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Classic Money Wasting Mistake

By , October 29th, 2005 | 7 Comments »

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I need to follow my own advice better. While I thought we had gotten a good deal buying the seaweed spread at the 100 yen (dollar store), it turns out we wasted that dollar. Paul had his seaweed spread on his toast this morning and said that although it was good, it was edible (“kind of like store bought caviar, pureed in a food processor then watered down” as he said)

seaweed spread on toast
Seaweed spread on toast

Eating seaweed
Paul’s breakfast

When I showed my wife the seaweed spread we bought and said that Paul had eaten it, she went to the refrigerator a pulled out a jar of the same stuff (different brand) that we already had (as you may have guessed, she eats it, I don’t).

seaweed spread
We already had a jar of seaweed spread

What that means is that my friend could have tried it without us buying a new jar…a dollar wasted. While it may no seem like much, over the course of the year if you do this on a regular basis, it can add up to quite a bit. Lesson learned. We will go through the fridge before heading out so we don’t double up on purchasing things we already have.


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Comments

  • SMB says:

    I hate it when I do that. I also hate it when I forget to use a coupon, no matter how paltry.

    It’s strange, though, how angry I get when either of these two things happen–and then I’ll turn around and blow $3 on a latte.

  • SMB says:

    I thought of something: You could send this home with your friend, and then it becomes a cheap gift instead of a money-wasting mistake. (Then again, judging from his picture I’m not sure he likes it all that much…)

  • pfadvice says:

    lol…I’m sure that it would make for an excellent gift ;) Actually, he tried it so the jar is opened. We didn’t find out my wife had some in the fridge until after the fact.

  • Jonathan says:

    Hey I just tried out seaweed spread! It actually wasn’t all that bad – it tasted like liquid furikake. Looked like slime though :)

Pingbacks

  • [...] Classic Money Wasting Mistake – Jeffrey of Personal Finance Advice warns us that when you don’t check carefully for things you already have, you can end up wasting money by purchasing multiples that aren’t needed. While the individual purchases may not be much, this can add up to a lot of money over time. Ok, but multiples of seaweed spread? [...]

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