Your biggest money saver?

[pegkerr]

What one-time purchase has saved you the most money over the years? For me, it's my Krups El Primo espresso maker. Instead of wasting $3.50 for a cafe Mocha at a coffee shop, I can whip one up in the morning for a fraction of the cost. I have saved hundreds of dollars, perhaps thousands, with that one $50 purchase.

And you?

Cross posted to poor_skills.

Comments

[perimyndith.livejournal.com]

I am also going to have to go with our cars. In my family, no one ever buys new cars, or even newish used ones. My parents and my brothers have only ever (in the last 30 years) bought cars that were 8 or 10 years old when they got them. I swear they spend half their lives and so much money keeping those "great deal" cars running. My husband and I don't know much about car repair so our first car after we got married was 3 years old and in great condition. Our next car was a modest compact but it was brand new. We still have the last car, too, but now it's the "family loaner" that everyone else drives when theirs are in the shop again. We paid more up front but in the long run we've saved time, money, and hassle.

[moodyduck.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine does that too. Instead of stretching a little to buy a decent car, he gets cheap junkers and spends all his time and energy for weeks at a time fixing them up. And then they break down constantly in really inconvenient places like the middle of the desert in August. Yet he swears by not having to ever make car payments. I don't get it.

I bought an inexpensive, year-old car and never have had any trouble with it.