Was this not part of the thought process before the purchase?

Maybe he got a great deal on the bike, and couldn't pass it up. Now he is deciding what to do now that he has gotten to this point.

Just get these and wear your shoes for errands etc:
https://powergrips.mrpbike.com/

cheap and easy

Or just go get platform pedals from Jenson and ride without clipless for the time being, until you can get another pair of Speedplays.

Plus think of all the rotating weight that will be saved!

Save for two more weeks

That's true, but there's a level of financial pre-planning that is lacking. What will happen if he flats? Use Scotch tape?

Then you deserve to be broke.

Thats $58 per week. +1 to wait 2 weeks.

Unless your job is a paper route, just buy another pair o' pedals man.

Do you think you could patch a flat with some duct-tape and maybe some 5 minute epoxy? hmmmmm

Probably. I ran out of tubes on a ride once. I found some plastic and wrapped it around the hole 4-5 times. Held air for a week.

I had the same issue actually. Got a bike, had Nashbar pedals. Got a pair of Speedplay Zeros on 3bay after a couple months of lurking for a cheap pair. Ended up with a second bike ($200 frame, spare and hand me down parts I'd been collecting), no pedals. I used the second bike for commuting (every day), so it needed decent pedals, but then the nicer road bike (3x rides/week) didn't have pedals. I also didn't want to buy a pair of Zeros for the second bike because the pedals would have cost me half as much as the bike.
My first solution was to take an old pair of metal bodied toe clip pedals out of the closet, and that lasted a week until my feet started getting sore. The second solution was to buy a used pair of cheap Nashbar pedals/cleats ($20) from a local cyclist, and a close enough pair of bike shoes from Craigslist ($30). I didn't like the pedals as much, but they were just fine for commuting. Upon graduating and getting a job, I purchased the second pair of pedals. Sadly I now have a tandem, so I'm back in the same dilemma, but at least it isn't ridden so often that it's a huge pain, and I still have the Nashbar pedals/shoes.

Aren't there some lower model Speedplays that use the same cleat ? (I'm not familiar with their line). I bought used Looks for $20 for my backup bike.

I have Speedplays on my road bike and SPD on my Hybrid. Since the hybrid is only used for family rides and other non performance riding the performance difference is small. You can find used SPD pedals for $20 and the shoes new are very cheap <$50.

Make sure you alternate sides or one quad will be bigger than the other

I do this often, usually riding to work. I brought my shoes and jersey and bibs because I'm hoping to do an interval set at noon, but just rode casually to work in office clothes (including dress shoes) in the morning. No biggie.

And if you can find 105's on sale, that's an even better deal. Best bang for the buck in pedals, in my opinion.

I see two possible solutions:

The cheaper route would be to just get some spd pedals and another set of shoes for your "old" bike.

I have Forte (Performance) spd/rattrap pedals on my single-speed and a pair of sandals with spd clips. When I want to go out on the singlespeed to run to the store, I just slip on the sandals and go. Different bike, different use. I also have an inexpensive pair of mountain bike shoes with spd cleats for when it's too cold to wear sandals.

The other route would be to sell the excellent but expensive Speedplays on ebay or craigslist and buy 2 pair of something cheaper, like Look or Ultegra. The $100 Ultegras at Performance are a steal right now, plus there is a 10% off coupon going and free shipping over $75. I got mine using a 20% off coupon, so they were only $80/pair. I was also able to sell my 2 pair of old Look pedals on ebay for $66 and $80, so my upgrade only cost me $14!

Just some ideas for you.

Performance bike has Shimano road shoes for as low as $20 right now and Shimano SPD-SL pedals for $50. $70 would get you shoes and pedals for the back up bike.

I did this for a while. no problem.

it got annoying and I ended up buying pedals for all my bikes.

I like working on my bikes so spending 2 minutes to swap pedals is fun. Just do what you want.

Just swap pedals between bikes until you save up enough for a new set. Or find something cheap and/or used. I have pedals for all my bikes now, but it wasn't always like that.

I should say that if one pain in the ass is swapping pedals between bikes, another is having your chosen pedal (the one you choose for multiple bikes) obsolesced. I'm looking at you, LOOK!

I've heard this often, and while I partially agree and understand the premise, I think that the original cost of the bike shouldn't matter.

Say that I get a POS Magna "mountain bike" from a garage sale for $15. The hubs soon turn to dust, the 6-speed SIS plastic shifters crap out, yadda yadda yadda. I score some Fulcrum MTB wheels from fleabay, a Fox fork at a swap meet, and an XTR group from Craigslist and slap all that onto the Magna frame.

Now I'd have a heavy frame with some kickass parts on it. It rolls nice, the wheels hold true, the shifters rock, etc etc. Altogether, it's a MUCH better bike than I had before, and the total cost is still a hell of a lot less than if I had bought a new Stumpjumper. Meanwhile, I keep my eyes out for a deal on a nice frameset -- and when that shows up, I've got everything ready to build it up.

Relevant to this thread, my point is, "pedals are pedals." Just because they get installed onto one old bike doesn't mean that they can't be removed later to be used on a newer, nicer bike. Might as well buy the good stuff instead of calculating its price on some percentage of the original bike price.

You never, ever save money by going with the cheapest option. You will always end up having to buy something better down the line, meaning you have ended up wasting your money. It is inevitable.

The same principle applies to effort as it does to money... going with the easiest option will usually mean you have to do it over again, and have to spend twice as much time.

As in the old "Delta" type ? I use those, no real need to switch yet. Just bought a used pair for my other rain bike.