Buyers Remorse: What things do you regret buying?

[jeffrey]

Time to come clean to help others so they don't make the same mistake. What things have you purchased thinking that they would be great and ended up being a total waste of money? What are those things that you regret buying? I would also love to hear why you thought it would be a good purchase and any lessons you may have learned from it.

[shaggy]

Cheap rugs. There is nothing like a Kerastan.

A few items that are purely decorative, e.g. jewelry. But there are a few pieces I absolutely love that were well worth the expense when I look at the cost per wear.

[scfr]

The things I have regretted purchasing are items bought when my "inner Martha Stewart" started nagging me about things that I SHOULD be doing: gourmet cookbooks, fondue pot, yogurt maker, etc.

"Inner Martha Stewart" is still there and still nags me. But I have learned to stop and ask myself if I really & truly want something. And I have learned to let go of the "SHOULDs" by selling the items that I bought that do not fit with who I really am.

Thankfully, I have never regretted a major purchase (house, car, furniture) ... YET. But my life is not over. There is still time.

[HappySaver]

Used Saab. The day we got back from our honeymoon, someone ran into my husband's old VW and it was totaled (no injuries, most importantly). He wanted a Saab. We were too freshly married for me to say no, as I would now.

I've always driven and owned Hondas and Toyotas. The Saab was a repair nightmare, and our mechanic's dream. We finally cut our losses and sold it after 4 years. I like to keep cars for around a decade, but the best day ever was when we sold it. Ah well, now I can hold it over his head every time he dreams about another European car.

[kork13]

Nearly 100% of the things I've ever had buyers remorse for have meet one or both of these descriptors: 1) cheap/poor quality; 2) unnecessary & rarely used. This has normally been stuff like clothes, small electronics, or little items for around the house or office. So those have become my standards for buying anything... Is it good/high quality in materials , construction & durability? Will I get frequent & meaningful use from the purchase?

Can you have sellers remorse? When I moved to Japan for 2 years, I sold the stateside car that I owned at that time. Now that I'm back in the U.S., I wish I had just put it into storage. It would have prevented me having to buy a new car upon my return from Japan (even though I do love my current car).

[JoeP]

Hot tub! We sold it for about 2/3 of what we bought it for (lucky). That thing needed constant attention: cleaning, chemicals, draining, filling, fixing, etc. It was nice sitting in it, but the negatives FAR outweighed the positives. Plus, imagine having it leak in the middle of winter, and then filling it with 35 degree water and heating it...talk about a waste of energy.

[cypher1]

A couple of repairable cars for projects come to mind. I recently bought a pair of $100 jeans that were a very nice fit. But I returned them 2 days later as I just couldn't justify the cost for them.

[kalikala1980]

I regret taking out student loans for a useless masters degree in education. I'm in the legal field and the goal with the masters degree was to teach college part-time. I did do that for a year but so hard to get another teaching job. I don't want teach full-time.

[Mesem]

Time to come clean to help others so they don't make the same mistake. What things have you purchased thinking that they would be great and ended up being a total waste of money? What are those things that you regret buying? I would also love to hear why you thought it would be a good purchase and any lessons you may have learned from it.

a $400.00 Sanyo Flat Screen LCD. Lol, I don't even use it...and I don't think I learned anything except the feeling of being a fool.

[Doublejm1]

Plenty of clothes over the years that I've hardly worn.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Holy cow do I regret spending money fixing up race cars in the 80's. I have probably spent collectively over $15,000 during a time when I was only making minimum wage ($5.00 per hour) and had blown threw my savings/emergency funds. Things like Nitrous Oxide systems ($500), Holley carburetors & manifolds ($500), Weber carburetors ($800), high compression pistons ($500), race cams/crankshafts ($500), gear differentials ($500), tires, engines, valve jobs, porting/polishing heads, headers/exhaust systems ($1000), etc. I wish I could turn back time and take it all back but what is done is done already and I have to deal with it and move forward. I call it stupid man syndrome (lol). It is painful though everytime I think about how much money I wasted in such an expensive hobby.