What Stupid Things Did You Waste Money On?

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

I cannot think of any money wasting purchases I have made. I have a very small apartment, thus it is not filled with the latest technical gadgets or other items.

[constanz22]

A hot tub! I no longer have it cuz I decided it wasn't worth moving when I moved 3 years ago. The person that "bought" it from me, never ended up paying for it, but, honestly, at this point, he probably did me a favor cuz I'm so happy I don't have to deal with it anymore. There are many, many others, but that was probably the biggest waste. Most others were just useless junk..."ooh, it's on clearance, I HAVE to buy it" crap. Big waste...

[Deleted]

Mostly clothes that I never ended up wearing because they really were too far out there. I have learned. First I am more particular when I'm shopping. But then if it makes it to my closet I force myself to wear it at least 3 times. In public. That has really helped with the being more particular when I'm shopping.

[Deleted]

-> Clothes
-> 2008 Kia Sportage (expensive expense)
-> games
-> FOOD!
and the list goes on...

[happyscooter]

Aboveground pool.

[suzwantstobefree]

I have done much better with this since my divorce, but my biggest spending mistake was buying furniture for my old house and then deciding to move into a smaller house and I had to sell some of it. It was hardly used but I got cents on the dollars.

[Deleted]

The new Ford Mustang I bought in 1979. I was young, it was sexy. Then winter came. It was useless in snow- a high-powered 8-cylinder 5.0-liter engine in the front and the drive train in the back. It was also junk after less than 100,000 miles. Unfortunately, I didn't learn my lesson completely. I sold the car in 1982 and got a Buick Regal my then-fiance inherited from his mother. When it was time to replace that in 1985, I bought an Olds Cutlass Ciara. New. Well, it was better in snow but it was falling apart at 87,000 miles.

The Japanese model I bought after that served me well for 11 years and over 200,000 miles. I got that one new and financed through the dealer- another bad financial mistake. Now DH and I buy Japanese brands, used, and we arrange our own financing. It frees up a lot of money for more fun stuff. My Dad once said, "A car is the worst investment you'll ever make". With the exception of some of my stock picks (Lucent!) he's been right.

[suzwantstobefree]

I did think about that Snerdely. It made me feel better about it, but still, it was a big mistake and a waste of money

[Malarky]

Remodeling an old house Big mistake!

For me, that's the best money I've spent. The value of the house has increased dramatically and I'm much more comfortable here.

My money waster is Christmas decorations. Enough already. I have enough to decorate 4 layers deep. Yet I find myself drawn like a moth to a flame...

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

-> Clothes
-> 2008 Kia Sportage (expensive expense)
-> games
-> FOOD!
and the list goes on...

Cawi,
Never pegged you as a high maintenance guy...

[Deleted]

A fuchsia plant every spring. I can't keep them alive and I know this but sooooo pretty that I convince myself that this year will be different.

[wvugurl26]

I've got some of that Lucent stock too. I hope my grandpa didn't pay a lot for it. I think he got an offer to buy some more so his holding wasn't diluted and he split the shares between my brother and me. After all the merging was done I think I own 28 shares now. And to top it all off I may have to get rid of it bc it is now foreign owned and I'm a federal govt employee. I've kept it bc I think the transaction fees would far outweigh any money I'd get from the sale.

Grandpa erroneously based the purchase on the fact that Lucent's predecessor was a very solid company back in the C&P Telephone days. He bought C&P stock throughout his career through an employee purchase plan and when they broke C&P up into the baby bells he got an equivalent amount of stock in those companies. Which means Grandma gets 15 of so 1099-divs that I have to deal with every year at tax time. I'm always afraid one will get lost or I'll misadd. I can't convince her to move them all to one brokerage account.

[schildi]

I think my two biggest ones are:
- cigarettes. I quit a year ago. I have probably spent in excess of $25-$30K for cigarettes over 20 years.
- a hot tub. paid $5K 10 years ago for it when we built our house. Used it maybe 50 times over those 10 years? Maybe less, probably less. I am so glad we sold it a couple months ago for $250. I did not care about the $250, just that it was gone, away, history!
So even at 50 times, that would be $100 for every use. Not counting the energy bill, chemicals and water for 10 years. There is probably an extra $2,500 - $3,000. Ouch.

[stantonjane]

kids. just kidding....but yeah. kids.

yes, I'd do it again.

[TheOtherMe]

2 Wiis

I bought one and never used it, so I sold it on Craig's List for $200. Not bad.

Then I was stupid enough to buy another one that just sits here and sits here.

[mamasita99]

Capuccinno machine. Bought one, tried making capuccinno a few times, tasted like garbage, donated the machine. A few years later I got thr urge to try again making "authentic" coffee, so I picked up a machine from the thrift store (think it was the same one I donated), still tasted like dirt. Gave away machine #2. After a trip to Italy, once again got a capuccinno machine from neighborhood yard sale. You guessed it, now it's sitting in my garage waiting for yard sale season.

[debtheaven]

Remodeling an old house Big mistake!


For me, that's the best money I've spent. The value of the house has increased dramatically and I'm much more comfortable here.

Us too, some of the best money we've ever spent. It can a bit of a money pit, but I think all houses are at some point or another. And we LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

It's paid off now and worth a small fortune. I always joke that if we wanted to buy it today we couldn't afford the front door.

[Poppet]

Stuff for the house mostly
and craft supplies
and books

[Deleted]

Oh! Count me in on wasting money on cigarettes! Don`t make me add it up

[cytoglycerine]

Hubby and I used to gamble....Excessively....Never to the point that we were gambling away money we needed to pay the mortgage or to buy food, but that's where we blew all of our "spending" money. I'd guesstimate that over the 9ish years we've been together that we've collectively lost at least $25,000

Jan 16, 2011 13:11:04 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I've got some of that Lucent stock too. I hope my grandpa didn't pay a lot for it. I think he got an offer to buy some more so his holding wasn't diluted and he split the shares between my brother and me. After all the merging was done I think I own 28 shares now. And to top it all off I may have to get rid of it bc it is now foreign owned and I'm a federal govt employee. I've kept it bc I think the transaction fees would far outweigh any money I'd get from the sale.

I used to work at a brokerage house, and when a client wants to sell a stock where the market value of the stock in question is less than the transaction costs for the trade, they do what's called "flattening" the position, which basically means that they just take the shares out of your account. You don't pay any commissions, but you also don't get any proceeds from the sale of the stock. In the end, what you've essentially done is donated your virtually worthless shares to the brokerage house.

[floridayankee]

Jan 15, 2011 8:24:03 GMT -5 Lady Gaga Gaga Snerd said:

What Stupid Things Did You Waste Money On?

The woman that would come to be known as the ex.






Damn that 20/20 hindsight!

[patchwork150]

ok. here goes:
Clothing that never fit right or worked with what I already had
Cars
Scrapbook supplies (though not really sorry for this one, my one bad hobby)
grocieries that went to waste (particularly vegetables)

but most of all, purchasing things on my CC and only paying the minimim for about a year while carrying a high balance and high interest. The CC company really must have loved me. I put a stop to that finally- stopped using it in January of '10, and have been debt free as of August.

[tractor]

Tractors, and trips to Disney World.

[sumoto]

buying lunch during the work week when I could have easily made home lunch. easy min. $100 savings a month

[cael]

Spent $25 a few months ago on a Groupon for $50 at the Gap... then let it expire because I didn't realize the expiration date was so close was sooo aggravated by that. At least it was only $25, but still.

Otherwise? I've actually gotten much better about not spending money on crap over the last few years. I'm being relatively cheap lately... There's been a lot I'm sure though

[whoisjohngalt]

Eating out, yarn that I haven't used in years and scrapbooking supplies that will last enough for centuries to come

Lena

[thyme4change]

Library fees. I think it would be cheaper to just buy books.

[hurley1980]

1. Alcohol
2. Cigarettes
3. Various deadbeat boyfriends

[doxieluvr]

The biggest waste was Clothing for me. In the last three years, I have outgrown more clothes than my oldest child.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Smokes, eating out for lunch, and the fine that I got for forgetting to take care of a warning ticket. Don't do that last one. It was seriously the worst way to lose over a grand ever.