. I got hit by fees because I don’t have the minimum of $2500 in the TD chequing (they increased the minimum just because they open on Sunday). What person want to leave that much money hanging with no interest!. Not only I increase my interest from ING (since they don’t do minimum, I move majority to my ING savings). I have accumulated enough to get a much needed SPA within just half a year! eat that TD!
Did I mention the ING chequing Interact card is able to be used in most credit unions banks, which is everywhere..saved me gas and very convenient!
You are so handy! I agree with all your points except I am not very handy at all.
I pay for tire changes, although I time them to service intervals and try to get the garage to do it for free. (They often do).
I’ve injured myself too many times while changing tires. (They are heavy… tall people shouldn’t lift heavy things as it’s a mechanical disadvantage) Nothing quite like being laid out on your pack in agony for 4-5 days (and missing work as a result) because of it.
I can’t afford the risk.
Same goes for renos. I can not afford to get injured. (The perils of being self-employed… no sick time, no workers comp. If I can’t perform, you don’t get paid).
And you’re exploiting your family and that will cost you something of your time in return. It’s not free. Labour of love? Perhaps.