The art of spending money

hugheskevi

Albermarle said:

I have used airbnb for short break UK holidays, mainly because they are more flexible on start/end dates, than a more traditional holiday cottage. However they were not cheap, and interesting to see you only paying £50 a night. I thought the cleaning and booking fees tended to push the price up quite a bit ?

The £50ish average cost takes account of all charges, of whatever type. In the USA I found AirBnb to always be cheaper than a hotel in the same area.

Although, in the USA there is a shockingly poor level of price transparency for just about any type of purchase, and I found it was a real pain to research places to stay - you would find somewhere that looks good, go through the booking process only to find lots of previously unmentioned surcharges. After a few times of doing that and finding the hotel to be more expensive, I just used AirBnb unless in almost all places - the exceptions were areas of low population, when sometimes hotels were better.

However, from Mexico onwards AirBnb is usually more expensive than hotels but can give some more unique types of accommodation. Although you need to be careful with hotel research - one place we booked through Booking.com wasn't a hotel when we arrived there, and a few other places were not good. AirBnb was certainly more consistent at the lower end.

ader42

I like to think that generally I prefer to focus on quality and value, and for that reason am also a fan of PremierInn.

I have stayed in £550 a night hotels too and to be honest the posh hotels are nicer (better breakfast and bigger rooms) but sometimes PremierInn has only cost us £50 a night! So this year it’s PremierInn again but this time the brand new one in Alnwick, even though it’s over £100 a night nowadays.

Same applies to clothes with me, my jeans cost £150 but are thick denim that lasts well and my boots that I’ve worn daily (and never needed to see a cobblers) cost me £250 9 years ago (they were $500 for a new pair last time I looked them up). I wouldn’t balk at paying £300 for a hoody from Sweden if it was good quality and therby had more value.

The same principle applies to technology I buy, Apple kit lasts years and years (for work I had both Macs and PCs on my desk for decades and the PC needed changing every 18 months while the Macs lasted 6 years normally). 

Our VW Golf is 20 years old this year… 

westv

ader42 said:

I like to think that generally I prefer to focus on quality and value, and for that reason am also a fan of PremierInn.

I believe there is no value without quality.

Robert_McGeddon

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I am lucky and have a DB pension and haven't reached state pension age.  I have always been careful with my money and never had credit except for my mortgage which was paid off well before I retired.  I can thank my parents for that who bailed me out when I got into debt when I was in my early 20's.  It was a hard lesson for me as I had to move back home, they paid off my debts but in turn I had to hand over my salary every month and they just gave me back enough to live on until the debt was paid (that's what happens when your mother is an an accountant). It was drummed into me the philosophy that if you can't pay outright for something you can't have it.   Before I retired I had an excellent salary but before buying anything I still hunted for the best deal, tried to buy things in the sale and even stocked up on things on offer in the supermarket.  After 40 years of doing that it's become habit that has stayed with me.

The thing that struck me since I retired was the fact that was how much money you actually spend going to work.  After buying lunch every day, coffees a couple of times a day for me and other people, petrol, work clothes and even cars - I used to change my car every 3 years because I did a lot of mileage, now I can't justify changing a 4 year old car because it's only done 21k miles.  You just don't have these expenses when you retire and to be honest my lifestyle has not changed and I am still saving every month.  

As for hotels I've never spent a fortune on hotels simply because I don't spend much time in them if I'm away......just need a comfortable clean bed.  Premier Inn or Holiday Inn Express for me

Great post!  I really connected with all in it.

All this talk about expensive hotels, though - what's wrong with Youth Hostels? There's cheap and value!

Anonymous101

ader42 said:

I like to think that generally I prefer to focus on quality and value, and for that reason am also a fan of PremierInn.

I have stayed in £550 a night hotels too and to be honest the posh hotels are nicer (better breakfast and bigger rooms) but sometimes PremierInn has only cost us £50 a night! So this year it’s PremierInn again but this time the brand new one in Alnwick, even though it’s over £100 a night nowadays.

Same applies to clothes with me, my jeans cost £150 but are thick denim that lasts well and my boots that I’ve worn daily (and never needed to see a cobblers) cost me £250 9 years ago (they were $500 for a new pair last time I looked them up). I wouldn’t balk at paying £300 for a hoody from Sweden if it was good quality and therby had more value.

The same principle applies to technology I buy, Apple kit lasts years and years (for work I had both Macs and PCs on my desk for decades and the PC needed changing every 18 months while the Macs lasted 6 years normally). 

Our VW Golf is 20 years old this year… 

I agree to a certain extent but there is certainly a sweet spot. Its almost like a normal distribution curve. Don't buy too cheap as its poor quality (buy cheap buy twice) and don't buy too expensive (not good value for money, mainly status signalling and paying for branding / scarcity)

westv

Robert_McGeddon said:

All this talk about expensive hotels, though - what's wrong with Youth Hostels? There's cheap and value!

The last time I used a Youth Hostel was 1986. When I go away now I don't want cheap accommodation.  

Sea_Shell

Even I draw the line at Youth Hostels!!
😉

zagfles

Anonymous101 said:

ader42 said:

I like to think that generally I prefer to focus on quality and value, and for that reason am also a fan of PremierInn.

I have stayed in £550 a night hotels too and to be honest the posh hotels are nicer (better breakfast and bigger rooms) but sometimes PremierInn has only cost us £50 a night! So this year it’s PremierInn again but this time the brand new one in Alnwick, even though it’s over £100 a night nowadays.

Same applies to clothes with me, my jeans cost £150 but are thick denim that lasts well and my boots that I’ve worn daily (and never needed to see a cobblers) cost me £250 9 years ago (they were $500 for a new pair last time I looked them up). I wouldn’t balk at paying £300 for a hoody from Sweden if it was good quality and therby had more value.

The same principle applies to technology I buy, Apple kit lasts years and years (for work I had both Macs and PCs on my desk for decades and the PC needed changing every 18 months while the Macs lasted 6 years normally). 

Our VW Golf is 20 years old this year… 

I agree to a certain extent but there is certainly a sweet spot. Its almost like a normal distribution curve. Don't buy too cheap as its poor quality (buy cheap buy twice) and don't buy too expensive (not good value for money, mainly status signalling and paying for branding / scarcity)

The correlation between price and quality certainly isn't linear. In some cases it's inverse.

zagfles

Sea_Shell said:

Even I draw the line at Youth Hostels!!
😉

I don't! We've stayed in some cracking hostels, some are better than hotels. These days most have private rooms if you don't want a dorm, sometimes en-suite with daily maid service. I always look for hostels when travelling alone, as they're just so much more friendly than hotels, but I will get a private room, I don't do dorms anymore!

When we travelled round SE Asia and NZ, with wife and 2 teenagers, we stayed in a variety of accomodation, motels, hotels, hostels etc and found the hostels the most efficient because we could all get showered at the same time, whereas in motels/hotels we wasted so much time waiting for the bathroom/shower with 2 adults and 2 teenagers getting ready to go out.

As an aside it does amuse me when people dismiss hostels but then boast about flying business class and getting a "flat bed", so you're basically sleeping in a dorm, a shared space with other people sleeping around you, with shared toilet etc. You're in a "sky hostel", but as it's in the sky rather than on the ground it's the height of luxury

Sea_Shell

I get enough stick on my "Nuts" thread as it is, without using YHs 😉