What adult purchase really shocked you once you saw the price tag?

[mrodgers]

Sewer. I never had to pay for sewer until I bought my house in 2009. I was surprised at how much it was and it has consistently gone up over the past 11 years. It was always included in rent or we were on septic.

I'm 48 and I just paid my first water/sewer bill last week.

 

[mjkacmom]

Yeah, in the final year of my mom's life she needed ambulance transportation 4 times. The local fire department ambulance sent a bill for $250 for each of the two transports they did. The private ambulance company accepted the Medicare payment as FULL payment for the two transports they did. I was managing my mom's finances at the time and just paid it. But I know my mom would have given the fire department she had been paying taxes to for 63 years an ear full because they had the gall to bill her for an ambulance, especially when the FOR PROFIT PRIVATE ambulance company felt the insurance payment was acceptable.

Ran into that when my MIL's husband needed an ambulance....another public fire department billed my MIL $1,500. Her husband was retired Air Force and covered by Air Force Tricare coverage. The Fire District included an Air Force base. The ambulance had been purchased with a federal grant with the stipulation that any person covered by federal health insurance not be billed a penny, that what the insurance paid would be payment in full. Just by the fact it was Tricare should have told them they couldn't bill her.

We have a not for profit rescue squad in addition to paid and volunteer firehouses. They bill insurance, and whatever the insurance doesn’t pay, they eat and don’t charge. Our town is 3 miles, you call 911 for anything and help arrives in under 2 minutes.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

How much a totally new kitchen costs. Cabinets and all. Some kitchens we looked at were in the 50,000 range. Not our budget lol. Nothing special. Granted fir 5 grand you can get IKEA stuff but still custom made is insane. And a bath too.

Cabinets were what shocked me!!! When I was younger and much less wiser, I inherited a condo from my grandmother. She smoked two packs a day and the condo needed some work, so I decided to renovate everything. The contractor asked me if I wanted to save the cabinets and I was like, “nah.” I thought cabinets might cost around $2,000. Cut to me in the cabinet store getting $10,000 cabinet quotes! It’s been 6 years and I still regret throwing those cabinets away

 

[aprilchem]

Landscaping. I just got a quote for someone to buy and plant about 15 plants, and put mulch and a simple border in the front of my house - $2800. Yikes. Needless to say, we are doing it ourselves.

 

[EACarlson]

Daycare you can trust.

This absolutely, an in home daycare for my first son in 2013 was $250/ week. The center we wanted to send him to was $450/ week. When we had a second it was a very difficult decision whether to send them both to daycare or if it would be cheaper for me to stay home with them.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I was in a permanent state of sticker shock while we were planning our wedding. There was no reason I would have known the cost of things like catering halls, entertainment, invitations, etc prior to that but man was it eye opening!

 

[tzolkin]

It was a shock to me when I worked in the US and discovered you get seriously nickel and dimed on everything medical.

When I had my first child, I requested an itemized hospital bill. They charged an extra $7000 for being a "high risk" delivery and several other add on charges, but the best one to me was the $15 they charged me for 1 tylenol pill. I am fairly certain that I did not take any tylenol, but we still occasionally joke about it 21 years later... I never could have made it through 47.5 hours of unmedicated/natural childbirth without that one tylenol to take the edge off

 

[nkereina]

Air duct cleaning! We just had it done for the first time in our house and it was nearly $800. I'm sure we're breathing better, but it was a hard expense to swallow for a return that wasn't even noticeable to us.

 

[MrJT]

Buying a TV used to be an experience. I remember back in the early 90s, I bought my first TV, a 27" Sony. I spent around $800 for it. In the mid 2000s, I replaced that TV with a 34" HD tube, it was a monster, weighed about 200 lbs which was twice the size of my last TV, and it cost almost twice as much, at $1500.
Back in July, I bought a 55" TV, and it was less than half the price of the first TV that I ever bought.

 

[RamblingMad]

Buying a TV used to be an experience. I remember back in the early 90s, I bought my first TV, a 27" Sony. I spent around $800 for it. In the mid 2000s, I replaced that TV with a 34" HD tube, it was a monster, weighed about 200 lbs which was twice the size of my last TV, and it cost almost twice as much, at $1500.
Back in July, I bought a 55" TV, and it was less than half the price of the first TV that I ever bought.

My OLED was $1600. Good TVs are not cheap.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

My car - every month I see that money leave me account, I cringe. However, I *love* my car so I get over it.

Also, painting my house and replacing the front door. Painting is $5000 for labor only - still have to pay for the paint. My front door is going to be around $1500 and that was for the "cheaper" one. The one I really loved was twice as much. :/

 

[starvenger]

When I had my first child, I requested an itemized hospital bill. They charged an extra $7000 for being a "high risk" delivery and several other add on charges, but the best one to me was the $15 they charged me for 1 tylenol pill. I am fairly certain that I did not take any tylenol, but we still occasionally joke about it 21 years later... I never could have made it through 47.5 hours of unmedicated/natural childbirth without that one tylenol to take the edge off

I can just imagine what an epidural costs.

Look, I know that Canada's medical costs are built into the tax structure, but it is really nice to go to a hospital, swipe a card, and not have to worry about paying $30 for "Nurse checks you in".

 

[Bama Mom]

I had two of my three children get married in 2019 and it's amazing to see the shock on their faces when they had to start paying for their own things. It's funny how quickly they didn't need all those things they would ask us for when I would be doing the grocery shopping. They realized all those "extras" weren't so cheap and definitely not necessary when they were paying for them on their own. Add to that the regular bills like utilities, car insurance, cell phone bills, etc and they had a rude awakening.

 

[RamblingMad]

I had two of my three children get married in 2019 and it's amazing to see the shock on their faces when they had to start paying for their own things. It's funny how quickly they didn't need all those things they would ask us for when I would be doing the grocery shopping. They realized all those "extras" weren't so cheap and definitely not necessary when they were paying for them on their own. Add to that the regular bills like utilities, car insurance, cell phone bills, etc and they had a rude awakening.

The sooner kids learn this the better.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

Rent and car insurance were my two greatest sticker shocks. Having left my parents' insurance, then getting 3 speeding tickets in 1 year (!!!) made for very expensive car insurance for 3 long years. It was incredibly stupid and I learned my lesson.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

I had two of my three children get married in 2019 and it's amazing to see the shock on their faces when they had to start paying for their own things. It's funny how quickly they didn't need all those things they would ask us for when I would be doing the grocery shopping. They realized all those "extras" weren't so cheap and definitely not necessary when they were paying for them on their own. Add to that the regular bills like utilities, car insurance, cell phone bills, etc and they had a rude awakening.

Hopefully they were paying for their own stuff like groceries, utilities, car insurance, cell phones and more before they got married!

 

[Bama Mom]

Hopefully they were paying for their own stuff like groceries, utilities, car insurance, cell phones and more before they got married!

NO they weren't paying things like utilities because they still lived at home. Yes, they paid for some things like their own clothes and other things but they lived at home, not on their own. My son graduated college in December and got married in January and even though he worked, I wouldn't have expected him to help with the utility bill and groceries while living at home and going to college. Sure when he did his internship an hour away and didn't live at home, he did pay for his groceries each week (which was only four days a week worth of food and a lot of the times he just grabbed take out on his way home from work), but when his internship was over and he went back to school for his last year of college he lived back at home and no, I didn't make him buy his own groceries once he got back home.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

m

Hopefully they were paying for their own stuff like groceries, utilities, car insurance, cell phones and more before they got married!

NO they weren't paying things like utilities because they still lived at home. Yes, they paid for some things like their own clothes and other things but they lived at home, not on their own. My son graduated college in December and got married in January and even though he worked, I wouldn't have expected him to help with the utility bill and groceries while living at home and going to college. Sure when he did his internship an hour away and didn't live at home, he did pay for his groceries each week (which was only four days a week worth of food and a lot of the times he just grabbed take out on his way home from work), but when his internship was over and he went back to school for his last year of college he lived back at home and no, I didn't make him buy his own groceries once he got back home.

This reminds me of a thread we had here a couple of weeks ago. Trying to remember what it was called. It got a little controversial (naturally!) with varying opinions on such things.

Found it
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...dren-are-living-at-your-parents-home.3812265/

 

[Heigh-Ho]

NO they weren't paying things like utilities because they still lived at home. Yes, they paid for some things like their own clothes and other things but they lived at home, not on their own. My son graduated college in December and got married in January and even though he worked, I wouldn't have expected him to help with the utility bill and groceries while living at home and going to college. Sure when he did his internship an hour away and didn't live at home, he did pay for his groceries each week (which was only four days a week worth of food and a lot of the times he just grabbed take out on his way home from work), but when his internship was over and he went back to school for his last year of college he lived back at home and no, I didn't make him buy his own groceries once he got back home.

You made it sound like they were unaware of things until they got married as in one day they got married and poof they had this rude awakening of the cost. Either way I just can't imagine a rude awakening so late into the game--marriage or now with your added comments graduating. Thanks for your further explanation

I had two of my three children get married in 2019 and it's amazing to see the shock on their faces when they had to start paying for their own things. It's funny how quickly they didn't need all those things they would ask us for when I would be doing the grocery shopping. They realized all those "extras" weren't so cheap and definitely not necessary when they were paying for them on their own. Add to that the regular bills like utilities, car insurance, cell phone bills, etc and they had a rude awakening.

 

[Bama Mom]

m


This reminds me of a thread we had here a couple of weeks ago. Trying to remember what it was called. It got a little controversial (naturally!) with varying opinions on such things.

Found it
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...dren-are-living-at-your-parents-home.3812265/

Ill have to check it out later when I have time to read the whole thing. Thanks.
My son turns 25 next month, has a wife and a little baby now and staying at home during his college years allowed him to save his money. They bought a house, and besides that house payment are debt free, so I think that post will be an interesting read. Although to turn this back onto the original topic of this thread I will say my son's biggest sticker shock was the initial cost of having a baby...LOL When they went to the doctor when they were firct expecting he got a detailed explanation of what they would be charged throughout the pregnancy/birth. Iremember him calling me and telling me what it would be and I basically told him "welcome to parenthood. You are now commited for the next 18 years."