Risks that you have taken to save money

[fineday]

Well this is my first post in the forums, I have been lurking for quite some time. Due to some personal situations that have come up for me financially, I thought it was time for me to join in.

I'm wondering what types of risks you have ever taken to save money. For example, a few years ago I had to have a root canal, but I didn't have any dental insurance. I had a root canal done because it was just too painful not to have it done, but I made the decision not to get the tooth crowned. This saved me close to $1000 what I didn't have that money. Up to this point I haven't had any trouble (knock on wood), but there is always the risk that that tooth will crack and will have to be extracted since it's not as strong as it would be if it had a crown on it.

What risks have you taken in order to save money and do you think those risks were worth it?

[Staceyy]

I recently remodeled my bathrooms. Rather than replace the old bathtub and surrounding tile which would add considerably to the costs, I opted to have the area spray painted. I was told this would probably last 4 or 5 years before wearing. This bathroom is my guest bathroom and rarely used, so I figure it should last me a lifetime. It looks good too.

[JBlock]

I've been also in search of properly saving my money.

[Kelli-Saving Money]

Saving Money

Though I have not taken any major risks to save money, I can say I have made a big stink over saving as little as a couple dollars at a customer service counter.

[josetann]

I bought a bookmobile and converted it to an RV. It paid for itself the next year in reduced housing costs (long story, wife started travel nursing and of course we all went together; so we paid a lot less in housing costs while away from home and got to pocket the difference). And while I sold it for thousands less than we had in it...since it had already paid for itself, that was just a bonus. One could argue that having that bookmobile ensured that we actually followed through on travel nursing; without it, it's possible we wouldn't have actually done that.

[97guns]

i put a $20 used toilet in one of my rentals, holding up good so far

[Leishrac]

I would share this one, I sold a slightly used furniture (hmmm a chandelier for this matter) and do some little magic to make it different from its original figure! and guess what my guess didn't know expect it is a second hand used they always thought that is it a brand new! makes me smile

[riverwed070707]

I think this qualifies. Three years ago we decided we wanted to move back to our hometown. We owned a house in the city we were in, had little equity and little savings. When FSBO didn't work (couldn't afford a realtor) we decided to sell it on a three year contract to a family with bad credit who otherwise couldn't get approved. I'm not sure yet how it will end (they have til December to get their own financing before we either renegotiate the contract or put the house on the market) but to date they are still in the house and current on their payments. It saved us money in a few ways. 1) We didn't have to pay a realtor. 2) They've been paying down our principal all this time so when we finally close we will walk away with a little bit of money. 3) We downsided to a considerably smaller house when we moved back so our current home payments are just over 1/4 what they were in the old house and its allowed us to put ourselves in an overall better financial position.