What is the Dumbest Thing You Have Ever Spent Money on?

[cschin4]

I look at basement and can see alot of dumb things I have purchased and wasted money on over the years! Right now, I am looking a pillows that I purchased when I ordered my new furniture last year. The "decorator" encouraged me to get pillows made to enhance the look of my room. At over $100+ a piece, I find I really don't like them and could have bought some at JCP for $10. Dumb!

[PrincessPerky]

Wow, 100$ pillows...I can't imagine..

But that doesn't mean I don't have stupid stuff cluttering up my house...my best weapon against future purchases is to get rid of the old ones...the more I declutter the less I feel inclined to buy...

It doesn't work on DH though...

[boefixepa]

I went through this 'phase' of having lots of money just before I bought my house before my budget days....I was doing the get the nails done thing....It was soooo expensive. So I decided to just get all the stuff and teach myself to do it........

I am know the proud owner of a $200.00 ceramic nail drummel.....I use it to file down my dogs nails now....

Never have found a use for the other $100.00 worth of cr!@#^ I bought. Did you know those brushes can cost over $50!!!

[Thrifty Ray]

If I hadnt gotten 3 beautiful kids out of it, Id say my first wedding.

let's see, dumbest....I think that would go to my first 'computer'. My DHs aunt was selling it at a garage sale for $75. Id always wanted a computer (which I knew nothing about) and it came with the really old floppys--flimsy, plastic disk things....no instructions. (This was about 1994)

Ok, total waste...couldnt run any of the disks as they were all password type things...and I didnt have passwords for anything...and you couldnt buy things for it, it was so old.

Yep, that $75 took up shelf space for about 2 years before it finally went to the dump.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by boefixepa

I am know the proud owner of a $200.00 ceramic nail drummel.....I use it to file down my dogs nails now....

Hilarious! I'll bet their nails look gorgeous though.

I guess, in retrospect, the dumbest thing I ever spent on was my ex? It didn't seem like a bad idea at the time... until I was almost 20k in debt....

[Ima saver]

I bought a large deep fat fryer because it was on sale 15 years ago. It has never been out of the box. I sold it a few months ago for $15, so I got most of my money back.

[Kirbycruiser]

Really expensive rugs in my one husband, one child, two cat, two dog home. Had to throw them out. What a waste.

[jodi]

Not my money, but my parents - a $300 prom dress when I was in high school. I can't believe I wasted their money like that (and they let me!). I sold it last year at a garage sale for $5 (it was very out of style now).

[cptacek]

$1000 for a dating service. The guys were all losers.

[Ima saver]

Exercise equiptment that got grease all over my white carpet!!

[Lemony]

University textbooks. I should have bought them used or shared them with other students. Now I don't want to dispose of them because all I see is $100 there, $200 there, etc, etc...

[kealina]

when my family went to vietnam before the wedding we thought it was a great opportunity and asked them to have a suit made to DH's measurements... we asked them to spend between 50-75 to get a nice black one (we made one the summer before for a friend for $30) and they completely ignored us and spent over $150 to make a cashmere blend suit... we wouldn't have minded too much except for the fact that they didn't trust our measurements and it turned out too small for DH so he never got to wear it... now we're trying to sell it for a fraction of what we spent.... argh...
other than that there is not much i regret spending any significant amount of money on....

[lrjohnson]

Thousands on alcohol and cigarettes.

[Homebody]

Oh gosh there have been so many over the years....

Probably my first car in 1977, I paid sticker price $4211.00 with tax and license for by Datson B210. In retrospect it lasted for almost 10 years and through two babies in car seats, maybe it wasn't really that dumb.

Okay let's see... DH bought YD's senior prom dress at Jessica McClintock and paid $300.00 for it. That was a ago June. Well guess what, her wedding dress was only $50.00 more!

Gosh she looked like a princess though, both for her prom and her wedding.

[Ima saver]

I bought one of those casio keyboards. I had fun with it for a few weeks, now it has been sitting for years. I think I will put it in my garage sale.

[getforfree]

My Dh bought a shotgun for about $1000, which I think is a total waste of money unless he would go hunting and shoot $1000 worth of animal meat. But he likes his new toy.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by Lemony

University textbooks. I should have bought them used or shared them with other students. Now I don't want to dispose of them because all I see is $100 there, $200 there, etc, etc...

ewrr, get rid of em, the last thing you need is a 'you're an idiot' sign in your house...get it out, you learned, get over it, and move on.

IMO from a gal with no tact

[Bookie]

This could be a very long post if I wanted to make it so.

There was an imported Louis XV armchair reproduction upholstered in fawn suede (perfect for the foyer, she said). The foyer's gone, she's gone. The chair lives on. As far as I know, no one has ever sat on it in the 20 years it has graced my living room.

The four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi bought after a very severe winter. (That's the last time we get stranded.) In the six years I owned it, it never snowed significantly even once.

The list can go on and on: Tools to to projects I never got around to starting, ingredients for recipes I never botherd to cook, just about any deal that was "too good to pass up" on things I never used, wore or enjoyed.

Lots of candidates for the dumb, dumber dumbest thread.

[Ima saver]

I have bought exercise equiptment that I have barely used! I have some clothes with the tags still on. I have a collection of hummels that I have had for 30 years. I have about a hundred items, I would rather have the money!!

[neatdesign]

I hate to say it, but in many ways my decision to buy a puppy 11 years ago was probably one of the dumbest things I ever did.

First, let me just say that I LOVE my dog. Andie is a wonderful pooch and has been the one constant in my life for the past 11 years (and considering I'm only 33, that's my entire adulthood). She has brought a lot of joy to my life and makes me smile every day.

That said...

I got Andie from a pet store when I was a 22-year-old recent college graduate newly expatriated to Santiago, Chile -- with no job. She cost the equivalent of $500. All the extras -- leash, bowls, toys, brush, and preliminary vet exam -- easily cost another $200.

As a puppy, Andie had a very hard time with separation anxiety. Absolutely HATED being alone, even for 15 minutes. She became a bit destructive and chewed or ripped up a lot of things, including eyeglasses, books, furniture, carpeting, and even the baseboard moulding. She eventually outgrew this behavior but not before I spent a several hundred dollars repairing or replacing things she'd destroyed.

At 18 months, Andie was stolen by a taxi driver. LONG story. Ultimately I got her back, but not before losing about $800 in the process. I missed a week of work while looking everywhere for her and putting up flyers. I paid reward money to two Good Samaritans who actually helped locate her, and $150 to cops who "helped" get her back. (They just stood there, didn't even press charges against the guy.) Plus the vet bill to have her checked out and take 17 bloated ticks off her body. Still, THAT money was well-spent, because 10 years later she's still with me.

Because Andie's a big dog (100lb Akita), everything cost more for her than it would for a little pip-squeak dog that fits in your pocket. Dog food costs more. Vet bills costs more. Kennel boarding costs more. Even the leashes and bowls, which have to be larger to fit her size, cost more.

Having a large breed dog means I can't have a small compact car. Otherwise I'd never be able to get her anywhere. Of course, that means I have to buy a larger (= more expensive) car than I would have to otherwise.

Having a large breed dog greatly limits my housing options. I've never owned a house, always been a renter. Most apartment complexes consider a "large dog" to be 45lb -- Andie weighs more than twice that! It does not matter that she is very calm, doesn't bounce all over the walls and rarely barks. There is an automatic assumption that large dogs are bad dogs.

We've lived in the same one-bedroom apartment for the past 5 years. Partly it's because I just like the neighborhood, and the apartment is well-managed. But partly it's because it would be a HUGE hassle to try to find another rental location that would accept Andie. In fact, about three years ago my apartment complex put Akitas on their banned dog list -- thankfully, Andie was grandfathered in. She's now the largest dog resident in our complex.

Additionally, in order to have Andie in the apartment, I had to put down a $500 nonrefundable deposit and pay a $15/month "pet fee" in addition to rent. (My previous apartment charged $50/month!) Assuming I ever own a home while Andie's still around, I'll probably have an increase in home owners insurance because I have a large breed dog.

Having a dog, but especially a 100lb dog, severely restricts one's social life. Honestly, it's like having a child -- you can't just get up and go whenever you feel like it. If I want to go away for even one night, I have to make arrangements in advance for Andie to stay in a kennel. Most hotels won't allow a huge pooch like her to stay in their rooms, even the pet-friendly ones. Or they charge you an arm and a leg for the privilege.

As with any dog, Andie has health issues. She's on two medications year-round ($95/month), plus anti-flea/tick meds in summer. Once every 6-12 months she'll get a UTI or something and have to go into the vet. Each vet visit is at least $50-75.

As a 22-year-old kid out on her own for the first time, lonely in another country far from home, getting a dog seemed like the right thing to do. But looking back, I would have to estimate that I've probably spent close to $10,000 -- or more -- just for having Andie and taking care of her. If I had to do it all over again, I would have waited.

~ Jenney