Perhaps you should buy REALLY expensive liquor for the house so it flips the math in your favor in restaurants. 
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Yea, I too cringe at the cost of tires (fume - especially long ago when one kid accidentally buzzed a curb and ruined TWO at once). But hubby and I have always agreed that it is crucial to drive with good tires, not worn out. Maybe it is because we are both practical engineers, keen on safety. We drive old cars - 2013 Audi A6, 2006 Honda Odyssey…. but they always have decent tires.
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I hate paying the subscription fees to look at one newspaper article on a newspaper website. It drives me nuts. If I really want to read the article, I’ll sign up for a trial subscription and cancel. There were times when I forgot to cancel until the next month and I saw the charge.
I have an online subscription to the Boston Globe. Recently, I wanted to get an article that was archived–one from 1998 that featured my daughter. Even as an online subscriber, I had to pay $7.95 to get the article. I did remember to cancel the 6-month $7.95 trial subscription. I downloaded the article and then went in and cancelled immediately.
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Our subdivision, disallows removal of any trees with a larger than 3" diameter without the HOA’s approval and aborist’s personal visit with written report of health (dying) and danger to property. I actually like this because we are one of the few neighborhoods with 1+ acre lots, natural streams and tree lined streets left in our area. It’s a pain to have to get their approval but they’ve never not approved what I’ve asked for.
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A disappointing restaurant meal.
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With lousy service!
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A lot of the things we’re posting about (like alcohol, haircolor, and restaurants) aren’t necessities (like trees, tires, and repairs). We have the option to skip the one if we don’t like the price, and I don’t have any problem walking away from those. It’s the rising costs of necessities like groceries, utilities, healthcare, and repairs that really irk me. Unfortunately, complaining about them doesn’t solve anything, though commiserating on CC is always fun.
DH plays a game with me when the bill comes. He grabs it and says, “Guess!” I’m usually within a dollar or less of the total.
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I’d argue that bourbon is more fun.
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Yes, I’d intended the thread to be about necessities (and given the state of gravity’s impact on my chest, yes, bras are necessities).
But as is often the case, CC threads have minds of their own. The meandering is almost always enjoyable, however.
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Good points.
On things like non-necessity restaurant meals, the disappointment is when the meal does not live up to expectations. We don’t mind splurging sometimes for a nice meal out, as long as it is “good value”, ie worth the splurge. I do fret about going to a pricier place (especially if recommending it for a group mea) and having a so-so meal.
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Big brother is watching you 
Bourbon is something I hate spending money on, but we still have a lot of it. Well, that and about 15 different kinds of moonshine, vodka, tequila…basically we could stock a whole bar. Thing is, we don’t really drink, except for the occasional apple pie or cinnamon moonshine in the hot apple cider; most of the bottles were gifts, and it’s essentially all for tailgating.
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Paying more to use a credit card, specifically at a restaurant. I’ve noticed a big increase in places doing this recently. During COVID it was no cash no cash. I got really used to just carrying my phone with credit card in the attached sleeve. No more purse yay! Now it’s either surcharge for using a credit card or, better wording but basically the same thing, discount for cash. One place I’ve finally remembered and shove a wad of cash, if I have it, in my pocket. But often I don’t even have enough cash around so we just pay the charge.
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OOOh, that brings me to one of my biggest “hate spending $ on”…
Paying for a credit card! Until I needed the Delta branded AmEx to earn miles and medallion levels, we would never, ever pay for the privilege of owning a credit card. But, it also comes with a free companion ticket, so it pays for itself with all our cross country trips.
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My youngest just paid for his trip from Atlanta to Munich and back from Berlin to Atlanta on Delta Premium Select for Octoberfest with his miles. He emailed a few minutes ago to say, remember that $112 tax I had to pay for this trip, well, AMEX picks that up too so I’m quite literally going to Germany for free! He travels the US for work as well so loves the lounges since his flight somewhere is almost always delayed an hour or two. If you use it, those cards are worth the up front costs.
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I think (could be wrong) if the ticket is free, there is no tax b/c the fare is zero, and the tax on zero is zero. The Delta Amex Reserve card offers some lounge access, but the delta platinum no longer does.
The tax showed up on his reservation after miles were applied - I think it’s the value of the trip, kind of like winning a car (and about as expensive had he paid for it!).
I agree with the Ticketmaster fees. They are terrible. Last time I bought Ticketmaster tickets I drove over to the next town to the venue box office to avoid the fees.
For toilet paper we switched to Who Gives A Crap so at least the money goes to a worthy cause.
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I can’t understand how Ticketmaster can get away with such high fees. We bought tickets for a Yo-Yo Ma concert and the handling fees were $160 per ticket. And they were E tickets that we printed ourselves. The closest box office was too far away for us.
Same with sports events tickets.
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