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best money you've spent????

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Besides the 800 bucks it cost me to get free of the practice wife, I've picked up a few good investments... Narrow it down to 2 most recent:

My little kia SUV broke and I replaced it with a little front wheel drive VW.....
uses half - the gas and goes as good or better than the kia did (in 2wd) for the daily chores...

Bought a little scooter the other day: 200 bucks, 50 bucks a year for license plates and insurance, and 80 +/- a few mpg... Bought it for the chore loop to keep the cars cleaner, but it's a good errand runner in the city.....
 
Bought a F250 Ford pickup at an auction a couple years ago for $225 runs and operates like a champ,no rust on the body or floorboards, put on a used set of rear tires and got it inspected and have been drving it ever since.
Also an Ariens GT 18 with power steering and 3pt hitch off ebay for $61 has been a great machine around the farm and in the garden.
2 Homelite Super XL chainsaws with no bars for
$5 both run like a top.
 
1. Bought a new Cobett livestock waterer a decade ago, best money I spent on this farm. No electricity needed, in Minnesota, that was a good purchase.

2. Bought a Ford 5200 tractor at auction a few years ago, find myself using that tractor for all sorts of things, it's just big enough and just small enough for so many tasks on my farm.

--->Paul
 
My best purchase has absolutely nothing to do with tractors or vehicles. In 1970 I bought a dirty beat up old tuba built around 1895-1900 for $50.00. It doesn't look that great but it plays great and several professional players who have tried it say it's a fantastic horn
 
mine is probably my 1983 chevy c-30, it was delivered with a new 12 foot flatbed with dump, rolling tailboard, and stake racks, this truck has probably paid for itself at least 12 times over and its still going strong,
 
About 5 years ago I decided to expand my gardening hobby and went and priced a new diesel
subcompact tractor with hydrostatic trans, tiller and a few implements. BIG sticker shock.

I ended up buying this non running Farmall Super C with FH, planters and cultivators for $500. I spent
another $200 getting it running and have used it ever since. I've spent about another $2500
collecting the original IH fast hitch disc,plow,cycle mower,spring tooth harrow,fertilizer side dressers.

I have far less invested than what new was.
a80054.jpg
 
The biggest share of my money goes towards cigarettes, whiskey and women.

The rest just gets foolishly squandered away. :>)

Allan
 
dean , you and dad have a lot in common , nice find ,, best investment i ever made was my land , cummins dode is probably next ,,430 case ,1070 case , massey 300 combine deserve honorable mentionb,
 
I bought a Plain Jane White US Navy 1987 Chevy PU with a Tommy Lift Tail Gate at an auction like 6 years ago for $600 with 35 K miles. Drove it 6 years and put 50K miles on it, advertised it on Craigs List for $1500 and it sold instantly for cash (I obviously priced it too darn cheap grrrrrrrrr). The dude who bought it fixed the rust n rocker panels n painted it and is asking even more..

Bought two late model Kenworths once for $51,000 at a Taylor and Martin truck auction n got em sold in a few days for $65,000 BEST DEAL I EVER MADE ON TRUCKS

yearssssssss ago Bought an old Autocar for $8,000,,,,,was offered 10K right when I got it home,,,,,,,like a fool turned down 2K profit wanted to make more,,,,,,,,, spent 2K on chrome and tricked it out real purdy,,,,,,,,,tried to get 14K couldt sell it anywhere grrrrrrrrrr,,,,,,,,,,Note came due and at that time I didnt have cash flow or any money (years ago when just starting farming),,,,,,,,,took it to T M Auction it brought 8,000 I LOST 2 K INSTEAD OF 2K PROFIT EARLIER GRRRRRRRRR Worst truck deal I ever made lol

Got the "First Wife" back in 1970 n still have her, havent traded her in

Ol John T Been there n done that being a used truck n tractor dealer for years
 
Three, maybe four years ago, we spent about $5,000 putting a FEL on the Ford 2810. Got a bucket and a fork. Don"t know how we managed all those years without a FEL. No end to the things it can be used for. Its been worth every penny.
 
Mine would have to be my 1999 F150. I bought it with just 13,000 miles on it back in 2002. It now has 250,000 miles on it and all I have ever had to do to it is change the oil and tune it up. It has the 4.0 V6 and 5 speed manual tranny. By far the best one I have ever owned.
 
Would have to say my 2nd house. Bought it in '94, bid just above what everyone else was bidding and "bluffed" I would go higher. Cost way more $$$ then I thought I could ever pay back. Sold it in '03 for more then twice what I paid for it. (In NY we were going broke post 911.)
2nd best purchase was my 1st car in '79. Was a '74 Celica with a 4 speed manual tranny. Had 48K on odometer and died when it had 152K on it. Cost me $1950, had it more years then I can remember now. Senior year in HS thru way past college.
Ah, fond memories of my youth.
3rd is this '66 Ford 4500 TLB. Cost more then it should have had I know more BUT it has saved my thousands of $$$ in tree service costs. I used it to log all these great White Pine trees that keep falling or worse yet, lean over after storms.

Pete
 
Bought 3 JD BR,a late B,pair of 11X26 tires and a stack of various manuals for $500. Sold the tires for $100,sent the manuals to a swap meet,brought $350, sold the tractors all to one guy for $1000. This all took place the year before I got maaried so the returns helped the cash flow. Haven't had any cash since LOL.
 
2006 3/4 Chevy. Sticker 28k, got out the door
with bank financing for 21k. 570k miles later
runs like new, never in a shop, just my gravel
driveway.

2- alt's
1- water pump
3- front whl bearings
1- set rotors front, rears still factory
3- sets brake pads front, 1 rear
2- lower control arms (at 450k)
2- univ joints
2- sets plugs
1- set wires
2- Fan belts
right at $1500 in repairs over 570k miles = .0026
dollars per mile. May be a Guiness record.
 
Two old houses in town. Lived in one 13 years, rented the other (next door). Bought both for $50,000, sold for $200,000.

Second, the 12 acres of woods I bought in 1989 for $36,000. I cleared it (opened it up, actually,) and built a house there. The natural gas that was beneath it has already more than repaid the purchase price.
 
While farming, it would have to be the electric Mix-Mill that I set up to automatically grind all of the grain for my livestock. It would mix the various ingredients consistently to maintain the proper ration. Never had to grind feed!
 
Best money I ever spent.............Stihl chainsaw, worth every penny. I have cut down lots of hardwoods with this saw.
 
Toss up. Either the cost of first date, or else the wedding ring I bought my wife. Wife, mother, business partner, friend, and much much more. I'm lucky. I got one of the good ones!
 
last summer I paid $500.00 for a MF 12 square baler. The guy I bought it from had to have someone walk along side and tie one side by hand. After adjusting the tucker finger and finding some 7200 baling string I sold $800.00 worth of hay out of the field the next week.

Other than that the fortune in student loads I had after getting my degree in Mechanical Engineering 15 years ago.

The student loan almost cost me my wife. Soon after getting married 13 years ago my mother in-law wanted my wife to leave me because I owed to much money to suit her, she could not understand why my parents did not just pay it off for me. If my parents had the money my mother in-law had I would not have had the loans to start with. Turned out my wife told her where to go, we paid everything off in a few years. Now we have a house and farm, I am happily married to the same woman and we have 2 kids along with a mother in-law I put up with.
 
1996 jeep grand cherokee

My wife bought it used for $2500 about 8 years ago.

I was upset at the time because I thought it was just going to be a money pit.

I ended up using it as "my" car two years later.

Still going strong. Over that time, we've put less than $2000 into it for parts, including tires.

That average out to about $600 a year to own it.

Call it $50 a month for the vehicle and repairs.

Now I take pride in keeping it alive just to stick it to my older brother who's always complaining about money, with his BMW which averages him more like $900 a month (conservatively).

(Not to mention I pay $1000 less a year in insurance)

I'm not as stylish, but I like to tell him that owning it earns me an extra $850 a month.
 
Bought 750 MF combine $900-Sold rear wheel drive off it for $800-have been in many combine demo derbies with it won- first place 5 times-paid $1000 each time-lots of fun!!!!!
 
I think some of the old equipment deserves mention, old worn 850 ford tractor paid for itself and then some, and I'm talking paying work, same as my old '64 F600, other than that I can't complain about most things I've decided that I need and have bought as far as equipment.

When thinking back about one particular purchase, that was money well spent, its my lifetime hunting license, I do not pay NYS one dime for a hunting license, with everything included, it was under or around $350, they doubled the fees right afterward, and may have increased them another time since, it costs $80-$100 per year now, so over 10 years since its more than paid for itself, and I am grandfathered for the Doe permit fees, which new lifetime license holders have to pay now, state changed that for the extra revenue. For what you get out of it, it provides quite a bit of food, to enjoy, on reserve etc.
 
Gibson guitar for $40 many years ago.
Land for $1000 / acre in 1979, and every year it pays for itself twice over.
Wedding ring.
Land I just bought for $4500 or so.
Every tractor I ever bought....
 
I have often said the same thing, when I was a kid, we had a 2010 JD, with a nice loader on it, but my father sold it off, and we never had another tractor here with one, I know of others that never had one, with land etc.,

Having been a heavy equipment operator, you get used to having or being around equipment, know the uses of, and know what you can do with same, loader is just a simple solution to an awful lot of labor intense tasks and beyond, when I first got a tractor again, albeit, old worn and slow, to this day I say the same thing, how did I do without ?

At the other place, they bought a compact years back, quick tach loader, but no forks, a few years ago, I scrounged and saved, (given the low wages LOL) found a nice set MDS out of ND or SD and what a game changer unload pallets from trucks, handle firewood, and all those darned jumps (horses) standards, rails and so on, palletize them, no more carrying them by hand, I've always liked hard physical work its good for a person, but when age kicks in, you have to find other means, and a simple thing like a loader with forks does the trick.

One example, snow caved in big section of our barn, we rebuilt it, the pile of old roof tin stayed inside, what a mess to handle by hand, when I got those forks, I went over to the stack, picked the entire mess and used the one end in, one end out trick to get the stack out the door, never touched one piece of it, set it down where it needed to be, all of it would have had to be done by hand without the forks.
 
Several guys have mentioned the costs associated with getting a wife - must be I"m not the only one who got a keeper - 42 years and counting. (She bought me a deer rifle at a yard sale today!)

As far as machinery, I got a bale conveyor with motor for $100 a few years back. Paid for itself again this week - lifted 6 1/2 tons of bales into the mow. All I had to do was throw "em on and distribute them in the mow. My dad used to stack and restack until the mow was full. Lotta work.
 
My Snap On tools. I've made a lot of money with them & they are worth 3 or 4 times what I paid for them. & the last farm I bought. I paid to much for it but I wish I would have bought more. Gerald
 
$350 on a 3400lb wrecking ball. Bought it at an auction as an after thought only hung around to bid on some stuff for a friend that had to leave early. Had it for more than twenty years I cannot tell you how much money it has made for us but It help make $2200 yesterday.
Ron
 
1. Wife-$2 down and all I make the rest of my life. Great deal for me, 47 years and counting.
2. All the tractors I ever owned.
3. Life membership in the NRA.
 
$200 for a NH 68 baler at auction 3 years ago. Paid me back double or more each year and I only do a few hundred idiot cubes a year...mostly rounders.

John
 
Probably the 2000 bucks for technical school. Rets in Detroit in the 60's. Helped me get apprenticeship with At the time profitable General Motors. Start of 40 year career as electrician with 5 licenses and own business. God blessed this boy. Dave
 
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