Yahoo Finance 6 Purchases That Pay for Themselves Within a Year
In a time when it seems like just about everyone is trying to save money in any way they can, it’s hard to convince people to spend more than they have to on things that aren’t immediate necessities.
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But sometimes, products with seemingly prohibitive price tags offer long-term savings. In fact, the wisest among them are more like investments that can pay for themselves in as little as a year.
The following purchases provide enough value to recoup their cost and start paying dividends to their owners in the first 52 weeks after they’re bought.
A Washing Machine
If you think you can’t afford a washer, you should reconsider the cost of lugging your dirty clothes to a laundromat.
“Although investing in a washing machine may feel expensive up front, this is one household appliance that definitely pays for itself,” said Jake Hill, CEO of DebtHammer Consolidation. “Depending on how often you do laundry, a washing machine will pay for itself within a year to 18 months.”
According to a news outlet in Nashville, Tennessee, the average family does 300 loads of laundry per year, and Martinizing Dry Cleaning reports that most laundromats charge $2 to $4 per load. Presuming the $3 middle ground, that’s $900 spent annually to make dirty clothes clean again.
“However, this appliance doesn’t just pay for itself financially,” said Hill. “The time you save not having to drive back and forth to the laundromat and wait around for your clothes to be washed is priceless.”
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A Router
One of the biggest gripes about cable and internet providers is the many fees they tend to tack onto their advertised prices. Among the most costly of them all is equipment rental — but a smart one-time purchase can end that ongoing fee forever.
“My internet company charges a $15 per month fee — $180 per year — to rent a router,” said Kendall Meade, certified financial planner at SoFi. “You do not have to rent your router, though. You can buy your own router for as low as $25 on Amazon, but even if you wanted a fancier one that costs $150, it would pay for itself within a year.”
A Programmable Thermostat
The Department of Energy says you can achieve double-digit percentage savings on your heating and cooling bill with a programmable thermostat that dials back your home’s temperature when you’re sleeping or out of the house.
“The cost of a programmable thermostat can vary widely,” said Meade. “A quick search on Amazon is anywhere from $30 to $100, depending on how fancy you get. Dropping the temperature by 10-15 degrees at night in the winter can reduce your heating bill by 10%. The amount is similar to raising the temperature during the day when you aren’t home in the summer. For someone who pays $200 a month on utilities, that saves $240 in a year.”
According to ServiceExperts.com, the average is closer to $180 — but either way, the end result is the same.
“Even the most expensive thermostat would have paid for itself,” said Meade.
Insulation
Several experts mentioned high-quality home insulation as a purchase that quickly pays for itself — and the numbers back up the suggestion.
According to Sealed, research shows that air sealing and insulating can reduce home heating and cooling bills by up to 45%. For a household that pays $300 per month, that’s nearly $2,000 in annual savings.
And according to HomeAdvisor, the national average for blown-in insulation is $1,637, which cancels out the cost of the upgrade even if you pay less than $300 per month.
Preventative Health Care
The cost vs. savings analysis of a hypothetical medical issue and the proactive care that might prevent it is more complicated than for insulation or a washing machine.
However, experts agree that relatively minor investments in good health can deliver enormous returns in the form of medical debt never incurred when your bad habits catch up to you.
“Investing in preventive healthcare measures might seem costly initially, but pays substantial dividends within a year,” said Akshaya Srivatsa, CEO and co-founder of Carebetter, a price-transparent healthcare marketplace.
“Purchases like high-quality vitamins, fitness equipment or even a comprehensive health checkup can be pricey upfront,” Srivasta continued. “However, the long-term benefits — including potential healthcare cost savings, improved productivity and enhanced well-being — make them worthwhile.
“For instance, a yearly gym membership or nutritious meal plans may seem like an expense, but the overall health improvements often result in fewer medical bills and increased energy, proving cost-effective in the long run.”
A Multi-Family Home Instead of a Single-Family Home
Considering the high cost of housing, paying more for extra space might seem counterintuitive, but house-hacking multiple units could lead to you spending less and gaining more in the long run.
“Instead of buying a single-family home, you buy a two- to four-unit property, move into one unit, and rent out the others,” said Brian Davis, a real estate investor and founder of SparkRental.
“The rent from your neighbors covers your mortgage payment, plus, ideally, extra for maintenance and repairs,” Davis said. “It costs you money upfront in the form of a higher down payment, but eliminating your housing payment can quickly compensate for the extra expenditure. If you would have spent $2,000 per month on housing, and you now spend $0, then that’s $24,000 a year in savings.”
Davis points out that on top of that, a down payment isn’t spending in the traditional sense.
“It’s not gone,” he said. “It goes toward your home equity. When you go to sell, you’ll get that money back plus its entire appreciation. And that appreciation will end up being a higher amount in dollars because you bought a more expensive property, so a 3% to 5% annual appreciation rate adds up to more equity when it comes time to sell.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 6 Purchases That Pay for Themselves Within a Year
