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

[aprilgail]

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 was surprised at sewer bill but for the opposite reason- I thought it would be expensive and it is only 30.00 every 3 months- so 10.00 a month, small price to pay for not having to deal with a cesspool.

 

[nycdisneygal]

just dinged up my car and oh my the cost to get it repaired. ugh....(we had thought we would not go through insurance)

 

[starvenger]

Universal health care is the farthest thing from free and it irks the heck out of me when people (especially other Canadians) refer to it that way.

Par for the course when it comes to hidden costs. I mean, look at how DCL cruisers see pop (sorry - soda) as "free".

 

[disneychrista]

I was surprised at sewer bill but for the opposite reason- I thought it would be expensive and it is only 30.00 every 3 months- so 10.00 a month, small price to pay for not having to deal with a cesspool.

I pay $70 a MONTH.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I’m a senior citizen. What blows my mind as far as cost is the price of Disney’s timeshare now, DVC.

Wages must have gone up astronomically, or we could not imagine buying into it now. We were not the first, bought into it 13 years into its run.

 

[Valbot]

Property taxes. And it just keeps going up

 

[aprilgail]

just dinged up my car and oh my the cost to get it repaired. ugh....(we had thought we would not go through insurance)

I had someone back into me in the parking lot - had my car for just 2 weeks but just from that bump it was 10,000 in damages!

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Par for the course when it comes to hidden costs. I mean, look at how DCL cruisers see pop (sorry - soda) as "free".

I've badgered my kids about this for so long they know to say it's "included in the price" rather than free.

 

[Owlpost23]

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.

Just an FYI-use the same company for air duct cleaning as you do you AC/furnace maintenance.We had our ducts cleaned,and because they weren't the top of the line fellas,they got a whole lot of gunk into the return of the air conditoner,which rendered it inoperable.They had to fix what their own people had ruined,and the bill would have been almost 600.00.

 

[Owlpost23]

Orthodontia.There's a reason they have you sitting down when they turn over the quote.

 

[Pucks104]

COBRA health insurance

 

[tzolkin]

I was surprised at sewer bill but for the opposite reason- I thought it would be expensive and it is only 30.00 every 3 months- so 10.00 a month, small price to pay for not having to deal with a cesspool.

I pay $70 a MONTH.

Yes, this varies greatly. Most of our neighbors pay about $350 every two months for sewer/water. Even within our county and area the rates are dramatically different. Coming from only living places that had septic, I was aware that there would be a charge for water/sewer, but everyone else I knew who paid for water in other states had bills like $10-30 per month, not $175+

 

[wilbret]

COBRA health insurance

What, $180,000 per month isn't reasonable when unemployed? LOL

 

[starvenger]

COBRA health insurance

COBRA - a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world... through your health insurance.

 

[disneychrista]

Yes, this varies greatly. Most of our neighbors pay about $350 every two months for sewer/water. Even within our county and area the rates are dramatically different. Coming from only living places that had septic, I was aware that there would be a charge for water/sewer, but everyone else I knew who paid for water in other states had bills like $10-30 per month, not $175+

Geez that’s crazy. Even when I add water in its under $100.

What, $180,000 per month isn't reasonable when unemployed? LOL

Here’s the thing with COBRA it is what your employer was paying plus a 2% admin fee. So yes it’s expensive but it was already expensive, you just didn’t have to pay for it.

 

[wilbret]

Here’s the thing with COBRA it is what your employer was paying plus a 2% admin fee. So yes it’s expensive but it was already expensive, you just didn’t have to pay for it.

It depends on what % your employer paid. Cobra is the "total" amount, but in most cases, the employee was footing half the bill.

Let's have the insurance chat on another board! ;-)

 

[disneychrista]

It depends on what % your employer paid. Cobra is the "total" amount, but in most cases, the employee was footing half the bill.

Yes. What I meant by what your employer was paying was the actual amount billed. Nothing to do with what % is paid by ER/EE.

 

[tzolkin]

Geez that’s crazy. Even when I add water in its under $100.

Yes. Every other month when a water bill comes out there are posts on the FB social group and Nextdoor that are new people who moved in and are freaking out, "Is there something wrong with my plumbing? Do I have a leak at the water main? My bill was $380 (or $415 or $500+ or whatever crazy amount). That can't possibly be right?!" and then a bunch of posts with everyone else stating what their water bill was and assuring them that it is unfortunately correct.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes. Every other month when a water bill comes out there are posts on the FB social group and Nextdoor that are new people who moved in and are freaking out, "Is there something wrong with my plumbing? Do I have a leak at the water main? My bill was $380 (or $415 or $500+ or whatever crazy amount). That can't possibly be right?!" and then a bunch of posts with everyone else stating what their water bill was and assuring them that it is unfortunately correct.

Is it the rate that is the main issue or the fees?

Excluding summer and parts of fall we normally spend about $5-$7 in actual water usage but the service fees are almost $14. Now in the summer and parts of fall where we are watering our grass it can be $75-$200 depending on how bad of a year it is (meaning drought or heat or both). When we first moved in and had brand new sod it was $250-$300 for a couple of months IIRC.

We just got our bill and it was $85 in usage+the service fee.

Our sewer is a separate charge though.

 

[tzolkin]

Is it the rate that is the main issue or the fees?

Excluding summer and parts of fall we normally spend about $5-$7 in actual water usage but the service fees are almost $14. Now in the summer and parts of fall where we are watering our grass it can be $75-$200 depending on how bad of a year it is (meaning drought or heat or both). When we first moved in and had brand new sod it was $250-$300 for a couple of months IIRC.

We just got our bill and it was $85 in usage+the service fee.

Our sewer is a separate charge though.

They don't do a service fee, but there is a minimum. The water price is the same throughout the county, but the sewer rates vary depending on where your waste is pumped. One town is 3x the price of another, so that's where the issues with being surprised by the pricing arise. You could move down the road and your bill go up or down drastically.

I made up a sample bill below of how they break it down.
According to google the average person uses 80-100 gallons of water per day, so I used 90 gallons per person times a family of 4 for the example bill below. 360 gallons per day x 60 days (bill comes every other month) = 21,600 gallons (I will acknowledge this is WAY more water than my family of 5 uses but I do have neighbors with smaller families who have bills in this range so it must average out for people who use more or less. Especially if you use water in your yard.)

Water minimum (up to 3000 gallons) $27.80
+ usage rate of $6.95 per additional 1000 gallons ($132.05) = $159.85

Sewer minimum (up to 3000 gallons) $65.08
+ usage rate of $12.35 per additional 1000 gallons ($234.65) = $299.73

Total bill = $459.58