What do you resent buying?

[LoudNowSing]

I really need a new iron. The one I have is over 20 years old and just spits mucky water on to my clothes. I have tried descaling it, to no avail. Who the fuck wants to spend good money on an iron, though?

I also need a new mattress protector as the plasticy-rubbery stuff on the underside of ours is flaking off and its all a bit manky. And we do need one, as we live in a hot country and I'm peri-menopausal. Again, though, when I think of all the fun/nice/pleasurable things I can spend my hard-earned on, somehow the mattress protector never quite makes the cut.

Am I alone in this or do other people also have a growing list of un-fun things to buy?

I'm usually willing to spend a bit more on boring essentials just so I don't have to go through the whole rigmarole of replacing them regularly.

Petrol for the car. Actually any money on the car. I hate the stupid hideous thing.

Tampons. (And no I don't want a moon cup or period pants before anyone asks)

Carrier bags. Taxes.

Anything that's purely functional and brings no joy to my life. My washing machine is 7 years old and will probably conk soon - not looking forward to replacing it. It was one month short of being one of the Indesit models that were recalled a couple of years ago. On one hand I was obviously glad it hadn't caught fire; on the other hand I wished I could have got a brand new one for free.

Tampons. (And no I don't want a moon cup or period pants before anyone asks)

Oh, yes, I used to resent this hugely. I had a hysterectomy five years ago and I still feel a lift of joy when I walk past the sanpro in the supermarket without having to spend money on any of it.

Adult size school shoes, complete with VAT for my dc who are 9(size 6) and 12 (size 9), plus all associated football boots, wellies, trainers etc.

Tampons (for me) and sanitary towels (dds).
Infuriates me no end. £15 a month.
I can afford it, don’t get me wrong, but I know for some this is a crippling cost every month and one that is incurred simply for being a fucking woman

Any boring household shit. Dishwasher tablets. Washing powder. Cleaning crap.
Appliances. Bore off. Bras. I suppose similar to my rage at period products.

Train tickets at peak times. Paying more to have a worse service and sit on a fucking floor. Thanks.

Basically I want to spend all my money on fun things

And judging by my pissy tone about absolutely everything in that last post, I’m presuming my fucking period will be on it’s jolly fucking way again soon and I’ll have to be spending money on that fucking shit again soon

Babybels. Ridiculously over packaged tripe but dd loves a packed lunch with cheap cheese that you have to work really hard to get into.

Food in general. What a pain in the arse it is. After the mortgage and council tax, it’s the most expensive expense.

I am being facetious as I do love a good takeaway and meal out. It’s just so expensive for anyone who has little cash. I don’t have much expendable income so we can’t eat out too much, but even then buying food that isn’t the basics feels like pure luxury.

I resent every penny I ever spent on tampons or the like, considering that the event itself is totally unnecessary.

I resent money spent on clothes without pockets, when the same item cut for a man DOES have pockets. And if pockets are present in the female tailored version, I'm usually infuriated by their tiny dimensions.

I resent the price of handbags. And their fucking existence. After all if we had pockets we wouldn't need to bother.

Mostly, I resent the time I'm expected to waste doing things nobody expects from a man. They don't paint their faces. They don't bother coloring their hair. They never worry if their shoes match their bag, or if the shoe/bag combo matches their outfit.

So I guess I'm quite resentful, but I object to having my time wasted on trivial nonsense that men never have to think about.

And although I dont actually tend to waste my time that way, I am reclaiming my time. I'm angry about the expectation that I would even try to be a "proper girl".

Council tax is the one that gets me. Our old town was so filthy , council routinely claimed that they had no money for maintaining things yet year on year they increased the tax. I hated paying it there as we never ever seen the benefit of it, even the bin collection was hit and miss

I know one of you said don't go on about moon cups, but I spent £20 on one about 4 years ago and that has been my expenditure on sanpro since then - .41p a month. I can spend the rest on gin and frilly knickers. Why don't you do the same?

Knickers! I always want to buy expensive but the cost per pant puts me off so I buy cheap and regret it. They just seem so expensive for so little fabric

Likewise. Money spent on sanpro is dumb. We have options!

It's the one thing that's utterly female that we can totally decide to just dodge. Periods serve no purpose. Let's just not, eh?

Medications where you get a large bottle for a short term problem, and the bottle says if you don't use it within about 10 minutes it is unfit for use. Why make such a huge bottle then?!

Sloggi evernew. Buy them on amazon and use them forever ( potentially). Comfortable pants that don't slice you like a cheese, and will last more than a season of fashion.

Let's not push different sanpro on people.

Council tax
I have a two and two down in a nice northern town. In Scotland you can pay less council tax than I do on a large old farm house with 10 acres. In the south east you can have a generous 4 bed detached and pay less than I do.
We have no night time police cover in the area, the fireman are all retained, council services have been cut to the bone but we do have lots of oldies who have moved in from other areas

Insurance
Plumbers (specifically)
Paying someone to cut hedges that just grow back again
Any kind of crap toys that my kids want and will end up in landfill (Superzings, those toys that come in kinder eggs)
The first three I just don’t enjoy paying for, they feel like proper adulting and there’s no fun in them, it’s just all duty.
The last one I try and resist, but occasionally I give in and always regret it.

Sanitary towels

Printer ink. Can't imagine why it's so expensive.

Many little things, including work shoes etc but my biggest resentment is my new build house with walls that are as thin as paper. Purchased it seven years ago and there was nobody next door (semi-detached) for approximately six months. Then the neighbour moved in and it was a though she lived with me, the amount of noise was unbearable. She moved out at the end of last year and a new one moved in who is ten times worse, so I’ve sold and am awaiting a completion date. Would never buy a new build again.

One of those exercise board things, the expensive sort that vibrates and you're supposed to lose lbs with it and get fit/toned at the same time. I didn't and haven't. Bloody waste of money, which I don't have much of at the moment....I was definitely a mug to buy it.
Maybe I can advertise it locally and sell it....!

A new boiler. Cost a fortune and yeah I have heating and hot water that works. Would have far preferred to buy new furniture or have decorating done with that money.

Toilet paper