things that are(n't) worth the money
Ahoy there!
In today's episode of "no fucking shit", things are getting a lot more expensive. While I would say that there are still a lot of things that I'm willing to pay the price for, there are a lot of things that aren't. So, here's a list for both.
things that aren't worth the money anymore
Food Delivery: yo dawg I heard you like fees, so I put a convenience fee with your delivery fee so you can pay while you pay. There's a saying "you pay the price for convenience", and doordash and whatever other food delivery service really wanna push the limits with how much you pay for that convenience. On top of the amount of fees that would make Ticketmaster think you're going too far, there's also the cost that is more soft. You see I learned recently that restaurants pay commission to door dash, so to offset this cost restaurants raise their prices on these platforms (on top of already rising their prices)
Fast Food: Ever since the dollar menu became the "value" menu and tripled their prices, fast food hasn't been worth shit. It tastes worse than ever while the price is higher than ever. It's hardly even convenient anymore. Sitting in often long-ass lines, the order is wrong half the time, and even if you get something simple they'll have you pull forward and wait for like 10 minutes to get your food. My wife just started saying "no" when they ask her to pull forward, the funny part? The food comes out shortly after... WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ASKING TO PULL FORWARD!? It's like a test to see if we all are mind controlled like we are in Bioshock... would you kindly?
Coffee: Coffee used to be roughly $5 for something special from a POS coffee shop like Starbucks. Now it's getting upwards of $7+. I'm really only ever willing to pay that amount at an actual small coffee spot, but it sure as hell isn't frequent. Do yourself a favor, get an espresso machine (or hell even just a cheap coffee machine), and buy the beans from the coffee shops you like. $15 for a pound of beans from a local roaster and I can make about 30 cups of coffee and have it taste just as good.
New Cars: This was kinda financial literacy 101 for me, buying a new car was always kinda fool's errand because you end up buying something that's gonna lose a shitload of it's value the nanosecond you drive it away from the dealership and the salesman is saying "sucker" out of the corner of his mouth. You can get a decently reliable used car for like <$10k and have it only be a couple years old. My 2018 Sentra is about $7k and it's still a reliable car even at 100k miles. Get a car that you can pay off in 4 years (max) and once you pay it off make sure the maintenance is cheaper than the monthly installment.
New Phones: If you're in the year of our lord 2026 and STILL buying the newest phone every year, please send me your address so I can mail you a "Biggest Dope" award. New phones used to actually mean something, new features that blew the previous one out of the water. Nowadays it's seeing how much they can take OUT of the phone to see how much you'll still pay for it. My iPhone 13 works just as well as I did when I bought it in 2022 even after spiking it into a wall (don't ask). I bought it after my Samsung Z Fold decided it was gonna fold it's last Z and break the fucking screen. Honestly, I didn't even need to get the 13, I could have gotten an iPhone X or something and been just as well off. New phones just keep making micro improvements and then selling it for over $1,000. Fuck. That. I know planned obsolescence is a thing, but you'd be surprised how much life a phone still has after 5 years. My MIL was rocking a iPhone SE for YEARS before switching to a 13 last year.
Graphics Cards: Anything after the 3080ti is a waste of money imo. People will spend almost 2 grand on current gen GPU just to get bottlenecked playing minecraft. On top of that, it's built for AI, not gaming. So, really what are you paying for here?
Streaming Services: I'm probably beating the dead horse so much that it's turned to Elmer's at this point, but streaming services are a joke. It's basically what cable used to be. Expensive, having to package 20 different bundles together to get the 1 thing you want. Streaming used to kick ass and was an actual threat to cable, but now since nobody watches cable anymore except for maybe that one old guy in Albuquerque Crypt Keeper-ing it, mouth agape to Fox News, it's just became the thing it killed. Music, TV, doesn't matter. It's all overpriced.
Brand Name Items: Anything that has a brand attached to it, is going to have a 30% markup AT LEAST for the generic. Yeah, it might feel weird if your friend asks for Captain Crunch and you whip out Corporal Munch, but it tastes the exact same 9/10 and costs like half the price so what do you care? Same goes for clothes, paying $125 on a $75 jacket just so you can have the little logo on it is kinda silly. Honestly, my brief period researching drop-shipping in my late teens showed me how much these products are marked up. My favorite shirts are like 60 now, thanks to our geriatric pervert in chief and his tariffs) and they're great quality and have really awesome artwork on it. Look for the materials first, brand should be dead last.
things that are worth the money
High Quality Food: My Nana used to have a saying "It's cheaper to buy expensive produce than it is to pay the medical bills later", and I think that still holds water. While I think a lot of so-called "healthy alternatives" or "organic" whatever is kinda a waste of money (looking at you Whole Foods), it is still worth it to purchase things like grass-fed beef, quality produce, etc. Your body will thank you for it.
A Good Computer: A solid computer will last you YEARS before you need an upgrade. I probably could have gotten away with my $1000 pre-built, but after upgrading some parts (for about an extra grand) I have a beast of a machine that rivals even the newest consoles in terms of performance. It's lasted me roughly 4 years, and will continue to last me even longer. Computers are just so versatile and will last for ages if you know what to look for.
Old consoles: I know I'm biased here, but old consoles still provide so much entertainment. Seriously, there are SO many amazing games on these old devices and with revival projects you can easily get hundreds of hours worth of playtime. Modding them is worth it too because now you can cut the cost of purchasing games and even emulate consoles on them. Buy a used Wii, soft mod it, and you basically have 5 generations of consoles at your finger tips.
Physical Media: What's there to say that I haven't said before? Owning physical media kicks ass, you own the media you purchase and it can't be taken away from you by some licensing bullshit, and you can do whatever the hell you want with it. You can take a CD, rip it to flac files, burn a compilation CD, or convert it to mp3 and throw it on an iPod. The world is your burrito. (Man, I should open a glue factory with all the dead horses I'm beating)
Anyway, that's all I have the energy to right about for right now, but if you have something you think is worth the money lemme know, would love to hear things you would happily spend (or not spend) your money on.
Pirate is wearing black shorts and black Linkin Park concert tee
Pirate is feeling happy
Pirate is listening to Warning (album) Green Day
Pirate is playing Minecraft: Xbox One edition
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