I am always surprised when I see situations where people who are tight on a budget become so sensitive to one particular fee in an effort to save money where they will opt for the lowest cost option even if it means more in the long run. For example, imagine living in apartment where there are literally two buildings next to each other. For the most part they are fine and livable. Now imagine one place costs $300 a month in maintenance fees with an annual property tax of $2000. The other property has a Monthly fee of $325 with an annual tax of $1200.
So with basic math, the one with the higher monthly fee is actually cheaper at the end of the year where you will save about $500. However, there are a lot of people who actually still focus on the fact that the other place is $25 cheaper for the month as if they are saving more money in the long run. Again, this happens very frequently which always surprises me.
It genuinely makes me wonder how this oversight can be common with people who are really tight on a budget. You would think if you are more stressed about money you would be extra attentive to every financial detail correct? At the same time, I suppose this is how even some online retailers get away with charging a super low price for a product compared toe everywhere else and the way they make up for it is to charge extremely high shipping fees. It must work for them to do it as psychology a lot of people re fixated on just the price of the product.
You should always look at the total cost of ownership when it comes to buying anything as it is too easy to just look at what you pay upfront to then be surprised once the total bill arrives.