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

lil_me

Bin bags - why not use the bin and just rinse out when needed? Mine goes straight in wheelie bin or recycling bag where possible

Car repairs - try a local college, some do cheap car maintainence courses if not use a smaller Independant garage and shop around

There is nothing that couldn't be free I don't mind paying for.

Tv tax is a joke, other TV companies manage just fine!

Vat on sanitary products - but I get a free implant now which stops the need for them.

Vat on clothes dependent on size not age, I've been paying vat on my sons shoes since he was 7 yet my Mam doesn't pay on hers!

System

I thought they abolished parking charges ages ago, everytime I go to hospital they have the parking ticket machines covered with black bags.

I hate paying for most public sector stuff - everytime you speak to people who work for councils, central government etc they tend to be overpaid, incompetent drones.

BBC Tax - Why not just encrypt it

housesitter wrote: »

Regarding hospital parking as I happen to know someone quite well who was responsible for bringing it in at our local hospital at the time back in the early 90's.

Before doing so the car park was just a large patch of waste gound. No tarmac, just rubble with large water pools when it rained, no bay markings, nothing.
Car crime was rife in the car park. There was also the odd mugging, mainly at night. There was no security guards, no lighting, no CCTV.

For this particular trust, the car parking fee pays for tarmac car parks, security guards, CCTV, lighting and electricity bills to provide customers of the hospital a safe and secure place to park, knowing that they now stand a fair chance of coming back to find their car.
It's not a money making exercise to spend on other areas.

The employees of the hospital also faced car parking fees although at a discount for long term rates. Again, the previous provision being somewhat chaotic.

Personally, I have no problem with it. Whilst I'm the opposite of a anti-car hippy, no one forces you to use the car. In fact when building new hospitals the trusts have to provision a certain amount of bus services, taxis, private cars, walkers and cyclists, providing facilities for all.
I prefer that my taxes go to paying for treatment on the NHS, not so people get free car parking.
I also used to work for the trust adhoc and experienced the transition.

No one forces you to park at the hospital.
You can park somewhere else.
Of course, you might have to pay there too!!

When it was brought in many people, especially some working for the trust, rebelled against it parking where they felt like. First step to encouragement was stickers for the driver side window which were really difficult to remove even with hot soapy water. Talking a good 30 minutes.
When that didn't work, the repeat offenders were clamped. No charge to remove, just really difficult to find someone to do it thus making them wait.

Whilst from the employes of the trust there was a lot of moaning, once they noticed the benefits (ie: no more stolen cars and robberies) the moaning stopped quite a bit.

roosterpotatoes

Car park charges are free in Scotland and Wales but not in England

dawyldthing

contact lenses - i've posponed them for 9 months now. Bus tickets - seem to go up every 6 months if not more often (in Leeds a single fair has been put up again a few monts after the 'hop, hop, hop thing'. If they want more people to use it, it should be cheaper, especially when i've been from Cardiff to Leeds for £1.50 on the megabus (7 hours), but have to pay £1.90 for a 10 minute journey! I agree with perscription charges after when working at camp in America I had to pay $120 (about £80) for some ear drops and another £30 to see the doctor, so £7.20 isn't too bad really. Car parking is extorniate, but I see why to try and keep less cars on the road as i think there should be. When I broke my ankle, apart from getting from the train station to my house I still walked everywhere like I always try to. Phone companies rip you off mega, esp when you look at the differences. I don't agree on all the taxing, ie tax on wages, tax with vat, tax on savings, tax when something happens to you as that money could have been taxed 50-60% by the end of it (ie starts with wages, then with savings and finally when something happens to you/if you spend it in a shop). Just seems a bit silly, but the other side of it is I wouldn't want to get rid of our doctors/nurses/police/fire brigade/schools as they all do a fab job and we really couldn't do without them.

Supportspice

Council Tax - when I was renting, I didnt resent paying council tax but it shouldnt be based on the value of an asset that belongs to someone else, that I couldnt afford to own.

Council Tax - I get a single person discount of 25%. How can I be three quarters of a couple?

Council Tax - paying tax to a Borough Council that is based in and seemingly run for the benefit ouf our larger sister town, guess where most of my money seems to get spent.

MOT - paying over £40 to tell me that my car is fine, I have already paid for servicing and repairs to know this.

gloucesteroldspot

My (non) favourites are
* Gas fitting - the over regulation of the industry in the name of helath and safety has created a situation where qualified fitters don't want to get out of bed for less than £500. Now they are trying to do the same for electricians.
* Dentistry - NHS dentistry doesn't really exist any more - those who claim to provide NHS services only really offer checkups at NHS rates in order to get the customers through the door. If you need any work done the sky's the limit, and generally the only NHS offer you will get on it is extraction. I have just had an 'estimate' for nearly two thousand pounds worth of really quite simple work - and was told 'it could be more'.
* Mobile phones (hand sets and charges). We have already been told by a senior figure in the industry that text charges are 'the nearest thing to 100% pure profit ' (and what a profit!) voice calls aren't far behind. The hand sets themselves are often sold (or have their price concealed in contracts) at hundreds of times their cost price. What do you suppose an Iphone actually costs to make?

I could go on about utility costs-surely the privatisation of gas electricty and water is the worst thing to happen to consumers in the last thirty years? But as for the TV licence, I have to disagree with most people on here. If you stop to look at what you get, it's amazing value for money. If Murdoch and co had a free run it would cost you MUCH more for far lower quailty broadcasting.

BarJay

Apart from the obvious hates: Council Tax, Electrivity Bills, Car upkeep, etc.
Public transport where I live is a joke, infrequent busses and extortionate fares, I live 32 miles from city so car is neccessary.
Journey via car = 40 mins. journey via bus = 1 hour 30 mins.
PLUS
I hate having to pay for packets of butter if in a cafe! :mad:
okay, rant over for today
:eek:

kittyaimee

I have a great way for saving money on 'Lady Products'

I invested in a 'mooncup' which cost me under £20. and i've never looked back. I've not bought sanitry products now for nearly 12 months

pauleyc

I hate buying toilet roll and foil - i just feel its a waste although they are needed :-)
Plus all bills etc
I like the question my DS1 asks "why cant everything be free?"

faithless

kittyaimee wrote: »

I have a great way for saving money on 'Lady Products'

I invested in a 'mooncup' which cost me under £20. and i've never looked back. I've not bought sanitry products now for nearly 12 months

Seconded - I bought mine 6 years ago, best £18 I've ever spent.
I've put a link in case anyone else is interested, believe Boots now sell them too
http://www.mooncup.co.uk/