Great 'What do you hate spending money on the most?' Hunt

maybe1

Car insurance.

Spritzy

Tampons. Really irritates me.

higginsb

Holiday companies doubling the price to take the family away in school hols.
'Free' child places and 'discounts' for kids cancelled out by under occupancy charges when the hotel room is tiny and the kids beds are camp beds or convertible arm chairs which are unsuitable for adults.
Charter flights where the seats are so packed together that anyone over 5'2" is uncomfortable.

pixwix

I'm with so many others - council tax and water rates!! If only because we're allowed no choice in the matter and there's no way to make savings. Local democracy? What a joke. When people have their fingers in the public purse, there's no limit to their spending ambition.

I begrudge every penny I'm forced to shell out on an army of coordinators, advisors and assorted petty officialdom - especially as their total product seems to be endless delay, pointless clerical rigmarole, colossal inefficiency, and occasionally even very real malice. Not to mention highly suspect finances - 'competitively tendered' jobs costing a multiple of what you or I would pay, and supplies bought in bulk at prices you or I could better on the high street.

But try asking for any kind of help and you'd best not be holding your breath - unless your hobby happens to be collecting pretty leaflets. They deal with day-to-day problems on a month-to-month basis - if you're lucky. The only department that operates with any efficiency is that which collects money.

And all topped off with a staggering self-righteousness that's almost religious. They don't just resent criticism - they resent the audacity of anyone attempting it.

jojo2004

bluebag wrote: »

Taxes for bailing out chuffin' banks wot messed up.

Off topic, but: wasn't JUST the banks. People who borrowed too much are at least 50 % to blame. Sick of hearing this parroted all over the media, it's a facile explanation born of jealousy for people who earn more.

jojo2004

persian_star wrote: »

What really bugs me are paying for things that are essentials (ladies products has already been mentioned lots, as has hospital car-parking - I would add exhorbitant dentist's fees and lenses in glasses, plus prescriptions - I get my pill for free, but have to pay £7.20 for my asthma inhaler, which is more likely to save my life? Crazy) - it's not like anyone would do these things for fun, and to add insult to injury, they charge you.

...
I don't mind paying tax to make sure health and education are available to everyone, what saddens me is that they're quite obviously not.

You must be in a minority of one then! Everyone whinges about tax increases, but everyone wants more services available. I remember seeing an online forum where people were OUTRAGED that SureStart services were being axed. When I pointed out that to keep them, they would have to pay more tax to fund it, they were... you've guessed it... OUTRAGED.

I'm living in Denmark at the moment - tax bill (all in, including council tax, which is paid pre-tax) is 59% of gross.
But you know what? You get great services. Good healthcare, excellent dentistry (as I can personally attest), clean streets, high minimum wage (around £11 per hour), amazing education system etc.
If you want that kind of service, are you prepared to only take home 40% of your salary to achieve it?
(I am, but I wonder if others will agree).

DLSOB

The only budget being improved is the airline's.
I hate -
Paying a fee to PAY!!!
paying to sit down
paying to check in a bag
having travel insurance pushed at me.

spursliz

These numbers must be the biggest con ever. No good the phone providers trumpeting that they have "free" landline calls, then all the companies now use only the above numbers. I used to use 18866 and my calls were virtually free, both here and abroad. With these numbers coming into force, I have to pay 5p per minute through my landline and much more on the mobile.

Why should I have to pay to contact someone who is giving me poor service? Grrrrr::mad:

Jimpanzee_2

Razor Blades. How on earth can these companies justify the prices?

tallullahbelle

Coffee and drinks/ snacks/ water etc on day trips out with the kids. I always take them with me... I tell the kids we take our own drinks as a way of recycling the bottles. Its really because I'm too tight to buy them when we're out...