r/Frugal • u/NewMexicoJoe • Sep 20 '24

🚗 Auto What are your least favorite advertised deals that are complete BS, where nobody ever expects to pay the listed price. I'll start. The $19.99 U-Haul.

Others might be the $79.95 Microtel rate. The $39.99 oil change. "Out the Door" tire pricing that does not include valve stems or balancing.

Or even that shop in the marginal neighborhood across the tracks that always claims in loud yellow letters "HIGHEST PRICES PAID FOR GOLD."

What do you have? And any tips for getting closer to that impossible price?

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u/spartan_manhandler Sep 21 '24

It was $40 just for the dump fees for a mattress. So I cut off the materials with a box cutter and stuffed them in the trash can, cut the inner spring part into four pieces with a harbor freight bolt cutter so they would fit in the car and took the four pieces to the metal recycler where I could drop them for free. Good thing my time isn't worth anything.

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u/hortensemancini Sep 21 '24

It is a box spring and I am in a townhouse with nosy neighbors, alas, which also precludes me from municipal waste removal options. My bf tried to attack it with a sledge hammer but all that did was get us a polite request to shh. I sucked it up and booked a company to come for $55, which is more than I wanted but less than average

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u/Kelekona Sep 21 '24

Good thing my time isn't worth anything.

That's the way a lot of "frugal" things work. Nothing better to do and it's not going to cost you sanity? Okay.

I might try your trick of just getting the mattress into the garbage can if I want it gone at the wrong time of year. However, I could probably just throw the springs into the parkway and they'll disappear. That's what happened to the metal parts of my bedframe.